image description — Patricia Robie, a fourth-grade teacher at Becket-Washington School, said she loves what she does.

Berkshire County Educator Recognition Award

By Jack GuerinoiBerkshires Staff
12:50AM / Friday, May 02, 2014Print Story | Email Story

Jo-Ellen Height of Undermountain Elementary School was one of three educators presented with recognition certificates by MCLA Vice President of Academic Affairs Cynthia F. Brown.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Three Berkshire County educators were honored at the fourth annual Berkshire County Educator Recognition Award Ceremony at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts on Thursday night.

The awards were presented by MCLA at the Church Street Center in partnership with the Berkshire County K-12 superintendents.

David Hastings, Southern Berkshire Regional School District superintendent, said a few words about the importance of dedicated educators.

"You are the best of the best, and you join tremendous people that have preceded you in earlier years," Hastings said.

The first recipient of the award was Jo-Ellen Height, an integrated special needs pre-kindergarten teacher at Undermountain Elementary School in the Southern Berkshire district.

Height has more than 45 years' experience as a teacher and speech and language therapist. She has received a National Association for Educators of Young children accreditation.

Height said she always imagined herself being a teacher.

"I have been teaching for a very long time, and it has been something I have always wanted to do since junior high school," Height said. "My passion is to help each of my students be the best that they can be regardless of the challenges they face."

The second recipient was Patricia Robie, who teaches fourth grade at Becket-Washington School in the Central Berkshire Regional School District.

She has taught for 15 years and promotes family and community involvement in education. She serves on the Innovation School Planning Board for her school, the School Council, and the Parent-Teacher Organization.

"It seems to be strange to be standing in front of you accepting recognition for something I love to do," Robie said. "I know there are hundreds of other teachers in Berkshire County who do this difficult job every day that could never imagine doing something finer."

The third recipient was Brad Whateley, who teaches mathematics and physics at Pittsfield Regional High School.

Whateley was formerly a physician who made the switch to high school teacher 10 years ago. He is responsible for expanding Advanced Placement physics at PHS and has also created a pre-physics program and an engineering academy.

"I made a career switch, and I couldn't have done it without the educators at Pittsfield High School who helped me make that transition," Whateley said. "I feel like I should be giving an award because I have been the recipient of so many great mentors that were teachers, and it has made my life really good."

MCLA President Mary Grant closed the ceremony by thanking the award recipients.

"It is just such a pleasure to have this time to celebrate your work and recognize your accomplishments," Grant said.

Tags: educators, MCLA, recognition event,

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North Adams Airport Hires New Manager

By Jack GuerinoiBerkshires Staff
10:30AM / Saturday, October 24, 2026

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The Airport Commission unanimously voted this week to hire Skyler Friedman as the new airport manager.

The vote came after a brief interview Tuesday. Although two candidates were scheduled to be interviewed, only Friedman was in attendance.

In total, there were four resumes that a subcommittee knocked down to two finalists.

"All were qualified," Commissioner William Hooper said. "One was less qualified, two were equally qualified, and one was a step above. The two you have this evening were the two determined to be the most qualified."

The commission planned on interviewing both candidates, but only interviewed Friedman. Although the second candidate indicated she would be present remotely for the interview, she never called in.

Friedman was the manager from June until September through the city's contract with Hewison Aviation, a New York-based flight school operating in North Adams. The company provided management services to the city but decided to end this arrangement in the fall.

The commission faced losing Friedman as manager and urged him to apply when they advertised the position.

Friedman spoke about communication, noting he suspected it would be easier as an employee of the city. He also spoke about larger projects at the airport he would like to follow through on, including the creation of a flying club. He said he wants more people at the airport and interested in aviation.

He was asked if he planned to leave the position in the near future for other opportunities.

"I would not be here now if that were my goal," he answered.

He added that the area does not have a Certified Flight Instructor (CFI), a position he hopes to fill. He said he hopes to "merge his interests" as the manager and a CFI, eventually relocating permanently to North Adams instead of commuting from Albany.

Otherwise, he said there will be no disruptions, as he has already done the job. Instead of learning a new position, he said he is ready to tackle projects he had to step away from when the contract ran out.

"The past five months have been that process, and I will pick up where I left off," he said. "I stumbled upon things in the interim, and there will be no transition."

In other business, the Airport Commission saw another response to the proposed restaurant RFP. Only one organization responded: East Fork Bread.

Although there was some back-and-forth between the RFP subcommittee and the bread makers, the subcommittee ultimately could not recommend their proposal as it did not fit their requirements.

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