PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Members of the Morningside community defended their school on Thursday during a hearing for its possible closure. 

Resident Kamaar Taliaferro asked attendees to raise their hands if they attended public school, and from the Pittsfield Community Television recording, it appeared that many people did. 

"So if we don't have that in the Morningside community, then we have to redefine how we're going to relate to that community as elected officials because there will not be that institution there any longer," he said.

"That isn't a question that I think should fall to the schools alone, and right now it's falling to the schools alone, and that's why this room is filled with people who, it feels like to me, are here to say, 'No thank you. We don't want this.'"

Morningside Community School was built in the mid-1970s with an open classroom concept. The district says the No. 1 reason for proposing to close the school is to give students better learning opportunities away from this layout. 

Retiring the school in the fall would cut more than $2.5 million from the FY27 budget, and about $947,000 would be allocated to schools receiving students: Allendale, Capeless, Egremont, and Williams elementary schools. For fiscal year 2027, the district has budgeted about $5.2 million for the Morningside if operating.

The proposed budget for Pittsfield Public Schools in fiscal year 2027 is $86,855,061, with $68,886,061 in Chapter 70 funding and $18 million from the city. It is a modest, $404,500 increase over FY26, and the administration needed to reduce nearly $4.4 million to achieve a level service-funded budget. 

Around 300 students would be redistributed, and the district says that supports such as English language services would follow them. Vacancies and reassignments are expected to cover most Morningside employees; overall, five teachers and five paraprofessionals would be reinstated, and 18 new positions would be allocated. 

Twenty-five percent of Morningside's student population is identified as English language learners. 

A mother, through a translator, noted the school's personnel and teachers who help children such as her own learn a different language, and begged the district not to close the school; instead, use those resources to create classrooms. 

"I am begging you one more time to please not close the school and give support to all the families, the whole community, and all our kids," she said. 

Parents, neighbors, and a recent Morningside graduate shared concerns about traumatic transitions for students, the impact of an empty school on the neighborhood, and the loss of a long-time community hub.