Renovate the high school? Can we afford not to?

Great Barrington — This much is clear to almost everyone: something needs to be done about Monument Mountain Regional High School.

Tax fatigue notwithstanding, we know that some of the venerable high school’s infrastructure is failing. And according to educators and the state, the building needs fixing to support a 21^st century education for students about to enter a complex economy and shifting job market. There are other problems. If you’re in a wheelchair at Monument, there’s only one bathroom for you. The roof leaks. The pipes are degrading. And safety is another can of beans altogether; the building isn’t secure, has no fire suppression systems, and since we’ve all been there, let’s face it: the place is worn, dark and dreary inside.

But these concerns raise two multi-million dollar questions: can we afford to fully renovate the school? Can we afford not to?

The third question is how. Do we approve a full-on renovation — one that includes educational enhancement — with the state footing almost half the bill? Or do we go with the piecemeal repair-only plan?

Voters will decide it on November 4 — the matter is now on the general election ballot. And if the renovation is voted down, another question pops up: will the necessary and unavoidable repairs coming down the pike anyway cost taxpayers more? The Berkshire Hills Regional School District’s Renovation Steering Committee says yes, based on their latest round of number crunching.

“It’s their job to prove it,” says David Long of Great Barrington, Monument alumnus and parent of an 11^th grader. Long is not critical of the school itself. He thinks “they make great intuitive decisions on a daily basis.” But Long finds the details of the renovation plan “fuzzy”; it was the presentations for the original renovation plan last year “that convinced me that this was a bad idea.”

Last November, Great Barrington voters shot down the original $55.6 million project. The Committee came back to district voters with a slimmed down project of $51.2 million that will include a state reimbursement of $23.2 million. The district will take out a 25-year bond at 3.75 percent. The total cost to Great Barrington under this plan is $18.2 million, with the other district towns: Stockbridge and West Stockbridge, responsible for the difference.

The Renovation Steering Committee maintains it is cheaper in the long run to do the big project all at once; more state money will apply because the renovation will bring the school up to educational and building standards. Steering Committee Chair Karen Smith says the numbers were arrived at by independent cost estimators running “repair only” scenarios.

“We had people who priced out every pipe, every nail, everything,” she said.

The repair-only option, the Committee says, runs at $38.6 million, but it is actually more expensive because the state will contribute only $4.9 million to a project that doesn’t incorporate modern educational components. Great Barrington’s tab in such a scenario would amount to $23.5 million. Prices, said district Superintendent Peter Dillon, will only go up over time, and the piecemeal approach would mean “a dramatic reduction in efficiency in how we would do the work.”

As the Committee unveils its figures, the curveballs have started to fly. David Long threw the first pitch.

“What’s going into the actual education, not (just) bathrooms?” he asked. He worries that this is a “code-driven” plan that will only fix the building without “pedagogical” inspiration. He also said that the Building Committee did not consider alternative ideas of how to fix the school, an assertion that Committee members say is a misunderstanding.

Yet Long said he was willing, before last year’s renovation vote to “take a bump in my taxes,” if the educational and career/vocational tracks would be enhanced and modernized by the plan.

Monument Principal Marianne Young says the project was inspired by progressive, modern state education standards, state code demands, and day-to-day distractions like roof leaks and noisy old plumbing.

“The design of the facility was agreed upon after a lot of deliberation and significant commitment to maintaining the career/vocational, the science and technology, the math and arts,” she said.

She added that Monument has a “strong track record of providing a great education.” But the dated facility, she said, is holding students back from what could be a more expansive — and by today’s standards, necessary — experience and preparation for college or work.

“We don’t have the infrastructure or space to set up the kinds of labs for student driven inquiry projects that more students are asked to demonstrate when they go to college,” added Young. “We’re doing it, but soon we won’t be able to keep up.”

Monument does have exciting programming, passionate teachers. So what would the renovation do for students?

“More space and light,” said Young, in what are now “two cramped art rooms.” A vocational culinary program with a modern kitchen, not a “home ec kitchen from 1968.” The horticulture program, she said, its greenhouse now at the bottom of the hill, will move up into the school to integrate with the science curriculum. The auto shop will integrate both old school mechanics with modern diagnostic technology and software, some of which it already has. Graduates from this program, said Young, have gone straight to work with good salaries at auto shops in the area.

