WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Not all the talk at last Tuesday's Mount Greylock Regional School Committee focused on allegations of state law violations or rehashing of budget battles from the local elementary school.

 

Principal Mary MacDonald gave the committee a list of the colleges at which members of the class of 2016 have been accepted. Several members of the class have been accepted at multiple competitive colleges and universities, she said.

 

"There was a comment from an admissions counselor at Middlebury (Vt.), where we had three students accepted," MacDonald said. "The admissions person said that this year the applications from Mount Greylock looked like they were from [New Hampshire prep school] Phillips Exeter with the kinds of scores and the kinds of extracurricular and co-curricular opportunities."

 

MacDonald touched on the college plans of soon-to-be graduates as part of a monthly presentation apprising the committee of recent accomplishments by Mount Greylock students.

 

The School Committee also dealt with topics ranging from the addition/renovation project to the dangers of opioids in a meeting that stretched well into the third hour.

 

The evening began where the committee's previous meeting started, with concerns from Mount Greylock retirees that the district could unilaterally increase the retirees' contribution to their health benefits.

 

Joan Devoe shared with the committee her personal battle with cancer and explained how its continuing threat makes good health insurance coverage a critical part of her life.

 

"A year after I retired, I was diagnosed with a rare cancer," said Devoe, a retired speech therapist. "The news was devastating, but at least I had the comfort that after a total of 33 years teaching I had excellent health plan coverage that I was thankful for."

 

Devoe said she just celebrated her fourth year in remission.

 

"My oncologist said I will be lucky to make it to five, but I'm out to prove him wrong," Devoe said.

 

She told the School Committee that during her time at Mount Greylock, the teachers union was asked to make concessions during difficult financial times, and it did so. Those former employees deserve the same loyalty from the district that they showed the district, she said.

 

"We did not enter teaching to get rich, but we did make a commitment to stay at Mount Greylock," Devoe said.

 

"Now, as retirees, we are powerless to negotiate."

 

Devoe asked why the retirees group that appeared at committee's April meeting did not hear from the committee in the weeks that followed. Chris Dodig of the School Committee's Negotiations Subcommittee explained that he did not have contact information for a leader of the retirees group and asked them to give him a name so he could sit down one-on-one and talk about the options the district might explore.

 

Mount Greylock school nurse Nichole Russell addressed the committee to explain the district's procedure for administering Narcan, a drug that reverses the effects from an overdose of heroin or other opiods.

 

"Deaths from opioid abuse are on the rise," Russell said. "We need to be prepared. According to the Department of Public Health, at least 75 percent of school districts have Narcan.

 

"Faculty and staff are trained at the beginning of the year to recognize the signs of an overdose, but only a nurse can administer it."

 

Russell and MacDonald told the committee that if the school finds evidence that a student is involved with opioids, it communicates with parents and the child's physician to work on finding treatment options. The school also would look to local resources like the Brien Center in North Adams.

 

The School Committee also took action to expedite the school building project, slated to break ground this summer. In order to maintain the project's ambitious timeline, the School Building Committee asked that School Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Greene and Superintendent Douglas Dias, both members of the building committee, be given signing authority for change orders that may arise between meetings of the committees.

 

Greene told her colleagues that there will be a team looking at proposed change orders on a regular basis, and that team, which includes the chair and co-chair of the building committee, will be relying on the advice of the owner's project manager who has provided guidance since the beginning of the district's feasibility study.

 

The School Committee considered attaching a dollar limit to the change order authority but decided against it.

 

"When you get to this stage, you don't want to slow it down," district counsel Fred Dupere told the committee. "On occasion, there will be very large authorizations."

 

Dupere suggested language for the motion to approve the change order authority, including a provision that any changes made will be discussed at the next available meetings of the School Building Committee and School Committee.

 

MacDonald talked to the School Committee about the changes that will be made to the existing building over the summer as the building project gets under way.

 

The most obvious change will be the elimination of the current main entrance. The new entrance will be at the south end of the building's east side, near the current guidance office. The guidance and school administration offices will be flipping in order to allow the main office to monitor visitors during the day.

 

Meanwhile, the auditorium and band room — along with the Tri-District administration offices — will be shut down as that section of the building is gutted.

 

MacDonald showed the committee a layout of how the school will look when students return in September. Notably, the gym, cafeteria, library and most of the classrooms will remain as is — marked on the schematic in white, indicating no change.

 

Nevertheless, she said, the school will add additional orientation tours this summer, allowing returning students to come and learn about the changes. The school routinely holds tours during the summer for new students.