Representatives of the towns of Great Barrington, Stockbridge and West Stockbridge – the Berkshire Hills Regional School District – sat down with the members of the Southern Berkshire Regional School District — Sheffield, Alford, Egremont, Monterey, and New Marlborough at the Sheffield Senior Center.
“For the last three years, representatives of the eight towns of the Berkshire Hills Regional School District and Southern Berkshire Regional School District have been meeting to discuss whether a merger is a viable option for the eight towns," said Steve Bannon, chair of the Berkshire Hills Regional School District school committee, chair of the Great Barrington selectboard, and member of the Regional School District Planning Board.
“So, last night was the first time that in my memory, and maybe in the last 25 years, that all the select boards of the eight towns, of the two school districts’ finance committees, and members of the public all sat down at once to hear why a merger should happen, or could happen, and what the proposal is from the Regional School District Planning Board,” Bannon told WAMC.
In July, members of the Eight Town School District Regional Planning Board voted 16-2 to endorse the merger proposal with two abstentions.
“What's being proposed is that all schools from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade stay as they are, and the high schools would merge into a single new school on the Berkshire Hills Regional School District Monument Mountain campus," Bannon continued. "And number two is that there would be a new regional agreement, which would change the way we allocate our funds to the eight towns.”
Currently, the two districts combined enrollment totals around 1,700 students, down from almost 2,700 in the year 2000.
For his part, Bannon supports the plan.
“I look at this as mostly all pros, and that being that our students will get a better education, our towns will save some money, and we will be a viable district one district for a long time into the future," he told WAMC. "You know, there are cons, there are always going to be some things are going to be lost- Identity, so to speak. But it's really, to me, it’s minor what's going to be lost as opposed to what's going to be gained.”
The new combined high school in Great Barrington would also address longstanding concerns about Monument Mountain Regional High School’s need for a physical overhaul.
Some members of the Southern Berkshire Regional School District school committee stand in stark opposition.
“I do not feel that this is beneficial for our district," said Kimberly Alcantara of Monterey. "I do feel some place down the road, a merge might be a good thing, just not in this particular platform that they're offering. I have high concerns because they do not have a cost of a building. They have no educational pathway.”
Alcantara not only sits on the SBRSD school committee, but is a member of the merger committee and the parent of three children in the district.
“We are so far apart on our educational views, and our pathways," she told WAMC. "Last night's meeting, they showed that some of the things that they had been touting on what they want for CTE, which is kind of misleading to the people of Southern Berkshire, or even to Berkshire Hills, was not programming that they were going to be offering.”
Alcantara is referring to Career Technical Education, known in Massachusetts as Chapter 74 programs that are designed to prepare students for entry-level positions in a variety of specialty fields.
“One of the things that people have been saying is plumbing and electrical and HVAC and more construction building, and what they were offering up is more of childcare, cosmetology, building maintenance, things that can be done on a Pathways program versus [CTE], without the expenditures,” she said.
Innovation Career Pathways are state-designed programs that prepare students for industries like information technology, engineering, healthcare, life sciences and advanced manufacturing careers.
Alcantara is advising residents of the eight communities to vote against the merger this fall.
“We're working off a 2019 and prior estimation for a building that they don't have plans for," she told WAMC. "I mean, there's so much information that is not included in this and they need to realize that and they need to really seriously look. I mean, I'm all for combined services where as two school districts, we share our goods, our bads, and our teachers, our knowledge, our sports teams. I mean, we could have done this a totally different way. But because [Great] Barrington needs a new school, this is why it's being pushed in that direction.”
Another SBRSD school committee member disagrees with Alcantara.
“The statistics are can't really be denied, and a lot of people are either not listening to them, or misrepresenting the figures. And you have to look at a long-term decline in population and an aging of the population. The fastest declining age group is 5 to 19. The fastest growing age group – this is in the whole Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and it's more serious in Berkshire County and on the Cape and islands because of the demographics – so, the fastest rising population is 65 plus, that's the age group. They're not producing too many school-aged kids," said Carl Stewart of Alford. “The high school graduating class at Mount Everett this year was I think, 42 or 43. You just can't sustain quality education and comprehensive education without- And you listen to some of these people speaking, and one of the issues that was immediately apparent to me, is that one of the things that that our schools are remiss in teaching is critical thinking. This is magical thinking.”
The superintendents of the two districts don’t see eye to eye on the merger.
“Some of the benefits are, it gives us a slightly bigger high school, it lets us offer a wider range of programming, and it appears to be a little more cost efficient to run a slightly bigger school than to smaller schools,” said Peter Dillon, the head of Berkshire Hills.
“I don't see any financial benefit for this, at least for our five towns," said Beth Regulbuto, who leads Southern Berkshire. "I think we have to really look at the economy. The school district is probably the second largest employer of jobs. What does this do for our families when housing is in crisis? How are they going to be able to afford this if we're increasing taxes and reducing jobs available? It's a big deal.”
Each of the eight towns will vote on the school district merger proposal at individual meetings in and around late October.
