The event was a big success—collecting almost 50 Christmas trees and other holiday greens and multiple boxes of food donations and $1,700 for the Lee Food Pantry, which serves residents from several communities in the area.
In his letter, architect Housatonic Diego Gutierrez defends the 5-year process through which the Monument Mountain Regional High School renovation project was developed.
In her letter, Patricia Ryan states: "Many of us are frugal New Englanders trying to take care of ourselves as best we can. We repair our homes as needed. We make do."
Jon Piasecki of West Stockbridge writes: "The claim that some random person can design it better than the thoughtful professionals who have worked for years on this renovation is a lie. The claim that it will be cheaper to do nothing and let the school rot is a lie."
In his letter, Rich Bradway writes: "After reviewing dozens of potential project scenarios, the School Committee came up with one project that would encompass updates to the building in all areas -- structure, utilities, security, safety and education."
In his letter to the editor, Richard Coons, chairman of the Monument Mountain Regional High School renovation project explains the facts about the 5-year process to develop a satisfactory renovation plan, and why it should be approved by voters on November 4.
In her Letter to the Editor, Rebecca Gold states: "This renovation project is not about creating a state-of-the-art facility; it’s about bringing the building up to the standard our children already have in the other two schools."
Most of the costs of the renovation plan are actually repair and code-upgrade costs. No realistic scenario can avoid paying the principal costs of sustaining that building, sooner or later. in the meantime that building is going to need work, probably starting with that expensive roof. Postponing decisions about facilities ... means educating a generation of students in a decaying building.
In her letter urging support for the proposed Monument Mountain High School renovation Corey Sprague of Stockbridge argues: "We are talking about making serious and significant upgrades to a school and education system that has served our community well and is now showing its age."
We’ve been around and around the block about this. Is it expensive? Is it going to cost us a lot of money? Yeah, but ultimately I think it’s the right decision to make.”
-- Selectboard member Sean Stanton
In the actual world we live in with the actual options before us, there is no better option available than the one on the ballot. That is true financially (for which we have facts and numbers) and educationally (for which I am trusting the educators, administrators and community volunteers who worked on the plan for the past eight years).
"What is untrue and troubling is the accusations that anyone representing Monument Matters or the District lied or hid any option from the public."
-- Stephen C. Bannon, chairman of the Berkshire Hills School Committee
In her letter, Julia Erickson of Housatonic calls on voters in the Berkshire Hills School District to wake up to the real need to renovate Monument Mountain High School: "By not investing now, when we have this incredible opportunity to get almost HALF the cost of this project paid for by the state of Massachusetts, is foolish. We will not have this opportunity again for a decade or more."
Dr. Mark Sprague of Stockbridge writes: "I urge the voting community of Berkshire Hills Regional School District to make sure that they have all the necessary information they need to make an informed decision and to vote proactively on Election Day for our children's future and renovate Monument Mountain High School."
Great Barrington resident David Long explains why his 'Draft Alternative Plan' to the proposed renovation of Monument Mountain Regional High School explores viable options not considered by the Berkshire Hills Building Committee.
Richard Coons, chair of the Monument Mountain Regional High School Building Committee advises that the so-called Alternative Approach to Renovating Monument "reflects a lack of knowledge of virtually every aspect of law, building planning, design, construction and educational program needs."