Young cites the chart below, part of the district’s submission to the Massachusetts School Building Authority. It assesses the current condition of the Career/Vocational Technical Education (CVTE) programs available at MMRHS, and the improvements anticipated with the school renovation:

The school will be made ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliant, said Superintendent Dillon, so that a wheelchair-bound student can better participate in the science lab, for instance. The building will have a LEED energy efficiency certification, something that increases the state’s reimbursement rate.

“Six new science labs are in the budget,” Dillon explained, including lab equipment like microscopes, beakers and scales. Integrated technology (IT) equipment costs are budgeted at $684,000, wiring and infrastructure costs are approximately another $500,000, almost $1.2 million. That includes, he added, “computers, high speed wireless, servers, routers, upgrades in wire width and bandwidth.” The renovated school will be “turnkey,” said Committee Chair Smith, with programs and materials ready.

“Interdisciplinary work areas” are part of the renovation, said John Winikur of Strategic Building Solutions in Agawam, the Owner’s Process Manager for the project. This will allow students to engage in group projects without the constraints of “traditional classroom spaces,” he said.

Dillon said he didn’t realize how “behind” his own facility was until he visited other schools in the state. A school’s environment, he said, “has all sorts of impacts on student achievement and growth.”

Education research does show that students do better in updated schools with good lighting and ventilation, to name a few basics. In August, The Boston Globe reported on the high school renovation boom in the state, linking environment to learning: “Inside the new schools, the layouts reflect the latest trends in education.”

But weary taxpayers still need to know what the damage might be, and whether it truly is cheaper to fully renovate than to repair. Great Barrington taxpayers, said David Long, are “predisposed to being suspicious,” due to the large projects of the last ten years, in which time the town has built a new firehouse, elementary and middle schools, and expanded the Mason Library.

The renovation advocacy organization, MonumentMatters, has devised an online “tax increase calculator” to help residents of the three district towns determine how much their property taxes would rise were the project approved. The estimates are based upon the renovation option.

So how do we know the district isn’t pulling a fast one?

“We hired two independent construction cost estimators,” said Winikur, “independent firms with no vested interest.” The Massachusetts School Building Association (MSBA) requires this step. Winikur said the estimators ran through many repair options, all of which were vetted through district School Committee meetings, and “should be in the minutes,” he said.

As the state is footing almost half the bill, the MSBA has stringent cost control requirements to make sure the work addresses what is lacking physically in a school structure that affects learning, and does so for the best price – the work must go to the lowest qualified bidder, said Winikur.

“What needs to be done at the high school is going to be expensive no matter how you do it,” said Steven Soule, Director of Operations for the district for the last 10 years. “It’s anyone’s opinion as to when anything will break down.”

Soule has an MBA and 20 years of facilities management under his belt. The Great Barrington native and Monument High alumnus said the 46-year old boiler gets hard use, and is “not at all energy efficient.” If it goes, that’s roughly a million bucks, including burners, he said. The roof is out of warranty. Every year he has to hunt down a “series of leaks.” He said he’ll have to ask the towns for roof money — needed within the next 5 years — because it isn’t in his operating budget. According to the 2013 numbers from PM&C, a cost estimator from Hingham, Mass., that’s $3.6 million.

Then there’s the plumbing: some of the copper pipes “degraded on a run, not a joint, and let go,” he said. “We fix it as it breaks. If it breaks in the wrong place, the fix will be more expensive.” A full plumbing replacement is estimated by PM&C at $1.2 million.

“To proactively fix those might be a better option,” said Soule, who added that he “firmly believes” that with the repair-only plan “we will spend significantly more than if we do it all at once.”

As the man who really knows the building, what is his biggest concern? “Lack of security,” he said. “There are 49 doors and 99 windows you can walk in and out of.”

He cites the higher expense of piecemeal repairs and of safety retrofitting that results from the lower $4.9 million reimbursement from the state, plus, he noted, there is inflation.

“Things don’t get cheaper,” he said.

The district’s Steering Committee has three upcoming community information forums, including one tour of the school, to help residents understand the project before November 4. They are listed below.

Further, Principal Marianne Young said she can be reached by phone at the high school at 413-528-3346. She said she welcomes questions and would be happy to meet and give a tour to residents, to help them understand the building’s “needs and the project’s scope.”

Information Forums, Great Barrington 

Monday, September 8, 7:15 p.m. Berkshire South Community Center, Crissey Road.

Saturday, September 13, Tour: 2 p.m. Information Meeting: 3 p.m., Monument Mountain Regional High School, childcare provided.

Tuesday, September 16, 7:00 p.m. Claire Teague Senior Center, 917 Main Street.