Update from the Mt.

Greylock Regional School Committee

and the Lanesborough Elementary School Committee
September 17, 2015
The mission of the Mt. Greylock Regional School Committee and the Lanesborough Elementary
School Committee is to serve our communities by providing a high quality, affordable education
to our students. Mt. Greylock Regional School has an excellent educational program but the
building is failing and costly to maintain. We now have the rare opportunity to remedy the facility
and ensure the schools continued success. At this critical time for our communities we offer the
following observations about our regional partnership, the building project, and our path forward.
Mt. Greylock Regional School District simply does not exist without both member towns,
Lanesborough and Williamstown. This partnership, first established in 1958 to build the current
Mt. Greylock School building, sustains and enhances the academic program, school culture,
athletic program, arts program and the many other extracurricular activities in which 80% of our
students participate. With about 100 students per grade, the school is considered to be an
optimal size for the delivery of a rich academic program and other opportunities for individual
learning critical to our student experience.1
The deep commitment to this long-term partnership has recently been affirmed in two important
ways. The first is a study by the Regional District Amendment Committee, composed of school
committee members, faculty, community members, and leadership from both towns and all
three schools in the Tri-District. (The Tri-District was formed in 2010 as a cost sharing measure
and has saved our member towns hundreds of thousands of dollars annually.) This committee
examined full preK-12 regionalization of education, and after four months of research and
community forums, voted unanimously to recommend full regionalization. The Mt. Greylock
Committee then voted unanimously to send this proposal to the towns for a vote. (This was
subsequently delayed in favor of focusing on the building project.) The second affirmation was
the near unanimous vote by residents at the annual meeting in each town to contribute funds
toward the feasibility study for a comprehensive building project at the school -- a project
essential to the future of education in our towns. Its evident to us that the students, faculty,
administrators, and town residents are also deeply committed to the ongoing partnership.
After a decade of persistent applications, Mt. Greylock was accepted into the Massachusetts
School Building Authoritys program as a 7-12 school district, allowing the District to receive
significant reimbursement from the state for a building project. Over the past two years, the
School Building Committee has worked with the MSBA, the project manager, the architects and
the public to develop the most educationally sound and cost effective design for the facility. Both
the Building Committee and the School Committee recently voted to advance a
renovation/addition plan that will allow for the reuse of a significant portion of the existing
1

http://www.usca.edu/essays/vol132005/slate.pdf

structure. This option saves the towns millions of dollars compared to comprehensive
renovations or new construction, while also yielding the best educational opportunities. The
improvements being made are essential not only to the safety and educational needs of
students and teachers, but also for long-term fiscal stewardship. With a smaller, more energyefficient facility, we can anticipate lower maintenance and operating costs over the life of the
building.
Recognizing the importance of an equitable cost sharing agreement as we look at a 29-year
bond to finance the project, the District anticipates proposing a revised Regional Agreement at
special town meetings this fall with a new capital apportionment formula that will reflect the
changing student populations and capital values of each community.
Mt. Greylock is currently one of the the highest performing middle/high schools in the region.
The schools outstanding rankings in MCAS scores, placement on the AP Honor Roll, levels of
extracurricular participation, and national rankings all distinguish MGRSD, and are rightfully
viewed as a source of pride and a validation of the values and hard work of our two
communities.
Recent discussions of the possibility of dissolving the Region are disconcerting. The Mt.
Greylock School Committee and the Lanesborough Elementary School Committee are
unanimously committed to remaining one educational community, as we strongly believe that
the Tri-District collaboration is in the best interests of all our children. Unfortunately, informal
proposals on realignments, even if they do not materialize, could prove devastatingly costly if
they confuse voters about the building project or cause us to miss the deadlines set by the
MSBA. Stepping out of the MSBA building process would result in the loss of significant state
dollars and force the District to make much more expensive, inefficient piecemeal repairs and
renovations that will not address long term needs or lower building operating costs the way the
proposed renovation/addition will. A decade or more would likely pass before any
reimbursement could be secured from the state for repairs, renovations or a new building.
We understand that a significant capital project is a serious undertaking for voters in both
member towns. In the face of such a decision, proposals that appear to save money can be
very appealing. We ask that voters please understand the facts, and do so quickly, so that our
communities can stay on track in serving our students and the longer-term best interests of our
communities.
The suggestion by the town managers of Adams and Cheshire that the residents of
Lanesborough consider leaving the Mt. Greylock Region and sending their students to Hoosac
Valley fails to address many of the most basic questions including:How would the quality of
education change for our students? How long would the proposed special tuition rate last?
What financial responsibilities would fall to the town of Lanesborough, in addition to tuition?
As advocates of education and as stewards of schools for the two towns, we have asked those
expressing interest in dissolving our successful region to present a detailed, specific proposal to

the Mt. Greylock and Lanesborough Elementary School Committees by October 1st so that we
can deliberate in open meetings and provide recommendations to the towns that will protect the
education of our students and the financial well-being of our towns. We ask the residents of both
Williamstown and Lanesborough to voice their views on these developments. We suggest
residents of Adams-Cheshire do the same. We live in a democracy and while such discussions
may be difficult, holding them in open meetings is important to us all, and imperative to
articulating and reaching our educational goals for our students.
We believe that without an offer in writing that addresses all the relevant concerns, moving
forward with the discussion of Lanesborough leaving the region would cause significant harm to
our school and our students.
Lanesborough Elementary School Committee
Mt. Greylock Regional School District Committee
More information:
https://sites.google.com/site/mgrsdwiki/