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Pittsfield Schools to Lease Space on Eagle For Off-Campus Program
By Andy McKeever, iBerkshires Staff
02:25AM / Thursday, May 25, 2017
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The School Committee approved the lease agreement on Wednesday.


The School Department will rent space in the Eagle Building.
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The School Department is leaving St. Luke's Square for smaller rental space on Eagle Street.
 
The district ran the Student Resource Center out of leased space on Whipple Street. That lease expires at the end of June and the School Committee had previously voted to completely revamp the programs housed there, bringing nearly all of them into the schools themselves.
 
On Wednesday, the School Committee approved a lease with Scarafoni Associates to lease much smaller space at 53 Eagle St. for the one program at the center remaining off-site. The school will lease 2,045 square feet of space at $18 per square foot — for a total cost of $36,810 per year. The contract is for one year with options to renew for two consecutive one-year terms. 
 
"Although the price for square foot is higher than I brought to you in the past, it does include cleaning," Assistant Superintendent for Business and Finance Kristen Behnke said.
 
Benhke said four parties inquired about the request for proposal with only two responding. 
 
The location is smaller than the previous location so the school is expected to see a $50,000 savings, Behnke said. There will about 14 students using the new space, she said. 
 
The St. Luke's Square location had been used for numerous intervention programs. But the administration proposed and was approved an overhaul of how it handles interventions throughout the district and opted to pull many of those programs into the schools instead.
 
Now the only program from the former center is the Educational Options for Success Tier III — a specialized education program designed for a limited scope of students needing a different learning environment.
 
Superintendent Jason McCandless added that he's been in conversation with the Berkshire Family YMCA about the move, looking to seek a closer collaboration with the Y to provide physical education to the students. 
 
"They are within walking distance to the Y and Mr. Kinnas is happy to have them there," McCandless said.
 
In other business, Behnke is projecting the district to end the year with a $114,561 surplus. She said the district entered the year with multiple "volatile accounts" but the city saw things break in its favor. 
 
A couple trends she highlighted was that the teachers' line is trending about $150,000 under projections. She said there have been more leaves of absences this year than in the past. Conversely, though, she isn't seeing a large increase in the substitute line.
 
Gasoline proved to be another break of the city. 
 
"We have been trending high and then trending low again. It is looking like we will have quite a good surplus in this account," Behnke said.
 
The electricity line saw a large drop in the spring, a drop steeper than in the past. If that stays, there could be savings there, too. 
 
But not every line is trending under. Employee separation costs are looking to be some $18,000 over because of additional retirements. Special education tuition continues to trend higher than projected as well. 
 
Behnke's report was at the third-quarter mark of the year, so some of those numbers could change. Nonetheless, the department is looking to be in good shape with the current budget. Any unspent money goes back to the city and falls to free cash. 
 
The School Committee's next budget goes before the City Council on Thursday night. That budget is $225,000 less than the current one and calls for the loss of some 70 jobs. 
 
"It's been a long budget season and this is sort of the culmination of that when we put our efforts before the city council and the public," Chairwoman Katherine Yon said.
 
However, Yon said there is some good news. Both state Sen. Adam Hinds and state Rep. Tricia Farley-Bouvier had amendments added to the state budget to provide an extra $50,000 to bring back two preschool classes. Those amendments had been accepted into each body's budget.
 
The Senate will still need to vote on its final version, it then goes to conference committee, and finally to the governor's desk. While there are still many steps left, the good news is the amendments seemed to gain support from both legislative bodies.
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