As we take a look at how it is that litigation against Donald Trump has ended in a whimper, let’s try and find the smallest bit of solace amongst the ruins of diminished expectations.
“We are not doing justice by our current students. We're being irresponsible by sitting here today and saying we're not improving our high school for four years."
--- Berkshire Hills Regional School Committee member Rich Dohoney
This will be the third try since 2013 to get state aid for the ailing high school. BHRSD Superintendent Peter Dillon noted that “constructing a new high school is actually less expensive than renovating and adding to the new building.”
It was 57 degrees in Monuments Regional High School science labs and several more barrels had appeared in hallways to catch leaks. Indeed, students report several space heaters in a biology classroom where the teacher recommended they wear hats and fingerless gloves for Friday’s bitter temperatures.
Superintendent David Hastings noted that of all the Accelerated Repair Program projects accepted by the MSBA Monday, “our project is the largest, by far...” and that reimbursement rates are based on a host of variables that include “the relative wealth of the towns...”
"Taking the MSBA accelerated repair program off the table simplifies the situation. What we can do to repair the building will be pretty much limited to what we can pay for with our own resources.”
-- Great Barrington Finance Committee member Michael Wise
It is bad news for Great Barrington taxpayers, who overwhelmingly defeated the District’s $51 million renovation project that included $23.2 million from the MSBA under its Major Repair Program.
The Berkshire Hills Regional School District is trying to explain the necessity of a high school renovation project to tax-weary Great Barrington voters amid a landscape studded with stealth opposition campaigns, and what some say are weapons of mass distraction.
"It’s hard for voters to feel that students are in such a desperate state, which is a credit to the school board. The output is so successful here that crying wolf really doesn’t work in this town."
-- The Rev. Charles van Ausdall of the First Congregational Church
