Stockbridge — An email from the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) to Berkshire Hills Regional School Superintendent Peter Dillon meant what it said, an MSBA spokesman wrote Monday, November 24.
“Our November 19 email to the district does not leave the door open for BHRSD to apply for reimbursement under the accelerated repair program,” wrote MSBA Press Secretary Daniel Collins. “Monument Mountain RHS would not be a candidate for that program.”
Opponents of the district’s proposed $51 million high school renovation project, which included $23.2 million in funding from the MSBA, had persuaded voters to reject the renovation, so the district could then apply under Accelerated Repair for a better reimbursement. The district was at one point accused of hiding this option from voters, even though school officials said all options had been investigated. But many voters did not believe it.
Last week, the MSBA said the district was ineligible for Accelerated Repairs, and many renovation supporters lashed out at opponents over what they said was a manipulative fantasy.
But some people thought they could still see a future opening for the district to secure funding to fix Monument under the MSBA’s Accelerated Repair. Monument Mountain “does not appear” to “function soundly” or “meet the educational needs of the district,” wrote Capital Program Manager Katie Loeffler, who went on to say the high school would require “extensive repair or renovation work beyond the scope of the Accelerated Repair Program.”
Three short words in the email left a question mark in at least a few minds, and the email was parsed. “Does not appear” was used twice in the email, and some took the MSBA’s language to leave wiggle room for a future Accelerated Repair option.
School Committee Chair Stephen Bannon said the MSBA’s message “was crystal clear and not a surprise to any of us.”
The district’s next opportunity to submit a Statement of Interest (SOI) to the MSBA for a “potential project,” Collins said, would be in 2015. “Just so you know,” he added, “the MSBA received 227 Statements of Interest (SOIs) in Fiscal Year 2014. One hundred and eight of these SOIs were for potential Core Program projects. In reviewing SOIs, the MSBA identifies the school facilities that have the greatest and most urgent need based on an assessment of the entire cohort of SOIs that we receive for that given year.”
The Accelerated Repair Program is for school buildings that need things like new roofs, windows and boilers, but are otherwise “sound.” The original Monument SOI showed a high school facility that was needy enough to warrant a reimbursement for almost half the project under the MSBA’s Major Repair Program. A new SOI, Bannon said, wouldn’t be that different from the original drafted in 2008, and would show, if anything, an even more desperate state of affairs at Monument. If the SOI showed improvements in the building that might qualify it for Accelerated Repair, Bannon said the MSBA might ask, “how did the building get less disastrous?”
“We were telling the truth when we did the first SOI,” Bannon added.
“Taking the MSBA accelerated repair program off the table simplifies the situation,” said Finance Committee member Michael Wise. “What we can do to repair the building will be pretty much limited to what we can pay for with our own resources.”
Housatonic resident David Long, a vocal opponent of the district’s renovation plan, has offered to help find solutions to fix the school. Long said there are “a lot of unknowns,” and it was unclear at this point which of the MSBA’s programs will be the right fit. He said he didn’t think it mattered which program the district applied for “as long as we get a good reimbursement and have equitable agreements. Maybe Major Repair is the right answer—I don’t think anyone knows that right now.”
“Right now the only thing the MSBA can comment on is based on the old SOI,” Long said. “If you change the SOI, you change the application,” he added. Long advises not getting “wrapped up” in what the state says. “We just went through a bloody process to learn what those rules are.”
Blood continues to be shed online, but Long is calling for peace. “We need to take a deep breath and figure out what is really important,” he said. “We needed to have this crisis for enough people to pay attention.”
Long noted the work already being done by school officials and residents to address issues like tuition agreements, school choice and the district agreement between the three towns.
“Peter [Dillon] is taking some immediate steps that might actually get us to a good place,” Long said.
“We’ve got a bunch of proposals,” Long added, without elaborating what those proposals might be. “We are making progress — because of all the dialogue leading up to the vote and after the vote.”
“The clarified MSBA response sets parameters for the district and community’s next steps,” Superintendent Dillon said after reading Collins’ email. “We will best figure this out by working together and addressing the many foundational issues that have been raised in recent conversations.”
