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The former St. Joseph's Central High School, seen in this file photo, is housing homeless as part of Pittsfield's COVID-19 response.

Former St. Joe's Serving Nearly 50 Homeless During Pandemic

By Jack GuerinoiBerkshires Staff
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PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The former St. Joseph's Central High School has been successfully serving the city's homeless for more than two weeks.
 
Fire Chief Thomas Sammons said it was clear from the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak that the 120-year-old school would have a part to play.
 
"There was a lot of good reasons to use the building," Sammons said. "It was well maintained before it was closed down. All of the services were all still turned on, including the heat, electricity, water, and the alarm system. More than that, it was clean and empty. The size of the building meant that people could spread out and take advantage of the social distancing guidelines."
 
The 44,650 square-foot school was closed at the end of the school year in 2017, a victim of declining enrollment. The Diocese of Springfield has had it on the market for two years. 
 
Sammons said work toward utilizing the building began in February as the novel coronavirus pandemic was spreading in America.
 
"We saw what was going on in Italy and Washington State. Myself and the deputy chiefs asked the question, how do we get in front of this thing?" he said. "That brought a lot of changes here including stepped up use of personal protective equipment and looking at how we can help with the problem."
 
Sammons said it was agreed that the facility could serve the overflow of people that would be displaced as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. After running the idea by the county's two mayor and Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency, they got to work.
 
The city's Building, Engineering, Information Technology and Health departments were involved in the project. Also, the Berkshire County sheriff's department and Fire Department helped in solving problems with getting the building prepared.
 
According to Director of Building Maintenance Brian Filault, the city has spent at this point around $15,500 to ready the building for the temporary use. Handicapped-accessible ramps have been installed inside and outside of the building. Building management equipment for the heating and hot water system has been repaired.
 
Emergency lighting and carbon monoxide detectors have also been installed throughout sleeping areas.
 
Also, the building has been thoroughly cleaned and wifi has been installed.
 
When the city finished up with repairs and upgrades, MEMA first considered using the building as a possible isolation location for those who may have been exposed to COVID-19, the fire chief said, but ended up using hotels.
 
Sammons said they then reached out to human service agencies ServiceNet and Soldier On for operations management and utilized funding captured by state Rep. Tricia Farley-Bouvier to convert the centrally located space into a homeless shelter.
 
There has been concern that those without stable housing would not be able to social distance appropriately or have access to washing or sanitizers to help them avoid contracting the highly contagious virus.
 
Also the sheriff's office made available a Homeland Security Shelter Trailer that provided cots, blankets, and pillows.
 
Jay Sacchetti, a senior vice president at ServiceNet, said the building serves about 40 to 45 people a night.
 
"It creates the social distancing needed so from that perspective it is going well," he said. "We are able to provide three meals a day provided by Soldier On and our case managers are able to engage individuals who are interested to get them the help they need."
 
Sammons thanked all those who made the use of the building possible. 
 
"I can't say enough for the people and departments that stepped up to bring the building out of retirement to solve the problem of the homeless here in Pittsfield," he said.

Tags: COVID-19,   homeless,   


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Crosby/Conte Statement of Interest Gets OK From Council

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

Architect Carl Franceschi and Superintendent Joseph Curtis address the City Council on Tuesday.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — With the approval of all necessary bodies, the school district will submit a statement of interest for a combined build on the site of Crosby Elementary School.

The City Council on Tuesday unanimously gave Superintendent Joseph Curtis the green light for the SOI to the Massachusetts School Building Authority by April 12.

"The statement I would make is we should have learned by our mistakes in the past," Mayor Peter Marchetti said.

"Twenty years ago, we could have built a wastewater treatment plant a lot cheaper than we could a couple of years ago and we can wait 10 years and get in line to build a new school or we can start now and, hopefully, when we get into that process and be able to do it cheaper then we can do a decade from now."

The proposal rebuilds Conte Community School and Crosby on the West Street site with shared facilities, as both have outdated campuses, insufficient layouts, and need significant repair. A rough timeline shows a feasibility study in 2026 with design and construction ranging from 2027 to 2028.

Following the SOI, the next step would be a feasibility study to determine the specific needs and parameters of the project, costing about $1.5 million and partially covered by the state. There is a potential for 80 percent reimbursement through the MSBA, who will decide on the project by the end of the year.

