Most Pittsfield Intradistrict School Requests Granted After Morningside Closure
PITTSFIELD, Mass.— The Pittsfield Public Schools granted around 60 intra-district and school choice requests for the upcoming academic year without Morningside Community School.
Jennifer Stokes, assistant superintendent for school transformation and accountability, reported that intra-district transfers to Morningside will return to their home schools: Conte, Crosby, and Stearns.
"And I'm pleased to report that all intra-district and school choice requests have been granted, with the exception of first grade at Allendale; there are three students on the waiting list, and first grade at Capeless; there are also three students on the waiting list," Stokes told the School Committee last week, delivering the presentation on behalf of Superintendent Latifah Phillips.
"But we were able to grant about 60 intradistricts and school choices."
Families can contact the main office of their home school to schedule a tour of the building.
In April, the School Committee voted to retire Morningside at the end of the academic year, citing the school's lack of classroom walls as the most significant obstacle, creating a difficult, noisy learning environment that is reflected in its accountability score.
The district held open houses for the four receiving schools: Allendale, Capeless, Egremont, and Williams elementary schools, and an interactive map allows families to search by address to see where their child was assigned for the fall.
Mayor Peter Marchetti was invited to a fourth-grade Morningside classroom on their second-to-last day of classes, and each student wrote him a letter about what to do with the facility.
"We went and engaged in the conversations, everything from putting a waterpark into Morningside Community School to a petting zoo," he said.
"And one student had the really unpopular idea of making it a police station, but all the students engaged."
A student from this classroom had written the mayor a letter opposing the school’s closure during the public comment period, and the mayor said it is important to teach the kids that it's okay to speak out and ask for what they need.
"So my learning experience today was a fourth-grade kid teaching me to listen and me teaching the fourth-grade student that we can't always get everything that we want, but we should always ask for it anyway," Marchetti said.
Ward 2 Councilor Cameron Cunningham wants the city to explore turning the school into a police station. He filed a petition that asks Pittsfield to conduct a feasibility study on the proposal, considering at minimum the building's physical condition and cost of necessary rehabilitation, an estimated cost of relocating the Pittsfield Police Department, opportunities for the co-location of community services, available funding mechanisms to offset costs, and a recommended timeline.
Pittsfield, along with many other Berkshire communities, has cited issues with outdated public safety facilities, namely, the police station on Allen Street. During conversations about the closure of Morningside, there was support for turning it into a community center rather than a police station, which Mayor Peter Marchetti confirmed is one of the options for the building.
The 1939 station’s condition has been a talking point for years, and a feasibility study done in 2014 recommended a facility three times its current size and noted the lack of meeting and classroom space, appropriate processing facilities, and holding cells.
A $55 million price tag was estimated for the project in 2022.
Later in this meeting, the School Committee voted to hire Phillips as the permanent superintendent. Appointed as the interim last spring, Phillips is said to have brought meaningful initiatives centered on student outcomes to the Pittsfield Public Schools in a short period of time. Her hire is pending a successful contract negotiation.
Committee member Heather McNeice said over the past year, Phillips has shown us exactly the kind of leadership Pittsfield Public Schools needs. The Morningside closure was cited among other initiatives this school administration has progressed.
"She's guided our district through some of the most challenging and significant initiatives in recent memory, including middle school restructuring, the Conte/Crosby project, the Morningside transition, and a difficult budget cycle," she said.
"What stands out in the many letters of support we have received is people consistently describing her as a leader who is thoughtful, transparent, data-driven, co collaborative, and above all, courageous. She makes difficult decisions when necessary."
Fellow committee member Daniel Elias said an interim superintendent would never entertain closing a school or restructuring the middle school because it creates a lot of unpopular opinions, but Phillips did it because she thought it was the right thing to do.
"That shows something about her character," he added. "It would have been easy not to."
Tags: Morningside, school closures,
