Letter: North Adams Students and Teachers Deserve Our Support

To the Editor:

The start of the school year is full of excitement and anticipation for both students and teachers. North Adams is no exception. The recent tours of the Brayton and Greylock elementary schools brought home the culture that teachers create to bring out the best in their students.

Signs were posted everywhere to reinforce the qualities and culture needed to make students successful. At the same time, one cannot ignore the physical plant that creates an uphill climb for students and teachers to realize their aspirations even when they bring their best game to the table. The recent concerns about mold at Brayton School serve to reinforce these challenges.

We must face the fact that the $45 million for the extensive renovations required to transform Brayton into a safe, healthy, and nurturing environment are, as Mayor Macksey stated, beyond the means of the city, which would be required to bear the entirety of this financial burden. The bottom line is that we cannot afford to make Brayton the school that our children can thrive in. The citizens of North Adams have a better option. With a contribution of $45.6 million from the state and an average $270 per year temporary increase in local taxes we can provide our students and teachers with an environment in which they can learn, grow, and become all that we might wish for them.

I urge every voter in North Adams to come to the polls on Oct. 8 and vote for the bond issue to construct and furnish a new Greylock Elementary School.

Virginia Riehl
North Adams, Mass.

North Adams Voters to Decide Greylock School Project

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
08:45PM / Sunday, October 06, 2024

Mayor Jennifer Macksey at the project forum held at Greylock earlier this summer. She says she feels optimistic about the vote. 

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Voters will decide the fate of the long-gestating Greylock School project on Tuesday.

 

There is only one question on the ballot, whether to approve a debt exclusion that will allow borrowing for the project outside the limitations of Proposition 2 1/2 for the life of the loan. It is not an override.

 

The City Council approved the spending in July but a ballot vote is required to exclude the debt.

 

A yes vote will move the project forward; a no vote will essentially kill it.

 

Voting will take place from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. at St. Elizabeth's Parish Center.

 

The questions about the project have largely revolved around two issues: the cost to the taxpayer and enrollment. 

 

The School Committee voted last year to reduce from three elementary schools to two in light of the student population declining and to reconfigure the grades in the remaining schools as a better educational option. Colegrove Park would become a Grades 3 to 6 school and the new school a prekindergarten through 2 early education center.