Earlier this month, city officials took a tour of both schools — some were shocked at the conditions students are learning in.

Silvio O. Conte Community School, built in 1974, is a 69,500 square foot open-concept facility that was popular in the 1960s and 1970s but the quad classroom layout poses educational and security risks.  John C. Crosby Elementary School, built in 1962, is about 69,800 square feet and was built as a junior high school so several aspects had to be adapted for elementary use.

Ward 6 Councilor Dina Lampiasi said the walkthrough was "striking" at points, particularly at Conte, and had her thinking there was no way she would want her child educated there. She recognized that not everyone has the ability to choose where their child goes to school and "we need to do better."

"The two facilities that we are looking at I think are a great place to start," she said.

"As the Ward 6 councilor, this is where my residents and my students are going to school so selfishly yes, I want to see this project happen but looking at how we are educating Pittsfield students, this is going to give us a big bang for our buck and it's going to help improve the educational experience of a vast group of students in our city."

During the tour, Ward 5 Councilor Patrick Kavey, saw where it could be difficult to pay attention in an open classroom with so much going on and imagined the struggle for students.

Councilor at Large Alisa Costa said, "we cannot afford not to do this" because the city needs schools that people want their children to attend.

"I know that every financial decision we make is tough but we have to figure this out. If the roof on your house were crumbling in, you'd have to figure it out and that's where we're at and we can't afford to wait any longer," she said.

"We can't afford for the sake of the children going to our schools, for the sake of our city that we want to see grow so we have to build a city where people want to go."

Councilor at Large Kathy Amuso, who served on the School Building Needs Commission for about 18 years, pointed out that the panel identified a need to address Conte in 2008.

Curtis addressed questions about the fate of Conte if the build were to happen, explaining that it could be kept as an active space for community use, house the Eagle Academy or the Adult Learning Center, or house the central offices.

School attendance zones are a point of discussion for the entire school district and for this project.

"At one time I think we had 36 school buildings and now we have essentially 12 and then it would go down again but in a thoughtful way," Curtis said.

Currently, eight attendance zones designate where a student will go to elementary school. Part of the vision is to collapse those zones into three with hopes of building a plan that incorporates partner schools in each attendance zone.

"I think that going from eight schools to three would be easier to maintain and I think it would make more sense but in order to get there we will have to build these buildings and we will have to spend money," Kavey said, hoping that the city would receive the 80 percent reimbursement it is vying for.

This plan for West Street, which is subject to change, has the potential to house grades pre-kindergarten to first grade in one school and Grades 2 to 4 in another with both having their own identities and administrations. 

The districtwide vision for middle school students is to divide all students into a grade five and six school and a grade seven and eight school to ensure equity.

"The vagueness of what that looks like is worrisome to some folks that I have talked to," Lampiasi said.

Curtis emphasized that these changes would have to be voted on by the School Committee and include public input.

"We've talked about it conceptually just to illustrate a possible grade span allocation," he said. "No decisions have been made at all by the School Committee, even the grade-span proposals."

School Committee Chair William Cameron said it is civic duty of the committee and council to move forward with the SOI.
 
He explained that when seven of the city's schools were renovated in the late 1990s, the community schools were only 25 years old and Crosby was 35 years old.  The commonwealth did not deem them to be sorely in need of renovation or replacement.
 
"Now 25 years later, Crosby is physically decrepit and an eyesore. It houses students ages three to 11 in a facility meant for use by teenagers,"
 
"Conte and Morningside opened in the mid-1970s. They were built as then state-of-the-art schools featuring large elongated rectangles of open instructional space. Over almost half a century, these physical arrangements have proven to be inadequate for teaching core academic skills effectively to students, many of whom need extra services and a distraction-free environment if they are to realize their full academic potential."
 
He said  the proposal addresses a serious problem in the "economically poorest, most ethnically, culturally, and linguistically diverse area" of the city.
 
Cameron added that these facilities have been deemed unsatisfactory and need to be replaced as part of the project to reimagine how the city can best meet the educational needs of its students.  He said it is the local government's job to move this project forward to ensure that children learn in an environment that is conducive to their thriving academically.
 
"The process of meeting this responsibility needs to begin here tonight," he said.
 
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