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Clarksburg School Preparing for MSBA Enrollment Discussions
By Tammy Daniels, iBerkshires Staff
02:09AM / Friday, September 04, 2015
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Principal Tara Barnes explains the emergency drills planned for the school year.
CLARKSBURG, Mass. — School officials will be speaking with Massachusetts School Building Authority later in September about enrollment numbers as they pursue a new or renovated school.
 
"This discussion will be on the number of kids the school will be rebuilt or renovated for," Superintendent Jonathan Lev told the School Committee on Thursday. "I think we will also be able to ask about feasibility costs."
 
A town meeting is expected to be held in October to determine if the school will move forward with a feasibility study. At that point, discussions can begin about what will be wanted in the school. 
 
Lev said he has been providing the MSBA with data related to enrollment and the birth rate, which has declined over the years.
 
"The number of Clarksburg kids has gone down but with school choice [enrollment] has held steady ... it's in the 180 range," he said. "And preK, we will fill up a preK class no issue." 
 
Lev believes that building a new school will increase real estate prices and attract young families. That may give the town an edge even as other school populations decline in Berkshire County.
 
"I really feel that Clarksburg is one of the places we can maintain or possibly increase [enrollment],"  he said. "A lot depends on the economy but I think the potential, should we get this new school, is very positive for Clarksburg."
 
The School Committee also heard a report from new Principal Tara Barnes, who started this summer. 
 
Barnes said she had met one on one with each member of the faculty over the summer and started the school year off with a professional development session focused on team building. 
 
"A recurring theme was ''we want to be a team again and we felt we haven't been a strong team," she told the committee. The session was designed to build trust and communication between faculty and give them a chance to discuss things other than education and work.  
 
"What we did was to re-energize staff and reconnect ... I think it was really well received."
 
She also developed a short digital survey that could be filled out anonymously about goals and other aspects of school; she will bring the results to the next meeting.
 
"We're breaking into committees on character and academics and defining what it means to be a student at Clarksburg,"  Barnes said. "We know great things happen here." 
 
The school also welcomed three new staff members working in special education and a teaching position has been posted to fill an unexpected vacancy.
 
There will also be some excitement as the school community runs several emergency drills in the coming weeks. Barnes said parents will be notified of the actions.
 
The website is also being updated and mostly unused calendar being populated. Barnes said she plans on uploading profiles of each teacher with information about them and that several teachers indicated interest in linking to a classroom page. 
 
Lev also updated the committee on the Berkshire County Education Task Force, which is looking at collaborations, consolidations, financial stability and educational opportunities countywide.
 
Diana and Bernie Belouin love working at the school but thought the substitute rates should be more 'competitive.'
He had initially been reluctant to take on another obligation, "but when I saw who was on the committee, I felt the small towns and small schools needed to be represented and they weren't."
 
Any concerns and issues the committee had about the process he said he would bring to the task force, as well as keep school officials informed on what was happening.

In other business, longtime substitutes Diana and Bernie Belouin formally asked the School Committee to consider raising its rates. Both said Clarksburg was their favorite school to work at but the pay was less than other schools in the area and they thought the rates "should be more competitive."

 
According to the Belouins, North Adams and Stamford, Vt., pay $75 a day; Williamstown and Adams-Cheshire $80; and Berkshire Arts and Technology Public Charter School $10.65 an hour. McCann Technical pays $70 for the first 10 days, but jumps to $100 thereafter.
 
Lev said Florida and Savoy also pay $70. He said he could not tell if raising the rates would affect the substitute budget because its use varied greatly from year to year. He did note that there was a strong list of willing substitutes because Clarksburg was a good place to work. 
 
"This is a good place to substitute," he said. "You have a nicer day than in some other places."
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