Great Barrington — After over an hour of discussion during its meeting on Wednesday, December 4, the Berkshire Hills Regional School District’s Building Committee approved pursuing the construction of a new high school building.
The vote was 14 to one, with committee member Sharon Harrison as the lone dissenting vote.
If the project is completed, the new building, would replace the existing Monument Mountain Regional High School building, which is located at 600 Stockbridge Road and opened in 1968. The school district serves students in Great Barrington, Stockbridge, and West Stockbridge.
Committee members previously gave presentations on potential options to various boards in the school district, including a presentation to the Great Barrington Selectboard and the Stockbridge Finance Committee.
At its December 4 meeting, the School Building Committee did not discuss the option of upgrading the existing school building. According to a previous presentation by school district consultant Donna DiNisco, president and principal of architectural firm DiNisco Design, the upgrade project would have cost the school district an estimated total of over $114 million, and the project would not have received any funding from the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA).
Early in the meeting, the committee eliminated the option of renovating and constructing an addition to the current school building. Committee member Eric Gabriel made a motion to eliminate the renovation and addition option.
Committee member Bill Fields said he supported the motion. “I can’t believe that as educators, we want to put students through disruption for four years [with the renovation and addition project],” Fields said. “I would seem to think that [the project] would hurt potential enrollment, with parents [looking at their children’s school] knowing that they’re going into a construction site. I see no educational advantage in regards to the construction, the transformation [of the school building] and moving classrooms.”
The estimated total cost of the renovation and addition project would have been between $157 million and $169 million, and MSBA would have reimbursed the school district from $58.68 million to $58.75 million, which would have meant the local share for this option would have been estimated from $97.70 million to $108.9 million.
The committee proceeded to look at two separate options for a new school building at the Monument Mountain property. The first new-build option, designated as “3E” by the committee, would include a new three-story, 140,000-square-foot building on land close to Stockbridge Road.
The second option, designated as “3H,” would include the construction of a two-story, 140,000-square-foot-building on land that is currently occupied by the school’s parking lot.
Committee member Steve Bannon, who also chairs both the Berkshire Hills Regional School Committee and the Great Barrington Selectboard, said at the meeting that he is happy with both new build options. “There’s no doubt that either one I would be satisfied with,” Bannon said. “I think that the [committee] has been leaning more towards 3E even though it’s a three-story building, but I think that’s a positive. I don’t think either option is terrible.”
During the discussion, other committee members echoed Bannon’s sentiment said that both options would be suitable.
Later on in the discussion, committee member Stephen Boyd said that he preferred 3E’s three-story building option. “This option is slightly less expensive, based on estimates and magnitude,” Boyd said. “I think it’s more centrally located, and it’s more aesthetically pleasing. I think driving [onto the property] to look at a building that has lots of windows at an incredible view is incredibly appealing. We heard a lot about ongoing operational costs and preventative maintenance costs in the community-outreach sessions [held by the school district]. I think that the three-story building is going to be a little more [energy] efficient.”
However, Harrison said that she preferred option 3H’s two-story building project over 3E. “I have for a long time preferred 3H, and I understand the finances,” Harrison said. “But from the beginning, we’ve talked about that it’s not about the building, but it’s about what happens in the building. When I look at 3H, I go back to some of our beginning goals, and one of them was the better integration of vocational and special education [programs].”
Harrison said that she did not feel comfortable with the way rooms for programs were laid out in the 3E option, including the automotive and wood-shop programs planned for the main level of the building, and the early childhood education classrooms planned for the lower level of the building near the driveway.
Harrison argued that option 3H’s two-story building would better satisfy the district’s integration goals. “When you look at 3H, you have five programs on the main floor and a better integration of classrooms, the special education, and the [vocational and agricultural] programs,” Harrison said. “The other thing we’ve talked about, as a community, having the cafeteria closer to the gym and the auditorium has been a goal of ours for a long time. 3H does that.”
Committee member Amanda Timpane said that she disagreed with Harrison. “I do have a really strong reaction to the different placements [of classrooms and spaces] of 3H and 3E on the site, and I really dislike the placements in 3H,” Timpane said. “It feels the opposite of what you said, Sharon. [3H] feels like it doesn’t center the site [of the building] appropriately. It feels like [3H] has the parking lot as the center of the site. I agree that 3H has better integration for vocational programs, but I think it’s pretty good for 3E as well. [With 3E] you have good circulation into the lower floors with the cafeteria placement, and that lower floor is really front and center to the whole site.”
The committee eventually approved option 3E, to build a new three-story building. The total cost of the project is estimated at between nearly $142.8 million and $164.8 million, depending on the heating and cooling system installed as part of the project.
MSBA would reimburse the school district between $53.4 million and $53.5 million. The local share for the new building project is estimated from nearly $89 million to $109.7 million. The proposed project will be submitted to the MSBA on December 19.
Before any project goes forward, it would have to go to town meeting votes before residents in Great Barrington, Stockbridge, and West Stockbridge in order to approve local funding. The district vote is planned for sometime in the fall of 2025. If funding is approved in all three towns, the approved building project would be completed by 2030, at the latest.
