Williamstown Father to Speak at Advocacy Day in Boston

BOSTON — Williamstown resident Stephen Narey will be a featured speaker at the first MDSC Down Syndrome Advocacy Day at the State House on Tuesday, May 27.

The event is hosted by the Massachusetts Down Syndrome Congress and aims to encourage lawmakers to support critical policies and funding to ensure that all people with Down syndrome have opportunities to lead meaningful fulfilling lives in the community. At the top of the list is the National Background Check Bill (H.1674), a piece of legislation that would finally close a gaping loophole that puts people with intellectual and developmental disabilities at risk of abuse. Under current law, those hired to work with people with developmental disabilities are required to have a state criminal background check, but not a national check.

Hundreds of members of the Down syndrome community will gather for a luncheon reception followed by individual meetings with their legislators. They will walk the halls to share their stories and lobby our legislators to pass key legislation.

Narey, an attorney, is chairman of the MDSC Board of Directors and father to Cole, who has Down syndrome.

Speaker of the House Robert DeLeo of Winthrop will be given the MDSC’s first “Legislative Champion of the Year Award.” Other invited guests include Senate President Therese Murray, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh (primary sponsor of National Background Check Bill when he was a state rep.), EOHHS Assistant Secretary Rosalie Edes, DDS Commissioner Elin Howe, State Rep. Tom Sannicandro, and others. FOX25 weekend news anchor Heather Hegedus will emcee the event. Registration is free at www.mdsc.kintera.org/advocacyday.

Lanesborough Officials Review Schools' Budgets

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
05:49AM / Thursday, April 09, 2026

Mount Greylock Superintendent Joseph Bergeron, left, addresses the Lanesborough Select Board and Finance Committee as School Committee member Curtis Elfenbein looks at the projection of a slide in the district's budget presentation.

LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — Town officials Monday appeared generally receptive to the fiscal year 2027 spending plans for the two public school districts that serve the town.

 

Superintendents from the Northern Berkshire Vocational Regional School District (McCann Technical School) and Mount Greylock Regional School District presented their respective FY27 budgets to a joint meeting of the town's Finance Committee and Select Board.

 

Both districts are sending significantly higher assessments for approval at Lanesborough's annual town meeting in June.

 

McCann Tech, which constituted a $317,109 expenditure for the town in the current fiscal year, is seeking $463,978 for the fiscal year that begins on July 1 even though the school's operating budget is up just 3.2 percent year to year.

 

The 46 percent increase in Lanesborough's share of McCann Tech's budget is is due to two factors: a rise in enrollment of town residents at the vocational school from 20 in 2025 to 29 in this school year and a capital assessment for the first round of payments — for interest only — for a roof and window replacement project on the North Adams campus.

 

The Mount Greylock assessment, a much larger component of Lanesborough's property tax bill, is up 10.99 percent from FY26 to FY27, from $6.8 million to $7.6 million.

 

Mount Greylock Superintendent Joseph Bergeron gave a budget presentation similar to one he has delivered twice to the district's School Committee and again last month to the Williamstown Finance Committee, explaining that while the FY27 budget maintains level services to students with a net reduction of three positions, a series of factors are driving much larger assessments to Mount Greylock's two member towns.