4-H Club Leader Needed in Williamstown Area

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WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The 4-H Youth Program is looking for adult volunteers (age 21 and older) to start up 4-H clubs in the Williamstown area.  

There are youth interested in being part of the program, but there are no clubs in the area for them to join.  

The 4-H program is designed for both boys and girls ages 5-18, broken down to Cloverbuds, Juniors and Seniors. The Cloverbud program is specifically for boys and girls in kindergarten through third grade (ages 5 to 7) and is built on cooperative learning, rather than competitive activities. Juniors (ages 8-13) and Seniors (ages14-18) work on projects.


4-H cloverbud clubs are activity-focused and not project-focused with members participating in activities and opportunities in which they practice skills, discover talents, and learn about fairness in a non-judgmental environment.  Juniors and Seniors can have up to five projects ranging from animals to rocketry.

All new 4-H leaders will be provided with an orientation training, resource materials, activity curriculum and support. For more information about 4-H or to sign up to become a 4-H club leader, contact 4-H Educator Angelica Paredes or by email at angelica@umext.umass.edu.

4-H is the outreach youth education program of the UMass Extension system which is funded through the University of Massachusetts/Amherst and the United States Department of Agriculture.

 

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Mount Greylock School Committee Votes Slight Increase to Proposed Assessments

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Mount Greylock Regional School Committee on Thursday voted unanimously to slightly increase the assessment to the district's member towns from the figures in the draft budget presented by the administration.
 
The School Committee opted to lower the use of Mount Greylock's reserve account by $70,000 and, instead, increase by that amount the share of the fiscal year 2025 operating budget shared proportionally by Lanesborough and Williamstown taxpayers.
 
The budget prepared by the administration and presented to the School Committee at its annual public hearing on Thursday included $665,000 from the district's Excess and Deficiency account, the equivalent of a municipal free cash balance, an accrual of lower-than-anticipated expenses and higher-than-anticipated revenue in any given year.
 
That represented a 90 percent jump from the $350,000 allocated from E&D for fiscal year 2024, which ends on June 30. And, coupled with more robust use of the district's tuition revenue account (7 percent more in FY25) and School Choice revenue (3 percent more), the draw down on E&D is seen as a stopgap measure to mitigate a spike in FY25 expenses and an unsustainable budgeting strategy long term, administrators say.
 
The budget passed by the School Committee on Thursday continues to rely more heavily on reserves than in years past, but to a lesser extent than originally proposed.
 
Specifically, the budget the panel approved includes a total assessment to Williamstown of $13,775,336 (including capital and operating costs) and a total assessment to Lanesborough of $6,425,373.
 
As a percentage increase from the FY24 assessments, that translates to a 3.90 percent increase to Williamstown and a 3.38 percent increase to Lanesborough.
 
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