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<title>iBerkshires News</title>
<link>http://www.iberkshires.com</link>
<description>iBerkshires News</description>
<lastBuildDate>Wed, 30 Sep 2026 19:47:21 EDT</lastBuildDate>
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			<item>
			<title>Mount Greylock School Committee Moving Superintendent Evaluation to Fall</title>
			<link>http://www.iberkshires.com/story/83957/Mount-Greylock-School-Committee-Moving-Superintendent-Evaluation-to-Fall.html</link>
			<guid>http://www.iberkshires.com/story/83957/Mount-Greylock-School-Committee-Moving-Superintendent-Evaluation-to-Fall.html</guid>
			<pubDate>Wed, 23 Sep 2026 05:31:00 EDT</pubDate>
			<description><![CDATA[
	WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass.&mdash;The Mount Greylock Regional School Committee this month discussed moving its evaluation of the superintendent from the spring to the fall starting in 2027.

	&nbsp;

	Chair Julia Bowen brought the idea to the table as part of her proposed calendar for the committee&#39;s work during the 2026-27 academic year, saying that a move to the autumn will allow the committee to factor data from the preceding year into its evaluation.

	&nbsp;

	&quot;To the extent that [Superintendent Joseph Bergeron&#39;s] goals are tied to school performance and, specifically, MCAS [scores], we don&#39;t get that or other end of school year summative information until the fall,&quot; Bowen said. &quot;Many schools I&#39;ve worked with and know of actually moved their school leader evaluation to the fall so they can take advantage of all the data that&#39;s actually available, rather than doing it in the June time frame.

	&nbsp;

	&quot;The other point on that is, as it is, we otherwise vote for Joe&#39;s goals in September/October and evaluate him in May, and that&#39;s not a year. If we can do it fall to fall, we actually get a full year of work from when we agree on the goals.&quot;

	&nbsp;

	The committee&#39;s most experienced member,&nbsp;Carolyn Greene, raised a concern about breaking with the practice of completing the evaluation process in May and June.

	&nbsp;

	&quot;It feels natural to evaluate a superintendent at the close of a school year, not the beginning of a school year,&quot; Greene said. &quot;We&#39;re still in it in May and June. We&#39;re still in it in terms of our mindsets. Sometimes we don&#39;t meet in July. We come back in August and do a &lsquo;retreat.&#39; We&#39;re now meant to hit the ground running with an evaluation in September based on the work of the previous school year. And the reason is we don&#39;t get all the data from the previous school year until September.

	&nbsp;

	&quot;The rhythm is off for me. But it could just be that I&#39;m so used to the previous rhythm. I don&#39;t want to oppose it. I just do have some reservations about it.&quot;

	&nbsp;

	Greene later noted that the School Committee does have data to look at when doing an evaluation each spring: data from the previous school year. For example, it had all the numbers on the 2024-25 school year when doing the superintendent&#39;s evaluation for 2025-26 last spring.

	&nbsp;

	Complicating the discussion is that while the district will have its internal numbers on a given school year compiled relatively soon after the last day of school, the outlier is the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System. The commonwealth does not release data from its standardized tests from the prior academic year until October.

	&nbsp;

	&quot;If it wasn&#39;t for MCAS, maybe the right time to do the evaluation would be August,&quot; Bowen said. &quot;But it&#39;s going to be hard to get our attention in August.&quot;

	&nbsp;

	Greene asked Bergeron when the committee could expect another piece of data it will use in its evaluation: the results of a district-wide, year-long Panorama survey project to assess school climate and support the district&#39;s social-emotional learning efforts.

	&nbsp;

	&quot;The final round of Panorama data from this year should be available early to mid-June,&quot; Bergeron said. &quot;Part of the challenge there is we try to make sure that during MCAS we&#39;re not then also saying, &lsquo;Can we squeeze in a [Panorama] survey as the schedule allows?&#39; So we make sure we push that to the end of the year. Then Panorama needs a couple of weeks to finalize data after that.&quot;

	&nbsp;

	Bergeron told the committee he does not have a firm preference between the spring or fall evaluation timeframe but noted that moving the evaluation to the fall would align with the setting of goals for the year ahead.

	&nbsp;

	Bowen said she could not say what the &quot;normal&quot; time frame is for school committees to evaluate their superintendents, but she knows of districts that go through the process in the fall and &quot;it just seems off in May/June.&quot;

	&nbsp;

	&quot;Either way, it&#39;s going to feel off,&quot; Greene said. &quot;The shift is to capture information we wouldn&#39;t normally capture. So let&#39;s try it. That&#39;s all we can do.&quot;

	&nbsp;

	The committee did not vote on the updated schedule for its 2026-27 meetings but it did vote unanimously to approve Bergeron&#39;s goals for the year ahead.

