School project managers Colegrove Park Elementary School is compliant with state code and will be safe for students and staff, despite rumors to the contrary.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — School project planners are being quick to respond to what they say are unfounded rumors regarding the safety of the new Colegrove Park Elementary School.

Margo Jones, principal of Jones Whitsett Architects, the school's designer, released a letter on Thursday addressed to the "erroneous, malicious rumors that were expressed on community TV."

A caller to the show "Let's Talk About It," on Northern Berkshire Community Television the other night claimed that she had spoken with tradespeople on the site who were "saying how they're cutting corners and how unsafe it is."

"Who is making sure this building is going to be safe for students, faculty and staff?" she asked. The show also alleged that contractors onsite were reporting shortcuts and inferior materials being used in an attempt to keep the project on budget. Referrals were made to black mold, fire proofing on steel trusses and asbestos.

Jones says none of the allegations are true.

"This state-funded building project has been highly scrutinized during design by our staff and consulting engineers, and by a second, independent team of commissioning engineers and structural engineers," she wrote. "While in construction, the project is frequently inspected for life safety concerns by consulting engineers, the North Adams building inspector, North Adams Fire Chief and others."

The school has been a divisive factor in city politics for several years. The former Conte Middle School was shuttered in 2007 over budgetary and building issues; the city at that time began seeking help from the state to solve the resulting overcrowding issues in its three elementary schools.

The solution preferred by the School Building Commitee and the Massachusetts School Building Authority was a rehabilitation of the 100-year-old Conte, which had formerly been the high school. Several other options were rejected as being too costly and structurally problematic (rehabbing Sullivan School), as not addressing the more serious condition of Sullivan (renovating Greylock) or simply failed to win over any supporters (building a new school for 620 kids at Greylock). MSBA shot down a query about a two-school option: Conte and Greylock.

The Conte option was approved by the MSBA after nearly three years of study, including a re-examination of Sullivan School after parents and others complained. Even after the project was approved, a citizens' petition forced a vote on the project that nearly sunk it.

The lone City Council vote against a resolution supporting the school was John Barrett III, currently running in an attempt to regain the mayor's office. The community television show is hosted by Robert Moulton Jr., who is running for City Council, and Edward Morandi, both Barrett supporters.

The school project, now dubbed Colegrove Park Elementary, has been dogged by delays since beginning in May 2014, which has likely helped spark many of the rumors. It had been hoped the school would open in September but delays have pushed to after the first of the year.

Mayor Richard Alcombright on Thursday said he had asked for a written statement from the project overseers at the regularly scheduled construction meeting. That was done to address both Sullivan staff concerns and that raised by School Committee member Mark Moulton at Tuesday's meeting, he said.

"It's very, very discouraging when you have people who are ill informed who will just say anything to shake things up," he said. "I'm confident in the report I got from the architect and we'll move on."

As to rumors that some tradespeople are taking pictures of shortcuts being made to defend themselves later, the mayor said, if it was true, "shame on them."

"They can furnish them to me," he said. "Shame on them for not telling the people who are in charge or supposed to know about this."

In her two-page letter, Jones specifically addressed the steel beams, black mold and asbestos. The steel structural beams do not have a fire resistant coating because by building code it is not needed, she said: "Colegrove is a relatively small building that is fully sprinklered. The steel is well protected by the systems in place; the fire chief, the design team, and the building code official are enforcing current state building code standards in full."

Asbestos was found in several areas in the building and removed; what is left has been undisturbed and covered, and therefore did not have to be abated under Massachusetts code.

"We assure you that Massachusetts has one of the highest standards for environmental regulation of hazardous materials nationally, and the project has been stringently documented and abated," Jones wrote.

No black mold was found, although mildew was discovered as workers "uncovered areas of wall that had not been cleaned in 100 years." There were also condensation issues found below grade that were resolved with additional waterproofing and insulation.

The documentation of the school reconstruction, including a 3,000-page report on asbestos abatement, are part of the public record of the state project. The MSBA is providing $23.1 million of the $29.7 million project.

"All of these reports are available to you and will be provided in a digital archive for public record when the project is complete, together with letters of certification from the structural engineer and local building officials," Jones wrote.

"It is discouraging to these hardworking men and women to have their work disparaged or have the decisions of licensed engineers and professional designers questioned. We are confident that these views will fade when the school is successfully open and operating."

Jones Whitsett Response to School Construction Rumors by iBerkshires.com

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