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Maryrose Calnan hugs her students, both past and present, after winning the Teacher of the Year Award on Thursday.
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Greylock Kindergarten Teacher Wins Marion Kelly Award

By Rebecca Dravisiberkshires Staff
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Greylock School kindergarten teacher Maryrose Calnan accepts the Marion B. Kelly Teacher of the Year Award on Thursday.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — In 1975, when Maryrose Calnan started teaching kindergarten at the former Johnson School, her principal was Marion B. Kelly.

Nearly 40 years later, Calnan was surprised when the annual Marion B. Kelly Teacher of the Year Award was presented at Greylock School on Thursday - to her.

The award is given annually in North Adams to a dedicated and skillful teacher, grades pre-K through 12, who has thorough knowledge of his/her subjects and who understands and likes children. The winner is nominated by his/her peers.

Or, as Superintendent James Montepare put it to all the Greylock students gathered in the cafeteria, "We search hard and hard and hard ... to find who one of the best teachers in North Adams is."

This year, that search landed on Calnan, who started as a kindergarten teacher at Johnson before moving up to teach reading to sixth-graders at the old Conte Middle School before eventually landing at Greylock teaching kindergarten again.

And she gives those kindergartners a solid educational base on which to grow, Greylock Principal Sandra Cote said.

"The kids who come into her class, you know they're going to be successful," Cote said. "Parents relax. They know their kids are being cared for."

It was clear how much Calnan cares for those kids, as so many of them stopped to hug her on their way out of the cafeteria. Calnan kept her composure despite the surprise and delight she felt at being honored.

And she was surprised, she said, as she listened to Montepare's introduction.

"I had no clue until you said Johnson School," she told him after the presentation. "I was just so thrilled it was a Greylock School teacher. I kept thinking every one of them deserved it."

Cote agreed with that.

"It is a nice honor," she said about the award going to a Greylock teacher, the first time in her 10 years as principal that has happened. "We have teachers who work hard every day."

By the applause of the students and her fellow teacher, it was clear the Greylock community knows Calnan is one of the best.

"I just love my job and have loved it forever," she said in accepting the award. "Thank you so much."

 

 


Tags: Greylock School,   

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Macksey Updates on Eagle Street Demo and Myriad City Projects

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff

The back of Moderne Studio in late January. The mayor said the city had begun planning for its removal if the owner could not address the problems. 
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The Moderne Studio building is coming down brick by brick on Eagle Street on the city's dime. 
 
Concerns over the failing structure's proximity to its neighbor — just a few feet — means the demolition underway is taking far longer than usual. It's also been delayed somewhat because of recent high winds and weather. 
 
The city had been making plans for the demolition a month ago because of the deterioration of the building, Mayor Jennifer Macksey told the City Council on Tuesday. The project was accelerated after the back of the 150-year-old structure collapsed on March 5
 
Initial estimates for demolition had been $190,000 to $210,000 and included asbestos removal. Those concerns have since been set aside after testing and the mayor believes that the demolition will be lower because it is not a hazardous site.
 
"We also had a lot of contractors who came to look at it for us to not want to touch it because of the proximity to the next building," she said. "Unfortunately time ran out on that property and we did have the building failure. 
 
"And it's an unfortunate situation. I think most of us who have lived here our whole lives and had our pictures taken there and remember being in the window so, you know, we were really hoping the building could be safe."
 
Macksey said the city had tried working with the owner, who could not find a contractor to demolish the building, "so we found one for him."
 
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