Superintendent Joseph Curtis reviews the deadlines for making recommendations on the middle school restructuring.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Middle School Restructuring Committee will form a proposal in the next couple of weeks.

On Monday, members divided into groups to prepare for a consensus that is expected on Feb. 10.  The two-year effort to rework Pittsfield's middle school model will conclude with a recommendation to the School Committee on February 12.

A grade configuration that retains sixth grade in elementary school has risen to the top as the most popular option.  However, the committee could also recommend spending more time on the proposal.

"This really did not begin as a middle school conversation," Superintendent Joseph Curtis said.

He reminded the group that this conservation was originally about replacing the city's open space schools, Morningside Community School and Crosby Community School, but evolved to focus on middle schools. State Rep. Tricia Farley Bouvier secured funding for a districtwide study and it became clear that the project was wider reaching.

As the study done by DRA Architects evolved, it began to center around the prospect of providing universal prekindergarten, which the current model doesn't provide space for.

"Also, there was a motivation for our students to experience greater parity no matter where they live in our city," Curtis explained. "If you have been a member or educator at our schools with higher poverty rates, you know some of the realities with that."

He reflected on his career formerly working at Conte and Morningside, adding, "There's so many realities which I won't get into tonight."

A FAQ sheet shows Conte has nearly 90 percent low-income students and Williams Elementary School has less than 34 percent. Curtis noted that teacher retention and performance rates show similar trends.

During a budget workshop last week, he reported that about 71 percent of attending PPS students are living in poverty. This pushed the city into Group 11 for Chapter 70 funding.

There was also a desire to provide more focused, grade-specific cohorts of students.

"If we wanted to take the open space schools out of service and Crosby as well, we can't just take those three buildings out of service and have all the kids go to the rest of the schools," he said, noting that each school would have to hold 500 students.

This is where the grade alignment discussion began.

The favored alternative grade alignment is divided by: Universal PK-1, 2-4, 5-6, 7-8, 9-SP.

Curtis pointed out that there were 13 restructuring presentations last year coupled with a survey.

"It was the alignment that was talked about the most and why was it talked about the most? No matter how you might feel about it, it's the alignment that can work the best, with a building project in our existing buildings," he said.

"I will say it's still not perfect, though."

Running parallel to this is an effort to rebuild Crosby Elementary School and Conte on Crosby's site.  The project was accepted into the Massachusetts School Building Authority's queue and the City Council will vote on a feasibility study by Halloween.

The study, estimated to cost about $1.5 million, is a part of the 80 percent reimbursable costs from the MSBA.

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