NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — School officials plan to review the greenhouse program, which is being used for life skills education for older students.

 

The cost of the program was raised during review of the fiscal 2027 budget by the Finance and Facilities committee last week. Three or four students aged 18 to 22 are being served through the special education program at the greenhouse on South Church Street.

 

The discussion came up during the committee's final review and recommendation of a  fiscal 2027 budget of $22,396,047 that will be offset by the transfer of $1,448,692 in school choice funds for a total of $20,947,355.

 

The school district is responsible for educating students up to age 22. The current staffing is a greenhouse manager, a special education teacher and one or more teaching assistants. 

 

"The greenhouse manager is in charge of operations of the greenhouse itself, but not teaching the students, although the students can work with the greenhouse manager," said Superintendent Timothy Callahan. "Almost like an internship, even though these are students with significant disabilities."

 

Committee member David Sookey asked if the life skills program service these children at Drury High School as a "better utilization of resources we already have at the high school."

 

Callahan rsponded that it's a possible model for next year, describing the greenhouse as an adult version of the CASTLE (Collaboration for Autism Spectrum Teaching, Learning and Excelling) program, an individualized special education program for children with autism and communication disorders. 

 

"We would still need two teachers, because there's so many students who will be in CASTLE in Drury next year, but it is a possible model," he said, adding that Principal Stephanie Kopala is considering space at the high school.

 

The greenhouse could be used for additional enrichment opportunities, since the CASTLE students also go there for part of their day, he said. 

 

"If we ever, down the road, look to put a smaller type greenhouse building on property up at the high school, we wouldn't have to use this site down the road that's older?" asked Sookey. "We wouldn't have to heat it. We wouldn't have to worry about electrical, plumbing, all that. ...

 

"I always just have a hard time wrapping my head around that building, because I've been in other schools that have that same age group in the school, and they're immersing them into more of the specials, as far as gym, music, all that stuff that's there. And they still get to do some life applications."

 

The high school will be adding a director of student support services, who will be charged with looking at the most effective way of using the space — or if there's a need for the space, said the superintendent. 

 

Nancy Rauscher, director of school finance and operations, said there are occasionally tuition students in the program and those fees go into a revolving fund to offset building costs. 

 

"There was a time when it was making more money as a functioning greenhouse as well that we didn't look at the financial part as closely," said Callahan. "But now there's so few students that were not getting tuitions in we were taking a closer look at it."

 

Callahan said there has been interest by the Greenagers, an environmental youth group based in Egremont, in using the facility and that the Plant Connector had also expressed interest in hosting educational programs. 

 

The greenhouse was developed by Northern Berkshire Arc and Wayne Wilkinson, a horticulturist with a degree in environmental science, to train adults with disabilities for jobs in the mid-1970s. By the late 1990s, it was being run by the public schools.

 

The committee voted to present the draft to the School Committee for a public hearing.