North Adams School Committee Approves Superintendent Search Panel

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The School Committee on Thursday took the first steps in finding a new superintendent by approving a search committee and job description.

The city hopes to have a new superintendent of schools in place by July 1 to replace James Montepare, who is retiring after more than 40 years in the school system.

The Massachusetts Association of School Committees is providing technical assistance and will be doing a first pass on applicants to ensure their qualifications and eligibility, but it will be up to the 11-member search committee to narrow the field to a few finalists to recommend to the School Committee.

Appointed on Thursday to the search committee are community members Maria "Toni" Diamond, Mary Lou Accetta and Howard "Jake" Eberwein. Parents appointed are the Rev. David Anderson and Jennifer Bernard. The administration and staff representatives are Greylock Principal Sandy Cote, 21st Century Site Coordinator Noella Carlow, Drury High teacher Stephanie Kopala, Colegrove Park teacher James Holmes and school Building and Facilities Manager James "Matt" Neville. City Councilor Joshua Moran was appointed to the committee by council President Benjamin Lamb.

Vice Chairwoman Heather Boulger expressed some disappointment that the committee was heavily weighted to the educational side, noting that the three community members had academic backgrounds while there were only two parents.

Diamond is a retired Berlin, N.Y., superintendent who grew up in North Adams and returned seven or eight years ago; Acetta is special education director at McCann Technical School who left the School Committee last year and Eberwein is dean of graduate and continuing education at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts and former superintendent of the Pittsfield Public Schools.

Anderson, pastor of First Baptist Church, has a child at Colegrove Park and Bernard, a psychologist with the Brien Center, has a child at Drury High.

Other than the parents, "there isn't a community representative," she said, feeling the committee should have had more input from other district partners.

"I think of a community as more like our business partners, like Mass MoCA or a social service agency integrated with our programs," she said. "I just wanted to put it out there."

School Committee member John Hockridge was more concerned with having five of the 11 members employees of the school district.

"I know the School Committee at the end makes the choice but here are staff who are in effect interviewing and choosing their boss," he said. "It seems a little uncomfortable to me."

Mayor Richard Alcombright responded that the School Committee would do the hiring and that having staff and faculty on the search committee was the norm.

The template for the committee had been provided by the MASC and in consultation with district's point person there, Patricia Correira, he said.

The mayor said he also had tried to appoint representatives in line with the School Committee's discussion of committee's makeup. Ensuring that MCLA was represented, for example.

The salary range was set at $125,000 to $135,000, with benefits to be negotiated. The current salary is $129,495. Boulger noted that hiring a new superintendent would put that person close to what Montepare was leaving at.

Alcombright said it was critical to have a competitive salary or "we aren't going to be able to compete for qualified candidates." MASC had suggested starting closer to $128,00, but he felt it should be lower.

He said the surrounding district salaries are: Berkshire Hills $141,000 (1,307 students); Lenox $115,000 (732); Pittsfield $157,000 (5,608); Williamstown-Lanesborough $150,000 (1,204) and Adams-Cheshire $117,000 (1,361). North Adams has 1,463 students.

"It's a balancing act between finding a qualified candidate and what we can afford," said Hockridge. "I thought we would have to go higher than that."

Community members are encouraged to take a brief, anonymous survey to indicate those skills they believe are most important in a new superintendent for North Adams. The committee will discuss the findings on Feb. 8 with Correira.

"This is the most important hire we are ever going to do," said Alcombright. "This is the most important job in the city of North Adams, this is the investment ... We need to do everything we can to get the best qualified candidate."

Drury High Students Get a Taste of Local Beef

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
05:25PM / Saturday, November 07, 2026

The pilot program is being funded by a $180K federal grant and is part of a partnership of Berkshire Agricultural Ventures and Mass Farms to School. 

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Drury High School students don't have to ask "where's the beef" from, now that the school has partnered to bring local meat into its food service system.

Nonprofit Berkshire Agricultural Ventures (BAV) is partnering with Mass Farms to School to bring locally produced ground beef to school cafeterias as part of a pilot initiative funded by a $180,133 USDA Patrick Leahy Farm to School Grant. The program is named for the retired Vermont senator who wrote the original legislation in 2010. 

North Adams Public Schools is one of two school district partners on the pilot project, Lenox being the other. 

BAV hopes the project can takeoff and expand into more schools or institutions. 

"We're really hoping that it takes off, and that we, in the sense of we can work with, or more schools can be part of this in the future, and we can kind of work out the kinks, which I think is part of what this is all about" said Audrey Hackett, BAV's communications and development manager.

She said part of the nonprofit's mission is to help strengthen the local food system and work with local farmers.

"Part of BAV's larger work to strengthen our local food system. So a lot of what we do is work directly with farmers and support a lot of livestock farmers," she said. "More than 40 percent of our farmers in our region are livestock, and so we work directly with them oftentimes, but it's also increasingly an opportunity to work, you know, a level up at the food system level to bring together partners for projects like this that bring more local food into to our not only our schools. I mean, there are lots of opportunities across institutions throughout our region, hospitals, prison systems, nursing homes, and all of that remains to be done." 

Last week, students were having burgers made from meat brought by Marty's Local, a regional food distributor that works with more than 160 farms and food producers. 

Marty's Local CEO Sandra Thomas said it was great to partner with BAV to help bring the meat to the school, citing that getting more local meat into the market fills a gap in the local food system. Thomas was able to work with Cherry Point Beef, a Western Mass distributor that sources cattle from four local farms.

Food Services Director Thomas Lark said they are excited to be a part of the program and that it's important to be able to showcase local food on the menu, especially for the students to be able to try these new things.

"We want them to see local food on the menu, to know that it's coming from somewhere they recognize. A lot of the time with school lunch, there's a little impression of like, oh, what's this? Where did this come from?" he said. "And so, this is a great way to say, this is what it is. This is where it comes from. Like, it's just down the road. You've driven past here before, and have them understand that, like, we're serving local stuff too. It's not mystery meat from far away."

Lark also said they have been working with the meat since earlier this year, testing out new ideas to bring to the students like a Korean beef bowl.

"Was a new thing, but we thought new ingredient, new recipe, let's really highlight it, and it was pretty successful. We're running it again next Monday. Actually, Marty's truck was here this morning delivering the beef for next Monday, and we're going to run that again. And that was one where the students who were willing to try it really liked it, and were telling their friends like, "Oh, you should have gotten this." So we're excited for Monday, we'll probably see even more kids trying it out," he said.

The North Adams Public Schools were highlighted last year by the state for its farm-to-school initiatives to bring fresh, local produce to students. 

A couple students who had the burger for lunch said it was good.