NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The school district has been accepted into the feasibility stage for a potential project with the Massachusetts School Building Authority. 

 

It will continue to be called the "Greylock School Project" as that was the initial proposal.

 

The focus, however, isn't on the nearly 70-year-old Greylock School building but on the estimated 500 children enrolled in Grades kindergarten through 8 at both Greylock and Brayton Elementary School.

 

Superintendent Barbara Malkas said the study will be "exploring what the options are for the city in regard to serving all the students in the west side."

 

Greylock School had been on the priority list before being invited in 2019 into the MSBA's eligibility phase to begin consideration of how to address the dated school. But the potential renovation or rebuild of Greylock was abandoned this past April. 

 

The decision came after feedback from the MSBA, which raised serious concerns about the city's projected enrollment over the next decade and the taxpayers' appetite to fund a new school.

 

Instead, the district was encouraged to look at updating the much newer Brayton School, and the city submitted a letter of interest to be considered for the feasibility stage.  

 

Both Malkas and Mayor Thomas Bernard attended the MSBA Board of Directors meeting remotely Wednesday. 

 

"We told them it was about creating equity of access and equity of facilities on both sides of the city," Malkas said. "Colegrove [Park Elementary School] elevated how we address the needs of students for the next 50 year and we need to to do the same on the west side of the city."

 

The $30 million Colegrove project — in what had been Drury High and later Conte Middle — was completed in 2015.

 

"The feasibility study will carefully examine potential solutions to the issues identified at the school's facility and will help us develop the most cost-effective plan to address those issues," said State Treasurer Deborah Goldberg. "We look forward to partnering with the district to move the potential project forward."

 

Bernard, chairman of the School Committee, said one of his takeaways from Wednesday morning's meeting was a deep appreciation to MSBA for supporting the project and inviting them into the feasibility stage.

 

"I really got a sense of, you know, enthusiasm, from the folks at MSBA, especially Chair Goldberg, that they understand why this project, and why a school project is so important for North Adams," he said. "We've really benefited from good partners on the MSBA team through this whole through this whole process."

 

MSBA officials had helped the School Building Committee look "critically at enrollment, and our capacity, and really to ask us to consider what the data was telling us," he said. 

 

The mayor said the MSBA's enrollment projects and an independent study in 2019 by the New England School Development Council were only off by one student. 

 

Both studies projected a 10-year enrollment of about 625 students in Grades kindergarten through 6. Brayton and Colegrove Park currently have a capacity for 716, leading to the decision to once again consolidate schools. Conte Middle School (now Colegrove) was closed a decade ago and its students shifted to Drury High. 

 

Malkas said the MSBA's addition of the "eligibility" phase allowed for a better decision-making process rather than the old way of jumping directly into feasiblity.

 

"The eligibility phase gave us a good amount of information to clarify what is the most feasible and cost-effective things about the project, what is the 10-year enrollment and what is the city able to bear in regard to the cost of a building project," Malkas said. "I like that there's an approval process along the way — you can kind of fumble around before getting a shovel in the ground. It really ensures the community is have a strategic and mindful process."

 

Bernard said the School Building Committee, dissolved in April, would be reconstituted to take into account the shift toward Brayton and to ensure the entire school community is involved. Several spots, however, are prescribed to individuals with specific backgrounds, such as construction, finance and education. 

 

"We're into feasibility and so we will really get to determine what is, you know, what is feasible," he said, but the committee will have broad conversation on "what does the future look like, because it does become in that sense, more than just a conversation about a building. More than just brick and mortar, you know, and classrooms and smart boards but it really is, 'how do we serve the students of North Adams for the next 20, 30, 40 years?'"

 

The feasibility study has been estimated to cost $750,000; the MSBA will be covering part of that cost. 

 

The MSBA board also voted on Wednesday morning to accept Abbott Memorial School in Florida into the accelerated repair program. The K-8 school is planning to replace windows and doors at an estimated cost of $1,656,391, with the MSBA picking up $1,059,829.