GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. - The Berkshire Hills Regional School District is back in the Massachusetts School Building Authority’s pipeline to renovate or rebuild Monument Mountain Regional High School.
The next step for the district is to have the towns approve funding of a feasibility study for the project by this summer.
Earlier this month, the school committee voted to borrow $1.5 million for the study, which needs to be paid for by the three member towns of Great Barrington, Stockbridge, and West Stockbridge.
This week, the Great Barrington select board voted to put the approval of its town’s portion on this summer’s town meeting warrant. West Stockbridge agreed to do the same two weeks ago, and Stockbridge will vote next week.
Superintendent Peter Dillon told the Great Barrington select board, after voters rejected plans to renovate the aging school in 2014, this time, it’s now or never.
“I think this is the only shot we’re going to have with the MSBA in the foreseeable future,” said Dillon. “I think our educational plan is more sophisticated, we did all this legwork that got us back here, but I think the next two years, we’re going to spend a tremendous amount of time making a compelling case to the voters.”
The result of the study would be to recommend a proposal for the project to the three towns for approval. Dillon estimated the soonest a vote on a final proposal could happen would be the fall of 2023.