MONTAGUE — The Gill-Montague Regional School District School Committee has approved sending a statement of interest to the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) to expand the Sheffield Elementary School building, bringing Sheffield and Hillcrest students under one roof.

According to the statement of interest provided to the School Committee, the application to the MSBA’s Accelerated Repair Program states that the three priorities for consolidating the two Montague elementary schools are to alleviate classroom overcrowding; install modernized facility features like roofs, windows and energy systems; and add to the Sheffield building to allow for a full range of educational programs for students.

“We are bursting at the seams in some of those elementary schools just because of the way education is done now compared to when these schools were built,” Gill-Montague Business and Operations Director Joanne Blier told the committee.

She explained the goal would be to have the single school house students from preschool through fifth grade under the same roof, but with wings to keep younger students from Hillcrest (pre-school, kindergarten and first grade) in one part of the building and keep older students from Sheffield (second through fifth grade) in another part.

The statement of interest explains that the hope for an expanded Sheffield Elementary School would be to streamline resources to create a stronger elementary school community that would benefit students, staff and families. It would also minimize disruptions for students since they would not be moved from one building to another, as is the current situation when they age out of Hillcrest.

Right now, there is no cost estimate for the project as the proposal from the school district has not been accepted into the 2025 Accelerated Repair Program. Should it be accepted, the MSBA would pay for a certain percentage of the total cost of construction.

The smaller of the two schools, Hillcrest, was first built in the 1950s, and is a single-story, L-shaped building on Griswold Street. The main Sheffield Elementary School building was rebuilt in 1988 after a fire destroyed the building, but spared the attached auditorium and gymnasium, and an administrative building was constructed in 1925 on the three-building campus on Crocker Avenue.

Both of the schools struggle with providing dedicated spaces for teaching. There are no science labs at either school and music is being taught on the auditorium stage at Sheffield.

Sheffield has 195 students with an average classroom space of 925 square feet, and a 18-to-1 student-teacher ratio. The school has installed partitions in five classrooms to maximize space for teaching and administrative duties.

Both schools are using closet spaces for offices or break rooms for staff, and there is a waiting list for pre-school students at Hillcrest due to the number of students and lack of space.

To help combat these challenges, Gill-Montague has applied for this MSBA program on three separate occasions. School officials are hopeful they will be accepted this round to get the ball rolling on this long-awaited project.

“We’re hoping it’ll be approved sooner rather than later because with a large building like this, it takes a lot of time from approval to use,” School Committee Chair Jane Oakes said of the project.

Gill Elementary School

Another discussion during this week’s School Committee meeting that pertained to the MSBA was an update about the Gill Elementary School roof project that was accepted into the 2024 Accelerated Repair Program.

Blier announced that the MSBA has assigned an owner’s project manager (OPM) and an architect to the project, and she will be meeting with them to begin discussing the contract for services, as well as the logistics of the roof project.

“Once we execute a contract with the OPM, they will assist us in managing the project. We are currently in the contract execution phase, and must execute contracts with the OPM and designer by the end of April,” Blier’s April 8 report explained.

In October 2024, Gill was invited into the MSBA’s Accelerated Repair Program for the elementary school roof that has fallen into disrepair, and a Special Town Meeting in November approved the use of $50,000 from the General Stabilization Fund for the feasibility study and schematic design of the roof.

The town has worked since 2017 to be accepted into the program, and the MSBA is offering a 77.47% reimbursement rate. Gill must still appropriate 100% of the funds ahead of time, but will only be responsible for 22.53% of the total cost.

The cost of the schematic design and feasibility study is estimated to be between $94,000 to $97,000, based on similar projects that were funded by the Accelerated Repair Program in recent years. The town had previously put $48,439 toward that part of the project. The final cost to replace the roof is still unknown, but the design will determine the price tag.

Erin-Leigh Hoffman can be reached at ehoffman@recorder.com or 413-930-4231.