Letter: Ciolkowski Withdraws from North Adams School Committee Race

Letter to the Editor12:35PM / Wednesday, October 22, 2025Print Story | Email Story

To the Editor:

My name is Chelsey Lyn Ciolkowski and I am on the 2025 ballot as a candidate for the North Adams School Committee. As a mom with children in the North Adams Public Schools, as a former educator and social worker, I have a very deep interest in our schools, our kids and our families.

Several months ago, I decided to run for a seat on the School Committee. I took out and filed my papers and my name was placed on the ballot. Several weeks later, a job within the district as a school adjustment counselor was posted and I applied. That decision was made with much thought around what was best for me and my family … and a way that I could very directly serve the system.

I interviewed, was offered the position and I very humbly and with great excitement accepted.

As I am now an employee of the district, I must withdraw from the election which will be held on Nov. 4. I truly apologize for putting the voters and the city in this position but my withdrawal is necessary for obvious reasons. I want to thank all of those who supported me and all those who might have voted for me. I assure you that I am pouring and will continue to pour my heart and soul into the school adjustment counselor position to support all the children and families of North Adams Public Schools.

Please remember that on election day, while my name is on the ballot, I am officially withdrawing from the race. Please do not vote for me. I wish all those on the ballot good luck and much success.

Chelsey Ciolkowski
North Adams, Mass.

Tags: election 2025,

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North Adams School Project Awards $52M Bid

By Tammy Daniels iBerkshires Staff
05:10AM / Friday, February 13, 2026

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The School Building Committee has awarded the Greylock School project to Fontaine Bros. Inc. of Springfield.

Mayor Jennifer Macksey said she could "breathe a little better" with a bid contract that comes in nearly $2 million under budget.

The committee approved a bid of $50,498,544 on Thursday night that includes two alternates — the rebuild of the Appalachian Trail kiosk and the relocation and reconstruction of the baseball field.

"I will say, all in all, for us to have overall the number of bidders that we had interested in our project, and especially to receive the GC bids that we did, the team Colliers and TSKP certainly did a good job attracting people to us," she said. "But this project ... really shows the testament of the good work that Colliers and TSKP and all of you have been doing throughout this process."

Fontaine had the low bid between Brait Builders of Marshfield and J&J Contractors Inc. of North Billerica.

The project had been bid out at $52,250,000 with three alternates: moving the ballfield, the kiosk and vertical geothermal wells.

Committee members asked Timothy Alix of Collier's International, the owner's project manager, about his impressions of the bidders. He was most familiar with Fontaine, having worked with the company on a half-dozen school projects and noted it was the contractor on the Mountain View Elementary School in Easthampton that the Massachusetts School Building Authority has held up as an example school. He also had some of his colleagues call on projects that he had not personally worked on.

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