Berkshire Hills Regional School District (BHRSD)

The Regional School District Planning Board (RSDPB) has been meeting for two years with a 24- member committee representing 8 towns. The group has been gathering data, on many topics, and is now reacting to our consultants’ report and recommendations. The big questions are should we: collaborate, consolidate 9-12, or consolidate PK-12?

The website 8towns.org is very thorough and has several reports including recommendations in the resources section.

In the next several weeks and months the group will continue to meet with support from The Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service to make sense of the range of possibilities, advantages and disadvantages, and then possibly decide to make its own recommendation and consider next steps. Next steps will likely include additional community engagement. Additional steps may include parting ways or potentially writing and negotiating a new regional agreement, and possibly taking that agreement to a vote.

Education, enrollment, and opportunities are all in flux and the next several months will have a big impact on what happens with our schools. Please dig in, study existing documents, attend meetings, and share your opinions around what your hopes and expectations are. This page is a great way to contact the RSDPB and to share your thoughts.

The potential impact of consolidation on our hopeful new high school project would be to either keep the current size or expand it to accommodate new students. Those options will be studied.

As always, feel free to reach out to me with any questions — Peter.Dillon@bhrsd.org

Next issue, I’ll share some updates on Project Connection, our grant funded extended-day and summer programs which provide hands on learning opportunities in collaboration with many community partners.