PITTSFIELD, Mass.— If local approval is secured in the fall, the district will have 2 1/2 years to complete a feasibility study for the Crosby/Conte school project.

The eligibility period for Massachusetts School Building Authority funding begins on Feb. 3 and will conclude on Oct. 31 with a vote from the City Council. In that time, a number of boxes have to be checked off including enrollment studies and maintenance and capital planning.

Last week, the School Building Needs Commission accepted MSBA's letter of invitation for the eligibility period and a 270-day eligibility module. The timeline requires a school building committee that oversees the project formed by early April, making Pittsfield somewhat ahead of the game.

"This letter was received in pretty quick fashion after the board meeting on Friday, Dec. 13, where myself, Mayor [Peter] Marchetti, and other school and city officials attended and at that board meeting, they announced that they would be accepting our statement of interest into the 270-day eligibility period," Superintendent Joseph Curtis said.

He emphasized that this is not an invitation to conduct a feasibility study. A feasibility study agreement must occur within the eligibility period, establishing the process and parameters for reimbursement and giving 913 days for the study and schematic design.

The School Committee and City Council are set to vote on the funds for the study, about $1.5 million with 80 percent reimbursement, before Oct. 31.

The district is seeking funding for a combined build of Crosby Elementary School and Silvio O. Conte Community School at 517 West St. The invitation is for grades prekindergarten to 5 and the potential to examine the consolidation of Crosby with Conte and relocating fifth-grade students from the two elementary schools to the middle schools, serving prekindergarten to fourth grade.

Another option in the Crosby/Conte plan is the potential to house grades prekindergarten to first grade in one school and Grades 2 to 4 in another, with both maintaining their own identities and administrations.