	&nbsp;

	Bergeron walked the committee through the specifics of three broad goals outlined in his plan: &quot;increased student and staff sense of belonging through Panorama survey data responses; progress within students&#39; diagnostic assessment data and MCAS scores in literacy; and (developing) a shared vision across key stakeholder groups for what success looks like in our district.&quot;

	&nbsp;

	Greene asked Bergeron which of the goals he was most excited about.

	&nbsp;

	&quot;I&#39;m excited about each of them, but for different reasons,&quot; he answered. &quot;With the first one, understanding students&#39; sense of belonging within the district, it&#39;s driven by a lot of different factors. But success there means you&#39;re giving students an equitable chance of succeeding. Achieving there feels like that&#39;s the best thing possible.

	&nbsp;

	&quot;The renewal in the ways we&#39;re looking at what to &hellip; to do next in terms of ELA and math, that&#39;s really rewarding work because it creates a tangible sense of progress that, hopefully, we can feed and encourage people with. With the final goal, laying the groundwork for a long-term understanding of how we, as a district, view success &hellip; and what steps we want to take to get there, that&#39;s rewarding work in a different way.

	&nbsp;

	&quot;It&#39;s all the stuff needed so you can sleep well and know we&#39;re making progress. At the same time, at times, it&#39;s overwhelming,&quot; he said.

	&nbsp;

	Supporting Bergeron in that work starting this fall are two new employees in the district office who were presented to the School Committee at the September meeting along with hires in all three of the district&#39;s school buildings.

	&nbsp;

	Mayra Weiskotten joins the central office as Mount Greylock&#39;s new director of student, staff and family support.

	&nbsp;

	&quot;Mayra will lead district-wide efforts related to social-emotional supports, family and community engagement, staff culture, behavioral systems, and the development of proactive supports that help ensure every student, staff member, and family feels supported and connected within our schools,&quot; Bergeron wrote in a memo to the School Committee.

	&nbsp;

	Rashaan Powell is the district&#39;s new communications and community coordinator. He brings &quot;extensive experience in school-based program leadership, community engagement and relationship-building,&quot; Bergeron wrote.

	&nbsp;

	Powell may help Bergeron with one of the personal aspirations he mentioned during the goal-setting discussion.

	&nbsp;

	&quot;We are, this year, across the district office, without great dedicated funding &hellip; how we can make our website become a better place to always point people to for: &lsquo;Here&#39;s how we&#39;re doing things. Here are the artifacts,&#39; &quot; Bergeron said. &quot;In some ways, our website is helpful. In other ways, in my opinion, it&#39;s an outdated nightmare.

	&nbsp;

	&quot;That holds especially true for the district level and the two elementary schools. The middle/high school has had a more active maintenance approach with it. That&#39;s a pain point with me that I need to resolve because it hasn&#39;t been addressed directly in 10 or more years.&quot;

	&nbsp;

	Bergeron is the sixth district superintendent (counting interim superintendents) in that 10-year time span.&nbsp;
]]></description>
			</item>
						<item>
			<title>Holiday Hours: Indigenous Peoples Day / Columbus Day</title>
			<link>http://www.iberkshires.com/story/42381/Holiday-Hours-Indigenous-Peoples-Day-Columbus-Day.html</link>
			<guid>http://www.iberkshires.com/story/42381/Holiday-Hours-Indigenous-Peoples-Day-Columbus-Day.html</guid>
			<pubDate>Thu, 09 Oct 2025 14:00:00 EDT</pubDate>
			<description><![CDATA[
	
	
		Di&oacute;scoro Te&oacute;filo Puebla Tol&iacute;n&#39;s &#39;First landing of Columbus on the Shores of the New World,&#39; at San Salvador, W.I., Oct. 12, 1492, from 1862. 


	Indigenous Peoples Day and Columbus Day is being observed Monday, Oct. 13. As Columbus Day, it commemorates&nbsp;Christopher Columbus&#39; arrival in the Americas on Oct. 12, 1492. As&nbsp;Indigenous Peoples Day, it commemorates the harm to their cultures and communities that followed Columbus&#39; arrival.&nbsp;

	Columbus&#39; voyage had been celebrated on significant anniversaries but did not become an official holiday until it was recognized by Colorado in 1905. It was declared a federal holiday in 1937.
	
	Not all states recognize Columbus Day. Some local and state governments, including now the city of Boston, have alternative Native American or indigenous peoples&#39; days to reflect that others had &quot;discovered&quot; the continent long before the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria arrived. Hawaii celebrates Discoverers Day, marking when the Polynesians arrived on the islands. In Vermont, it&#39;s optional for public schools to close; most stay open.

