NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Pending a vote next Tuesday, the North Adams Public Schools will go forward with two elementary programs.

 

The policy subcommittee on Thursday morning voted unanimously on an organization of instruction policy that creates a new grade configuration of early elementary (prekindergarten through Grade 2) and upper elementary (Grades 3-6) in addition to the secondary program of Grades 7-12. 

 

The only other option was to stay with the current secondary and preK-6 program. The decision will aid the School Building Committee in recommending a preferred option for the elementary school building project.

 

"I guess the pressure's on," said subcommittee member David Sookey before making the motion. 

 

Superintendent Barbara Malkas provided the presentation given to the School Building Committee last week and at the two community forums that detailed the breakdown of a survey on the grade configuration. 

 

The survey put out by the schools system had 877 responses of which 82 percent were from North Adams (the rest mostly staff and older students living outside the city), 44 percent from parents/guardians, 25 percent from faculty and 22.4 percent from "residents" (those who do not have children in the schools or will not be affected by the reconfiguration). 

 

Those preferring either a preK-2/3-6 or preK-6 school were about even; broken down into sectors, faculty and residents were more in favor of the split grade option while parents/guardians leaned marginally toward preK-6. 

 

One of the questions raised had been why not reinstitute a middle school but Malkas said that is not a possibility. 

 

"[Massachusetts School Building Authority is] looking at the square footage and distribution of our enrollment, and they're saying that the only two options we have are those that are presented here," she said. "I also like to remind folks that we built a high school to house well over 1,000 students. We currently have approximately 500 students at the high school with seventh and eighth grade present."

 

Sookey said his motion had been influenced by the school system's discussions on equity inclusion. 

 

"I know that the teachers, they really have pushed for collaboration time. And I have done my own due diligence of looking around the state, of configurations like this, and there's really that positiveness in that equity of pulling teachers, having them in one building, one location," he said. "So everybody is getting the accessible resources

within a building itself versus across many buildings."

 

He referenced more spread out districts like Central Berkshire with multiple elementaries. This new grade configuration would allow teachers to meet on a regular basis, bring resources together and be more team oriented, he said. 

 

"And as far as students go, it'd be great for them to have that family atmosphere of being together across the board versus how we're kind of split up now," Sookey said. "I think that really helps with social emotional learning of having the same experiences, that familiarity going through the grades when growth is hard sometimes and uncomfortable."

 

Chair Tara Jacobs said she agreed with much of Sookey's comments but noted she had had some "community pushback."

 

"People are concerned about it from the standpoint of if you have multiple kids across age ranges, that impact on the family and being able to juggle logistically having kids in different buildings with different scheduled events," she said. 

 

"Having said that, I think you know, our primary focus here is how do we provide the best education. ...  I think from an educational standpoint, the benefits far outweigh that concern."

 

However, she encouraged the administration to consider that impact when scheduling things like open houses and school events. 

 

The recommendation will be presented to the full School Committee on Tuesday. Its vote will determination the grade configuration.

 

The School Building Committee will be meeting twice in September to review proposals from its design consultants based on that configuration. The schedule has the joint committees determining a preferred option of either Brayton or Greylock school for submission to the MSBA by Oct. 26. 

 

The policy subcommittee also took up a vaping policy that institutes steps for enforcement and penalties and a transportation policy based on the recommended organization of instruction policy.

 

Malkas said this new grade configuration offers an opportunity to explore different options on how to provide transportation services. Jacobs asked if the administration could come back to the subcommittee with multiple scenarios review. 

 

The administration will work with Sookey, safety director for the school system's transportation provider Dufour Tours. Sookey will offer his expertise in busing but will not vote on any new policy.