Pittsfield Council to Vote on Crosby/Conte Feasibility Contract
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The City Council will take a vote on the Crosby/Conte feasibility study agreement on Tuesday.
Throughout the 2025 municipal election season and previous votes, there has been resounding support for the proposal to rebuild and consolidate John C. Crosby Elementary and Silvio O. Conte Community School on the Crosby property.
School officials in 2024 toured the 69,500-square-foot Conte that opened in 1974 and the 69,800-square-foot Crosby that opened in 1962. At Conte, they saw an open concept community school that is not conducive to modern-day needs, and at Crosby, they saw a facility that was built as a middle school and in need of significant repair.
In June, the council voted to authorize borrowing up to $2 million for the feasibility study estimated to cost $1.5 million. The city is seeking reimbursement funds through the Massachusetts School Building Needs Authority, a quasi-independent government entity that helps fund the construction of school buildings.
"$1,579,000.00 is the maximum amount of funding that the District may receive from the Authority for the Feasibility Study," the contract reads.
The feasibility study will investigate potential options for the merging of the outdated schools and rebuilding, as well as a cost estimate and schedule. The Pittsfield Public Schools will need to procure a designer and an owner's project manager.
The contract stipulates that the feasibility study may not result in a school construction, renovation, or repair project that is eligible for funding by the MSBA. Regardless, it is required.
In September, the School Committee endorsed the district and MSBA's examination of a three-zone, long-term option for reorganizing and consolidating the elementary level. When reviewing a map that roughly estimates the attendance zones, concern arose when it was observed that Stearns Elementary, on Lebanon Avenue, is an outlier and would be absorbed into the new building.
It was then clarified with MSBA that Stearns isn't included in the plans, but that could be explored. While enrollments submitted in the original statement of interest included the school's population, it wasn't included in the originally submitted narrative.
Running parallel to the Crosby/Conte project is the district's middle school restructuring effort, which is nearing its December checkpoint to determine if it will be pushed off for a year or begin in the fall of 2026.
Over the summer, the School Committee voted to create an upper elementary school for Grades 5-6 and a junior high school for Grades 7-8 by the 2026-2027 academic year. A stipulation was added that if goals in the Middle School Restructuring Committee's timeline are not met by the December meeting, it will be delayed one year.
The committee then decided that Herberg will house Grades 5-6, and Reid will be home to Grades 7-8 when the middle schools restructure.
Tags: grade reconfiguration,
