J SWYGART, Decatur Daily Democrat

     A committee of local parents, business professionals and educators charged with reducing annual operating expenses at North Adams Community Schools on Tuesday evening submitted to the board of education a list of recommendations which, if adopted in its entirety, could save the school district more than $1 million annually.

Topping that list of suggested budget cuts, to the surprise of few of the approximately 100 residents in attendance at the special board meeting, was a proposal to close one of the district’s three elementary school buildings.

     Committee co-chairman Trois Hart said closing one elementary facility – along with the reduction of three teaching positions, one administrator, two custodians and one secretary – would save the school district an estimated $490,000 annually.

    Hart and the committee stopped short, however, of recommending which of the three elementary buildings should be shuttered. “We’re not prepared to recommend which school to close; that’s up to the board of education and the administration to decide,” she said.

    The $1 million in annual savings, as outlined in a committee handout, could be achieved without a reduction in the teaching staff, although educators who have already announced plans to retire at the end of the current school year would not be replaced.

    Coupled with the proposal to close an elementary building was a committee recommendation that all fifth-graders in the district be relocated to Bellmont Middle School. The two remaining elementary buildings would house students in kindergarten through grade four. Committee members said their proposal would lead to a better utilization of district facilities, most of which are now operating at well below recommended capacity. Bellmont Middle School, along with Northwest and Monmouth elementary schools, currently utilize only 55 percent of available space. Southeast Elementary has a 70 percent utilization rate.

    “Closing one elementary building is the largest single way to reduce overhead, because it is not financially prudent to operate at 55 percent capacity,” Hart said. "I do not want to close school buildings any more than parents or teachers do, but building walls do not inspire students to learn — teachers do."

     Additional budget reductions throughout the district, said Hart, could be realized by automating payroll services ($20,000 annual savings), the outsourcing of custodial services ($130,000 savings), and through the elimination of one administrative position, along with two teaching positions currently held by pending retirees ($304,000 savings). It was the committee's recommendation that one principal oversee the two remaining elementary schools.

     Unspecified savings in transportation could be realized, according to the committee, through the sale of 10 unneeded school buses and by the establishment — in conjunction with Adams Central and South Adams schools — of a county-wide bus pool.