66cf9d529545c8d7301d4462 New Greylock Edited

Facilities Management

North Adams (Massachusetts) district seeks to replace shuttered elementary

Aug. 28, 2024

The 71-year-old Greylock Elementary was closed earlier this year because of deteriorating building conditions.

The North Adams (Massachusetts) school district shut down Greylock Elementary earlier this year because of poor building conditions, but will ask voters in October to approve local funding to construct a replacement.

Spectrum News 1 reports that building a new Greylock Elementary for grades pre-K through 2 is projected to cost around $65 million.

The Massachusetts School Building Authority would provide about $42 million, and North Adams voters must approve the remaining amount. The election is scheduled for Oct. 8.

North Adams Superintendent Barbara Malkas says several problems led to the closure of Greylock, which opened in 1953. The facility was plagued by flooding and outdated systems that couldn't be repaired or were too costly to repair. In addition, the roof is deteriorating and leaking.

“You can see where we’ve had some water damage." Malkas says. "End of spring, if we’ve had a snowy winter, there’s a lot of melt from the roofs. We can have a line of buckets here with water dripping in.”

If funding is approved, the school building will be razed and a new campus would open in 2027.

About the Author

Mike Kennedy | Senior Editor

Mike Kennedy has been writing about education for American School & University since 1999. He also has reported on schools and other topics for The Chicago Tribune, The Kansas City Star, The Kansas City Times and City News Bureau of Chicago. He is a graduate of Michigan State University.