	In 2021, President Biden recognized Indigenous Peoples&#39; Day, although Columbus Day remains a federal holiday. Massachusetts has not yet recognized it but there are bills at the State House that would change the day from Columbus Day.&nbsp;
	
	Columbus Day in the United States is also Canadian Thanksgiving. The two holidays have shared the second Monday in October since 1971.

	The three-day weekend is more often celebrated in New England as the kickoff to the fall foliage season and, in North County, the day of the annual Mount Greylock Ramble, a hike up the state&#39;s tallest mountain along the Cheshire Harbor Trail and&nbsp;Ramblefest in Adams from noon to 5 on Saturday.&nbsp;

	Closed:

	Federal, state and local offices; no mail delivery.
	Banks
	Public colleges and schools, most private schools
	Public libraries
	Most offices and businesses
	BRTA is not running
	
	Open:
	Commercial establishments are required by law not to open before noon unless locally permitted.
	Most retail outlets, groceries
	Restaurants and bars, by choice
	Convenience stores

	The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) is reminding members of the public to plan ahead for the upcoming Columbus Day weekend, drive in off-peak hours if possible, utilize the appropriate technology tools to make informed decisions, and consider public transportation to reach destinations.

	&nbsp;

	Visit&nbsp;www.mass511.com&nbsp;for real-time road conditions.
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						<item>
			<title>Northern Berkshire United Way Honors Community Leaders</title>
			<link>http://www.iberkshires.com/story/79104/Northern-Berkshire-United-Way-Honors-Community-Leaders.html</link>
			<guid>http://www.iberkshires.com/story/79104/Northern-Berkshire-United-Way-Honors-Community-Leaders.html</guid>
			<pubDate>Thu, 29 May 2025 12:42:00 EDT</pubDate>
			<description><![CDATA[
	
		
		
			James Mahon and Paula Consolini were this year&#39;s recipients of the Spirit of Caring Awards. See more photos here.&nbsp;
	
	NORTH ADAMS, Mass. &mdash; The community paid tribute to the &quot;dynamic duo&quot; of Paula Consolini and James E. Mahon Jr. last week as this year&#39;s recipients of the Steven Green Spirit of Community Award.

	&nbsp;

	They were honored at Northern Berkshire United Way&#39;s seventh annual Spirit of Caring Awards, held at the Norad Mill on Thursday.

	&nbsp;

	Wild Oats Market general manager Netse Lytle, last year&#39;s award recipient, said their &quot;combined resume makes the rest of us feel like we&#39;ve been napping since 1992.&quot;

	&nbsp;

	In her day job as director of the Center of Learning at in Action in at Williams College, Consolini leads a team of students &quot;doing things that are incredibly useful to the rest of us,&quot; said Lytle, and &quot;she&#39;s also served on more boards and committees than I can name without risking carpal tunnel.&quot;

	&nbsp;

	Her husband, a political science professor at the college, is also active in St. John&#39;s Episcopal Church and has served on the boards of Williamstown Community Chest, Lever Inc. and the Northern Berkshire Chorale, and was president of the Berkshire Food Project for two decades.

	&nbsp;

	&quot;He has taught at Williams College since 1990 and still finds time to lead, sing, translate, govern, share, fund, raise and rotate presidencies like he&#39;s got a secret cabinet of identical twins,&quot; said Lytle. &quot;Honestly, Jim, by trying to collect them all, is this some kind of board member Pokemon situation? ...

	&nbsp;

	&quot;When you look at what they&#39;ve done, not just as individuals, but as partners, you realize this is what the spirit of community really looks like. It looks like action, not just words. It looks like service, not just titles.&quot;

	&nbsp;

	The couple, married 40 years, lean in, he said, when they see challenges, and take on the weight.

	&nbsp;

	&quot;When times are tough, what gets us keeps us going is the work that all of you are doing, is standing with you shoulder to shoulder to help lift community,&quot; said Consolini. &quot;And the work is kind of more challenging, but we feel like we can do it together.&quot;

	&nbsp;

	Mahon said he wanted to direct the spotlight upward because there were not only previous award recipients in the room but 10 or 15 future ones, and another 150 who deserve it.&nbsp;

	&nbsp;

	&quot;Let&#39;s think about that for a moment, because I don&#39;t know if you guys been reading the news at all, but kindness and generosity seem to be out of fashion these days,&quot; he said. &quot;So we&#39;d like to thank you for being unfashionable.&quot;

	&nbsp;

	NBUW Executive Director Patti Messina opened the event, saying &quot;when people come together, they create a sense of community, build connections and weather life&#39;s challenges.

