Stearns Elementary has been excluded from the conversations regarding the consolidation of Conte and Crosby schools and will not be part of that project but may be included in the feasibility study in terms of long-range plans.

Stearns is in the zone with Conte and Crosby in the 'three zone' map presented at the last meeting but officials say this does not indicate it will be merged as the zones are not specific.  

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Stearns Elementary School was not included in Crosby/Conte planning documents sent to the Massachusetts School Building Authority. 

This was clarified on Wednesday, before the School Committee endorsed the district and MSBA’s examination of a three-zone, long-term option for reorganizing and consolidating the elementary level.  

"MSBA is not moving forward at this time with a feasibility study that includes any consolidation except the possibility of merging Conte and Crosby at the new school," Chair William Cameron reported after a discussion with the funding authority. 

"That said, MSBA is not averse to having discussions, as part of the feasibility study, of what it would take to realize an objective such as this over an extended period, with the consolidation of Conte and Crosby being the first stage in a multi-stage process." 

The Pittsfield Public Schools are seeking funding for a rebuild and consolidation of John C. Crosby Elementary and Silvio O. Conte Community School on the Crosby property. MSBA is a quasi-independent government entity that helps fund the construction of school buildings. 

At the last meeting, concern arose when it was observed that Stearns Elementary, on Lebanon Avenue, is an outlier and would be absorbed into the new building. The map is based on a rough estimation of the attendance zones, and has been presented at meetings over the past year and a half. 

Cameron said the three zones are not essential to the plan. 

"It could be any number of zones, actually, but we'd like to have an opportunity to discuss with them as the funders for whatever it is that we're talking about long term, how what we're planning to do in the next, say, two or three years, could fit into a larger-scale, longer-term project," he explained. 

Interim Superintendent Latifah Phillips reported that they have until Oct. 31 to validate enrollment numbers for Crosby and Conte. She said the MSBA is "very clear" that the conversation right now is about combining those two schools. 

"And then during the feasibility study, if we provide a letter that we are intending to look at a future redistricting of the district, and we'd like that to be included in the dialogue of the feasibility plan, they will consider it," she added. 

Cameron, taking responsibility, said some people may have left the last meeting with the impression that "it’s a done deal that Stearns is in this consolidation model." 

"It isn't," he said. 

"… Other options may be discussed. There may or may not be a plan emerge, but the intent was certainly not to drop something on people without laying any foundation for where we're going, and I think that impression may have been left, and I want to dispel that. The plan that MSBA is going to work with us on, and that we sought their assistance with, is only for those two schools." 

Committee member William Garrity said the motion gives them the flexibility, as promised when the project began, to have the feasibility study examine this further. 

Vice Chair Daniel Elias said this will put some people’s minds at ease, "and I'm glad that it played out this way, and we're taking a vote tonight on a little different measure." 

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