SHELBURNE FALLS — The mostly dormant Lamson & Goodnow factory buildings are coming back to life in 2019, with at least 40 new local entrepreneurs awaiting building renovations in the sprawling, 18th century brick complex.
Owner John Madocks of Ashfield has replaced grimy floors with new maple planks and is carving out spacious studios with tall windows and wide, well-lit hallways. Using a preliminary layout created by landscape architect and designer Walter Cudhohufsky of Ashfield, Madocks says the new interior of the 1837 buildings will feature more common areas and open spaces, giving the cottage industry self-employed business owners, artists, woodworkers, bicycle-makers, jewelry-makers and even poets more connectivity to others in the building.
The renovated buildings already have central heating and air-conditioning — plus, a waiting list of prospective tenants as the renovations continue.
The year 2019 could see the fruition of many works-in-progress over the last 10 years, including the long-awaited dream of high-speed internet that could finally come true for those towns with no previous broadband access, as it has come true for 96 percent of homes in towns with Comcast Cable.
In 2018, potter Molly Cantor opened a teaching studio with kilns in one of Madocks’s buildings, and the response of students was so successful that Cantor is moving to another studio space double in size. Madocks says her current studio will be occupied by another potter after Cantor moves.
In Charlemont, Rural Commonwealth Inc. is working with Hall Tavern Farm owner Jay Healy to develop a 50,000 square-foot Eight-Town Economic Development Center in the cavernous former dairy barn. Rural Commonwealth is one of the earliest tenants in the old Lamson complex.
The project received a $1.5 million grant this year from the state, and the center will provide a training space for business and employee seminars, shared equipment, such as a good laser printer, and a “middle mile” broadband connection for online business meetings and other teleconferencing needs. Along with Charlemont’s many outdoor recreation facilities, organizers hope the new center will also attract more business conferences and retreats, where corporate visitors could both conduct business with state-of-the-art internet and enjoy the visitor attractions.
The Greater Shelburne Falls Area Business Association is also looking to develop more services that will help cottage industries. The group is reorganizing its membership structure to a “multi-tiered” format to encourage more single-owner businesses to join and participate in the business association events.
The goal of the 10-town Business Association this year is to strengthen West County’s identity as a four-season tourism destination; promote the “main streets” of all its member towns; strengthen its economic development services and programs; and form partnerships with other organizations.
Two “sea changes” could affect West County towns, which spend at least half their annual town budgets on public education. The first is the state’s plans to review and possibly revise Chapter 70 education funding, including the nearly incomprehensible assessment calculations for Mohawk’s eight member towns. The second change, beginning in January, is to create a panel to “rethink” education at the Mohawk Trail Regional High School and redesign graduation requirements to better prepare students for life after 12th grade.
On Dec. 18, several superintendents belonging to the Massachusetts Rural Schools Coalition met at Mohawk and agreed to seek rural-specific changes to the Chapter 70 formula that will help geographically large, sparsely populated school districts. Mohawk Superintendent Michael Buoniconti, who chairs the coalition, says Chapter 70 general education funding has not been reviewed since 1993, and now is the time for rural school officials to address inequities that have worked against rural school systems.
“Our push this year is to get the ‘rurality’ factor in the calculations of Chapter 70 — the holy grail of rural schools — embedded in the formula, so we won’t have to ask for additional funds every year,” he said. “We’re asking for the state to consider funding at the level of Wisconsin’s (rural school aid),” which is about $400 per student, said Buoniconti.
This past year, rural regional school districts were allocated about $1.5 million in rural school aid through the annual budget — a sum that affects about 100,000 students in rural school districts statewide. If the Rural Schools Coalition were to succeed in getting the increased state aid, the Mohawk district would see an annual state aid increase of about $400,000, Buoniconti said.
As for redesigning high school graduation credits, Mohawk is now taking applications from students, school parents and community members who would like to serve on a panel to review Mohawk’s graduation requirements and come together for a weekend-long intensive workshop — Jan. 26 and 27 — to “re-envision student pathways to graduation,” says Co-Principal Marisa Mendonsa.
The grant-funded workshop includes a $200 stipend for up to 20 team members “to work together to revise Mohawk graduation standards,” she said. Organizers hope the outcome of such changes will be an increase in student readiness for the world after high school, more student engagement and excitement and more educational programs for students to choose from. One idea, for instance, is to create more student internships in partnerships with local businesses and with Greenfield Community College, giving academic credit for those experiences.
Although students may not know what career they want after high school, “kids do know their own interests,’ Mendonsa said.
To start this work, Mohawk educators got a $14,000 mini-grant from the Mass Ideas School Design Institute this year; the district has also applied for a $100,000 grant from that group to implement the school graduation requirements that are recommended — and eventually approved — by the school committee.