City and state officials recently celebrated the ceremonial groundbreaking of a new high school in Pittsfield. Planning for the school extended through three mayoral administrations.Jason McCandless is the fifth Pittsfield Public Schools superintendent to work on the Taconic High School project that started about a decade ago.
“We celebrate much more than concrete, bricks or steel,” McCandless said at the groundbreaking. “We celebrate potential and hope. We celebrate that we believe that Pittsfield has a positive economic and social vision that we can achieve.”
Following talk of combining with Pittsfield High School on one campus, the decision was made to build a new Taconic and demolish the existing school, which was built in 1969. Taylor Hebert is a senior at Taconic, home to about 775 students.
“It’s about giving students a place to learn where the temperature won’t change 15 to 20 degrees in each classroom, where sopping wet ceiling tiles won’t come crashing down around us and where students with disabilities will have equal access to all areas of the building,” said Hebert.
The 246,500-sqaure foot building is designed with vocational and technical skills in mind. Area political and business leaders have cited a skills gap among young people as one of the top regional issues. State Treasurer Deborah Goldberg heads the Massachusetts School Building Authority, which approved $74 million for the new school.
“As we work with local communities, the educational plan and the structure of the building are conducive to teamwork,” Goldberg explained. “To collaborative workspaces, flex workspaces and very importantly…the 21st century technology and science labs.”
Although she won’t see the finished product as a Taconic student, Hebert says the new school will put its learners on equal footing with kids at other technical schools across the state.
“Four years ago I chose to enroll at Taconic because of the career and technical opportunities offered here,” Hebert said. “Although I presumed I would go into the culinary arts or health technology program, during freshman rotations I found that I very much enjoyed welding. I was ultimately accepted into the metal fabrication program and I learned so much more than I could have anticipated.”
As the Pittsfield City Council was reviewing the school’s design and funding formula, some in the community called for a citywide vote on building the school. That never came about and in April 2015, all 11 city councilors approved borrowing nearly $121 million for the project. Linda Tyer succeeded Dan Bianchi, who attended the groundbreaking, as Pittsfield’s mayor in January.
“It’s tempting sometimes to think that when communities fall on difficult financial times to dial back the investments,” Tyer said. “I happen to believe that that is precisely when you should invest. It is now that we need to build this school for our future learners.”
Work on Valentine Road has already started, making some of Taconic’s athletic fields unusable. The new school is expected to open in September 2018.
