New MGRS Building… Functions?

It was 2:27 pm on Wednesday, April first. Students should’ve been pouring out of classrooms at Mount Greylock Regional School, on their way to the buses, sports practices, and other extracurricular activities. But today, there was only silence. Amid the closure of schools across the state during the COVID-19 outbreak, the foyer stood empty, save for Principal Mary MacDonald and an Echo reporter, positioned a healthy twelve feet apart. MacDonald glanced at her watch as the bell sounded to signal the end of the day and smiled. 

The reason for the smile? The new Mount Greylock Regional School building, a sixty-four million dollar project that was planned for decades and took years to complete, had its first day without sewage system failings, pipes bursting, buckling sidewalks, or defective carpets. “The building works!” said MacDonald.

The costly project faced setbacks from the very beginning, including a number of delayed openings that resulted in the 2018 school year getting off to a late start. Since then, the school has needed new carpets, failed to get certification for new furniture, faced issues with the ventilation system that forced the school to close, and experienced multiple floods from faulty pipes and backed-up sewage systems. 

According to MacDonald, the school had been preparing for this day for almost two years, using the last few weeks without students to sure up the structure of the school and hope for the best. Asked whether she thought the lack of students in the building contributed to the school’s record day, MacDonald said, “Look. They just don’t build them like they used to. We’ve just got to be a little more careful, and if that means no students, then we just have to say no students–it wasn’t built to handle that kind of thing.” MacDonald added, “But I, for one, am incredibly proud of how far we’ve come, and am incredibly happy to be in this new building.”

MacDonald wasn’t the only one pleased with the new building. Two students, obviously Aries, who wished to remain anonymous because they feared retaliation from the school administration, shared MacDonald’s excitement, although for different reasons. “The old school just didn’t have the tendency to spontaneously breakdown when you threw one fork in the urinal or shoved a clementine down the toilet. This building keeps you on your toes and is a lot more fun to mess with.” The second student added that “It’s nice to know I can get out of a test just about anytime I want by shoving a wad of paper towels down the toilet. You really didn’t have that sense of security in the old building.”

As the Echo reporter wrapped up his interview with MacDonald and walked out of the building, MacDonald could be heard cursing into her walkie-talkie behind him. Seconds later, the half-complete district office building burst into flames. Oh well. It was a good run.