PITTSFIELD, Mass. — With a timeline laid out for the district's restructuring study that concludes at the end of the year, the School Committee weighed in on the process.

Its main suggestion was to include a dedicated public comment session for non-English speaking families of Pittsfield Public Schools.

Chair William Cameron pointed to the emphasis on getting as much community input as possible on the educational and physical structure of the district.

"They may get notices of the meeting in Spanish or Portuguese but if they're not fluent in English that's not going to do any good to go to a meeting where either they don't understand what's going on or they can't formulate questions to ask," he said during Wednesday's School Committee meeting.

Drummey, Rosane, and Anderson (DRA) Architects, the firm chosen for the project, plans to have hearings on May 31 at Morningside Community School at 5 p.m. and at Crosby Elementary School at 7 p.m.  A Zoom hearing is also planned for June 1 at 7 p.m.

Mayor Linda Tyer supports having a fourth meeting for bilingual families and pointed out that the city's American Rescue Plan Act hearings got confusing at times while using interpreters.

"This will be their first opportunity to really engage on an important issue," she said.

"So I couldn't agree more that, if possible, having a fourth session for Spanish-speaking families would be really good."

DRA's principal Carl Franceschi reported that the online survey, which is an additional method of public input, will be offered in Spanish, Portuguese, and French.

The firm began its efforts to comprehensively examine the district about a month ago. A final report is expected by November with a statement of interest filed with the Massachusetts School Building Authority in January 2024.

"We want to spend a fair amount of time gathering data about the existing conditions, both physical conditions of the buildings but also kind of the educational conditions of the buildings, you might say, how well are they accommodating your programs as they're structured right now," Franceschi explained.

"And that includes understanding what you might say a generic education program is for each level, elementary, middle, and high school so that we can match it up against the existing spaces and buildings. We also want to project enrollments and translate that into space needs as well."

He pointed out that Pittsfield used to have many more students and that education has changed.  Future projects that may be considered are consultation, replacements, or upgrades of existing schools.

The committee will be expected to review and comment on plans, consider grade reconfigurations, consider district boundaries, and review and vote on the statement of interest to the MSBA.

Because of the serious topics being considered, member Alison McGee wants to make sure that the community understands that this plan addresses more than just physical plant improvements.

Superintendent Joseph Curtis said survey questions will be shared with the panel.

"You'll see that the questions go much deeper than the physical plant but really talk about what families are looking for in an educational program as well," he said.

He emphasized that there will be a series of community engagement efforts with a lull in the summer when families are often on vacation.

Cameron said there has not been objection to the idea that the building should accommodate the educational program rather than the educational program accommodating the physical structures.

"In some respects, this is the most important part of the project," he said.

"Is getting as much information as we can from the community, the community including our own staff and so forth, about what we need to be doing in the schools and then look at what we can do the way that schools are now configured."

He added that this is not just about physical space.

"It is a new way of thinking," McGee said.

"We're in a district where everyone does what they can with what they have and so I think the idea of shifting to 'Well what could it be?' is a new way of thinking about it."

Curtis agreed that it is a new way of thinking in the city as compared to the most recent school renovations. Both the $120 million Taconic High School build and the remodeling projects in the 1990s were solely about the physical structures.

He said this study has so many more aspects that could result in modifications to the physical structures or even a new building plan.

"But the structure of the district is paramount in the consideration before any physical modifications or a new building project will be considered," Curtis added.

It was also clarified that the study will address the offering of preschool for all 3- to 4-year-olds.

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