PITTSFIELD 鈥 The city is a step closer to building a new elementary school.
On Tuesday evening, the Pittsfield City Council unanimously approved borrowing up to $2 million to fund a feasibility study for a potential new school on the West Street campus of John C. Crosby Elementary. The goal is to evaluate whether that site could support a new building that would eventually replace both Crosby and Silvio O. Conte Community School.
Though the vote passed without discussion on Tuesday, councilors had expressed support at last week鈥檚 Finance Committee meeting.
鈥淚 think we’ve got to move Pittsfield forward,鈥 said Councilor Kenneth Warren. 鈥淲e need new buildings.鈥
The proposed project was accepted by the Massachusetts School Building Authority program last December. The feasibility study is expected to cost about $1.5 million 鈥 80 percent of which is reimbursable by the state’s school building program 鈥 and could take up to a year to complete.
The study will take a close look at the condition of the Crosby site, help shape the district鈥檚 educational goals and explore different preliminary design options, with community input playing a big role along the way. A project manager and design team will guide the process, handling the technical work and planning.
School officials say the project could also support broader changes to the district鈥檚 grade structure, which has already begun through the middle school restructuring plans. Superintendent Joseph Curtis told the Massachusetts School Building Authority last year that the plan could help the city reconfigure its schools into a lower middle school (grades 5-6), upper middle school (grades 7-8) and elementary schools serving grades K-4.
鈥淣ot only does this allow us to modernize and provide the proper education for the kids of the city of Pittsfield, but it allows us, the school department, school committee, to do some consolidation, which ultimately saves money,鈥 Warren said.
This would be the first new elementary school since Conte and Morningside Community School were built 50 years ago 鈥 a milestone that many say is long overdue given the conditions of Crosby and Conte.
Crosby Elementary was originally built for grades 7-9 during the baby boom and later converted into a middle school, then an elementary school, but the building shows its age. Many windows can’t be repaired because the casings contain asbestos, forcing staff to patch cracks with duct tape.
Conte Community School was designed with an open floor plan that lacks walls between classrooms 鈥 a once-trendy concept that now falls short of modern safety and educational standards.
After the feasibility study is completed, the district and the state will develop a more detailed plan in the schematic design phase, according to the Massachusetts School Building Authority.