	&nbsp;

	&quot;It involves acts of kindness, voluntary work and gestures of goodwill by residents and local businesses, this spirit is rooted in the fundamental values like compassion, empathy and a shared commitment to making the community a better place for everyone.&quot;

	&nbsp;

	The gathering also honored Richard Wiesenflue, who retired in March as CEO of Berkshire Family and Individual Resources after leading the organization for 25 years. He was presented the Al Nelson Spirit of Caring Award, named for the former NBUW executive director.

	&nbsp;

	Peter Mirante, who has served on the boards of both BFAIR and NBUW, presented the award, and recalled his long involvement with NBUW.

	&nbsp;

	&quot;Al Nelson was just a was just a great human being, and we became friends,&quot; he said. &quot;Just knowing that I&#39;m giving award that&#39;s named after Alan Nelson is an honor, and then knowing that I&#39;m going to present the award to another good friend of mine is a double honor.&quot;

	&nbsp;

	Wiesenflue had built BFAIR to a &quot;huge power&quot; in North County and within Berkshire County and &quot;always made sure that the clients received the best possible care that they could,&quot; said Mirante, and told a story of some of those clients he&#39;d met at an ice cream social. &quot;One by one, they went around the room, and they all started telling their story. And it was just so powerful, how much they understood how important BFAIR was to making sure that they had a they had a great life.&quot;&nbsp;

	&nbsp;

	He said he couldn&#39;t understand why Wiesenflue wasn&#39;t more excited about retirement, &quot;until I realized that there&#39;s way more to life than just going through the process. This guy actually went through life making life better for all the people that he helped, not only the clients, but the employees of BFAIR.&quot;

	&nbsp;

	Wiesenflue said he wasn&#39;t worthy of the remarks and that he tried to &quot;decline [the award] many times.&quot;

	&nbsp;

	&quot;The spirit of caring is that organization. It&#39;s the staff, it&#39;s the board members. It definitely merits all of the accolades as well,&quot; he said. &quot;I think about our community partners, our business partners, and how so many have been there for BFAIR over the years, making it possible so that deserves a&nbsp; lot of credit to all the all the partners in the community.&quot;&nbsp;

	&nbsp;

	Messina choked up a little, calling Wiesenflue a good friend and mentor.&nbsp;

	&nbsp;

	State Rep. John Barrett III offered greetings from the House of Representatives and presented citations to the award recipients, which included this year&#39;s Spirit of the Future honoree Tanya Nichols, manager of the Bounti-Fare in Adams.&nbsp;

	&nbsp;

	&quot;She has a knack for showing up whenever there&#39;s a need in the community,&quot; read presenter Stacy Parsons of Nichols&#39; nomination. &quot;That people know that if when there&#39;s a need to raise funds for a local school group, or when a tragedy strikes, as the manager of Bounti-Fare Restaurant, Tanya is the person people call when they need to plan an event with compassion and care.&quot;

	&nbsp;

	Nichols wears multiple hats, said Parsons, a past award recipient, and runs a farm stand to help local businesses, has served on the McCann Technical School advisory committee, and helped schools and food pantries with supplies during the pandemic.&nbsp;&nbsp;

	&nbsp;

	&quot;I particularly enjoyed that there seems to be a very personal bit of knowledge, because the person who wrote this said, &#39;You have no problem getting knee deep in muck trying to save an animal,&#39; which makes me feel like there&#39;s a story there that maybe you&#39;d like to share later,&quot; said Parsons. &quot;But that you what came through with this statement that was shared is that anytime anyone needs anything, &#39;Tanya is there.&#39;&quot;&nbsp;

	&nbsp;

	Nichols said she was &quot;humbled to join the impressive list of prior recipients.&quot;

	&nbsp;

	&quot;I feel very lucky to live in this remarkable community, and giving back has always been something that was emphasized, not only by my parents, but by my grandparents as well,&quot; she said. &quot;My mother was always baking for some event or some cause, and served on school council and booster clubs in various boards and committees. My father was also active in the community, and as a local business owner, he has always made his restaurant an available venue to support countless fundraisers.&nbsp;

	&nbsp;

	&quot;Following in their footsteps only seemed like the natural thing to do. &quot;

	&nbsp;

	&nbsp;Board President Kelly McCarthy recognized two workplace campaigns &mdash; Adams Community Bank and Specialty Minerals.&nbsp;

	&nbsp;

	&quot;Funds raised during the workplace campaign for us in Northern Berkshire County directly support our 20 member agencies,&quot; she said. &quot;The long-term impact for workplace campaigns creates a culture of giving volunteering, and that benefits the community all year long.&quot;
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