Clarksburg Looking to Repair School Front Entrance
CLARKSBURG, Mass. — Plans for renovating the bathrooms are on hold, which means the summer camp will again take place at the elementary school.
Assistant Superintendent Tara Barnes informed the School Committee on Thursday that Tom Bona, who's been volunteering as lead on school repairs, said the work to bring the bathrooms up to Americans With Disabilities Act compliance couldn't be scheduled in time.
"I think the concern was, as it kind of pushed towards the end of the school year, that there wasn't enough time to post and hire a contractor to meet the timeline," said Superintendent John Franzoni, participating via Zoom.
He said the Berkshire Regional Planning Board considered the school could use the $30,000 in ADA grant money toward the purchase of the equipment and then schedule the work for summer 2027.
The town is expected to move forward with repairs to the front entrance. The concrete pad has cracked and heaved and poses a hazard.
"I think it's important to prioritize that entrance way, which is in pretty bad shape, and the town has already followed through to get some bids," Franzoni said. "We got good communication from [Road Foreman] Kyle Hurlbut today about how much he was recommending to the town to request through the stabilization, I think, was $19,500 to cover the high end of the bids and any kind of contingencies."
The town had agreed to use any funds leftover from the school roof project to put toward other repairs and renovations at the school. Town meeting last year authorized a debt exclusion to borrow $500,000 toward the project. The roof came in around $400,000.
The delay in the bathrooms will allow the school to host the summer program for the Northern Berkshire School Union. Barnes anticipated a larger enrollment now that it won't be at Gabriel Abbott Elementary in the town of Florida, however, it is expected to move to Florida next year.
In other business, the committee voted to enter into tuition negotiations with the Readsboro School Committee. The Vermont school will be closing at the end of the year and some parents are interested in sending their children to NBSU schools. Some open houses have been held and information provided to Readsboro.
Barnes said a survey of families pointed to six interested in Clarksburg, and three "mostly interested."
She pointed out there is no way to "lock in" the Vermont students and they shouldn't be counting on tuition as revenue.
"This is a year of, I think, building this idea, opening our doors and really helping the community members of Readsboro to have choices," she said. "They're going through a really tough time as a community, to try to figure out where their children are going to school. And I'm just happy that Clarksburg is an option for them if they so choose."
The pre-K to sixth-grade school is down to about 40 students. It can send its children to other schools in the Windham Southwest Supervisory Union, including Stamford. However, it also sends its older students to Drury High School and to McCann Technical School in North Adams, as well as Twin Valley in Whitingham, Vt.
Franzoni said NBSU's attorney has been involved in the initial talks and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has provided guidance.
"Students in Readsboro, we've had some conversation with Stamford, those communities are a good fit for our schools," he said. "They're very similar to Clarksburg, Florida, Rowe, Savoy. ... They have a pretty short period of time find a safe place for their kids to go to school, and we're just trying to show them that our school districts in NBSU do hit all that criteria. We do provide our kids to know the really well-rounded, good and safe educational experience."
A bonus would be that the children would enter the Massachusetts school curriculum at an earlier age, making their transition to local high schools easier, he said. "We're trying to make sure we do everything thoroughly, legally and with approval from the state."
(Stamford had looked into merging with Clarksburg a decade ago during the last round of education reform in Vermont.)
• The committee approved a 3 percent cost-of-living raise for teaching assistants and the addition of seven paid days to their schedule, bringing them to 190 days with other employees. Business Manager Jordan Rennell had posed a 2 percent COLA but resident Sarah Hurlbut questioned why they weren't getting 3 percent like other town employees. This will add about $9,000 to the non-union employees budget line.
• Principal Kimberly Rougeau said Grades 3-8 had completed the English language arts Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System; Grades 5 and 8 will have the science portion next week and then 3-8 math after that.
• Barnes reported that DESE will be doing its curriculum review and will be holding focus groups in person and virtually with the School Committee and parents, making classroom observations and reviewing human relations, curriculum and finance systems. The report will be posted on the DESE website once completed.
This is about the fifth compliance review, said Franzoni, noting previous ones had focused on special education, facilities and cafeteria.
The frequency and intensity of the reviews has raised some concerns from the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents, he said. "We appreciate the state association trying to advocate for less of these. It's important that everybody is being held accountable, but it's a lot."
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