Voters hold up pink slips to approve spending up to $250,000 toward a feasibility study of the 60-year-old elementary school.
CLARKSBURG, Mass. — A special town meeting on Wednesday overwhelmingly voted to fund a feasibility study of the aged elementary school.
The vote of 113-2 to spend up to $250,000 to study a renovation or new building was met with applause after nearly an hour of discussion, most of it focused on assurances that the Massachusetts School Building Authority would reimburse its portion.
Still, some voters questioned if the town should be investing in property instead of academics and in light of talks of regionalization.
"Have they looked at whether the little towns can handle that cost?" asked Steve Cote, noting "Berkshire County is actually shrinking." He wondered if sending children to the new Colegrove Park Elementary School in North Adams would be a more reasonable solution.
Karen Roberts' concern was that town was focusing on structures when school research websites were giving Clarksburg only middling reviews on academics — sites that potential residents could also be using.
"The building doesn't make the school, the people in the building make the school," she said. "Our school rating is in the pits. ... Money invested in this building doesn't improve the standing of the school."
Mary Giron, who works at Clarksburg Elementary, objected that those sites weren't giving a true picture of Clarksburg, which is a level 2 school, higher than North Adams.
"If you go to any of the high schools, the principals will come back to us and tell us they know a Clarksburg kid. The Clarksburg kids are well respected and well educated," she said. "I do not want anyone in the room to think the education in Clarksburg is less than the education in North Adams or any neighboring community."
Superintendent Jonathan Lev said Clarksburg School offers a good education but the condition of the school itself has to be taken into account when families looking to move here visit.
"They know it's a good school and they come and look at it and they look at Williamstown, and where are they going to buy a house?" he asked.
The town has been trying to get into the MSBA's queue for more than a decade. The original 1952 school building has been added onto twice, once in 1967 and again in 1972. Town Administrator Carl McKinney, who attended the school, said the later wooden addition only had an expected lifespan of 20 years — and it's been used for 43.
"It's tired. It's served this community well and has provided high-quality, well-educated students who are in the community now," said McKinney, a former selectman. "If we don't do something, it becomes the responsibility of the town solely and here we have an opportunity that I've been advocating for 13 years. ... Within this building is the future not only of our town, but our county, our state and our country."
Lev said putting off any decisions for another year or more won't fix the issues. The town could end up with no school, and sending students to Colegrove the only option.
And failing to take up the MSBA on its invitation into the feasibility stage could put it back another decade.
"This is a unique opportunity," said resident Matt Boyer. "This is our fist bite at the apple and might be our only bite at the apple."
Select Board Chairman Jeffrey Levanos, also chairman of the School Committee, said the idea of regionalization or closing the school was scary because it was a prime reason why many families move to the small town.
Resident Eric Booth agreed, saying he'd moved here 20 years ago even before he had a family in part because of the school. "We need to keep that magnetic component."
A number of residents were concerned about who would be making decisions, what the timeline would be, when the reimbursements would come back and if they would be locked into building or renovating the school if they agreed to the study.
Wednesday's vote authorized the use of $100,000 from the school stabilization fund — set up specifically for this purpose - and $150,000 from the town stabilization fund. The MSBA will reimburse 62 percent of the cost — or about $155,000. Those monies will reimburse the town with the $5,000 balance going back to the school's fund. Lev said MSBA had been very timely in its reimbursements with a project at Gabriel Abbott School.
The feasibility study is part of the first phase of the project along with setting up a school building committee and authorizing the funding. The school building committee — comprised of interested individuals who fill categories set out by the MSBA — will vote on a firm to do the study. Once completed, the committee will hold public meetings to determine the best option to submit to the MSBA. Lev hoped to have that done by spring.
Once the MSBA approves, more work will go into the details and cost estimates before a final figure is approved; the town would have to vote to authorize any project to go forward.
"This is not the last vote," said McKinney. "This is the first in a long series of actions that we as a community have to take together."
Finance Committee Chairman Mark Denault said his committee had endorsed the study because without it, the town would just be guessing at numbers.
"Nobody has a crystal ball for the future," he said, responding to whether the town should pursue regionalization. "Should we looking at that? We don't know because we don't have a figure to work with."
Any further spending on the school would be completely separate discussions, Denault said.
"We can't go any further without this feasibility study," said Levanos. "This will get us to the next phase and the next phase will answer just about everybody's questions."
In other business:
• The special town meeting also authorized transferring $3,000 from funds approved at the annual town meeting to move an underground oil tank to be used to fix the Chevrolet Impala police cruiser. Some $25,000 had been approved in May in case of soil remediation but the tank was taken out whole and in good condition.
• Voters also OK'd using $14,000 for repairs at Town Hall and the Senior Center roof, which had come in higher than anticipated. The total amount had originally been for Town Hall. The Finance Committee said it could not endorse the spending because it had not been supplied with a promised list of repairs and had been unaware the Senior Center had been added.
• Moderator Bryan Tanner asked that anyone interested in serving on the Finance Committee contact him. The committee is currently short one person and will lose another at the end of next fiscal year.
northadams.com welcomes critical, respectful dialogue. Name-calling, personal attacks, libel, slander or foul language is not allowed. All comments are reviewed before posting and will be deleted or edited as necessary.
MEMBER SIGN IN
Voters hold up pink slips to approve spending up to $250,000 toward a feasibility study of the 60-year-old elementary school. 
