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Treasurer Steven Grossman asked the students about their ideal schools.
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Grossman asked Esha to explain why she chose certain elements for her ideal school.

Treasurer, MSBA Director Present Award to First-Grader At Crosby

By Andy McKeeveriBerkshires Staff
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Esha Zahid and her family were honored Friday by many elected officials for being the regional winner of a statewide 'my ideal school' competition.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — First-grader Esha Zahid won a statewide competition for designing her ideal school but she and her family were unable to attend a ceremony at the State House. So on Friday, state officials brought the ceremony to her.

Treasurer Steven Grossman and Jack McCarthy, executive director of the Massachusetts School Building Authority, visited Esha's class at Crosby Elementary School on Friday to deliver her winnings. The competition asked  first-graders from all over the state to draw and write an essay describing their ideal school.

Esha was picked as one of 12 regional winners in the seventh annual competition. Drawing a castle and explaining that her school has "good friends, the playground is fun to play in and the lunch that the lunch lady give us is very yummy," earned Esha a $100 savings bond from Sovereign Bank.

"Because she wasn't able to be in Boston for our special presentation, we decided to bring all of us here to say thank you to her," Grossman told the first-graders.

McCarthy and Grossman are in charge with the state funds to build new schools. The city has been making a pitch to renovate or build a new Taconic High School. The city still needs feasibility studies to be completed before the MSBA invites the city into the program, which provide most of the funding needed to complete a project.



But, McCarthy and Grossman have both voiced support for the project.

"The biggest thing I am doing right now is working on that Taconic School," McCarthy said.

McCarthy and Grossman were joined by Mayor Daniel Bianchi, state Rep. Tricia Farley-Bouvier and state Sen. Benjamin Downing.

A new Taconic may not look like a castle, but Esha will likely have the opportunity to attend an upgraded high school when she is older.


Tags: awards,   Crosby School,   MSBA,   state officials,   

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Dalton Select Board Argues Over Sidewalk Article

By Sabrina DammsiBerkshires Staff
DALTON, Mass. — A heated discussion concerning sidewalks during Monday night's Select Board meeting resulted in the acting chair calling a recess to cool the situation. 
 
The debate stemmed from the two articles on the town meeting warrant for May 6 at 7 p.m. at Wahconah Regional High School. 
 
One proposes purchasing a sidewalk paver for $64,000 so sidewalks can be paved or repaired for less money, but they will use asphalt rather than concrete. The other would amend the town's bylaws to mandate the use of concrete for all future sidewalks. 
 
The article on concrete sidewalks was added to the warrant through a citizen petition led by resident Todd Logan. 
 
The board was determining whether to recommend the article when member John Boyle took the conversation in a new direction by addressing how the petition was brought about. 
 
"I just have a comment about this whole procedure. I'm very disappointed in the fact that you [Logan] have been working, lobbying various groups and implementing this plan and filed this petition six weeks ago. You never had any respect for the Select Board and …" Boyle said. 
 
Before Boyle could finish his statement, which was directed to Logan, who was in the audience, Chair Joe Diver called point of order via Zoom. 
 
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