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Robert Putnam, interim superintendent of the Adams-Cheshire Regional School District, introduces himself to the Selectmen last week.

Adams-Cheshire Interim Superintendent Getting to Know Community

By Jack GuerinoiBerkshires Staff
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ADAMS, Mass. — Robert Putnam, interim superintendent of the Adams-Cheshire Regional School District, wants to better communication between the towns and the school district.

Putnam, hired in May to lead the district as it searched for a permanent replacement, introduced himself to town officials at last week's Board of Selectmen meeting.

"My purpose of coming here this evening is to introduce myself as the interim superintendent," he told the Selectmen on Wednesday. "Also, I want to establish relationships with a broad cross-section of the Adams-Cheshire community and to get a deeper understanding of its systems, programs, students, its staff and really most importantly the hopes, expectations and the concerns of the community."

Putnam plans to hold interviews with various administrators, School Committee members, town officials, department heads, residents, community and business leaders, school faculty and whoever else wants to talk in order to gather information on the district.

"I feel as though I need to get as much information as I can so that when I start making decisions I start to make them from a place of knowledge as opposed to a place of ignorance," he said. "I plan to spend the time from now to October listening and learning about the district."

He said he wants to ask everyone five questions: What are the strengths of the district? What do you think are one or two key issues in the school system? What of the district must be maintained at all costs? What does the school district most need to work on? He added there will be an open forum.

Putnam said anyone interested in holding an interview with him can contact his office.  

The board decided to hold its meeting with Putnam at an upcoming workshop.

Selectman John Duval asked if Putnam would be open to biannual meetings at regular selectmen meetings to update the town on the district.

Putnam said he looks forward to these meetings.


"I like to get a real understanding of what the concerns of the towns," he said. "We are all in this together and my feeling is the more I know about the issues facing each of the towns ... then the better I will be able to make decisions."

Putnam has 14 years experience in administration; he left his post at Central Berkshire Regional School District for personal reasons and has for the past year been a music teacher at Monument Mountain Middle School in Great Barrington. He began in his post on July 1.

In other business, the board, acting as the licensing authority, voted to table a decision to revoke Rascal's liquor license. Currently, the bar is closed and the owners are trying to sell.

Selectman Richard Blanchard said previously when a bar closed, owners could hold onto their liquor licenses as pocket licenses. He said the state is cracking down on this and prefers municipalities to pull unused licenses.

Owner Thomas Rotolo said he closed the bar in February and it is actively on the market with a real estate agent. He said he would prefer to hold on to the license to make the bar easier to sell.

"It is a bar and if you pull the liquor license you kind of pull the carpet out from underneath me," Rotolo said.  

Chairman Jeffrey Snoonian said it may be beneficial to allow Rotolo to hold on to the license until the end of the year when he would have to renew anyways.

"We are in the middle of July now, and it would seem to me make sense to give Mr. Rotolo the option of coming into his next renewal application because it is a good thing to have if you wanted to sell your building to someone who wants to open a bar," Snoonian said.

Rotolo did not think the board was going to make a ruling that night and asked to postpone the decision until he could have his attorney present.

The board obliged and voted to table the vote until their next meeting. The vote was 3-2. Selectmen John Duval and Arthur "Skip" Harrington felt they could let the license go until the end of the year.


Tags: ACRSD,   interim appointment,   liquor license,   superintendent,   

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Adams Sees No Races So Far

By Jack GuerinoiBerkshires Staff
ADAMS, Mass. — With less than a week left before nomination papers are due, there are currently no contested seats.
 
Only selectman incumbent John Duval has returned papers. Selectman Howard Rosenberg has decided not to seek re-election. 
 
Rosenberg, who was elected in 2021, said he has chosen not to run again to make room for younger candidates.
 
"I feel strongly, we need younger people running for public office,  as the future of our town lies within the younger  generation. The world is so fundamentally different today and rapidly changing to become even more so. I believe we need people who are less interested in trying to bring back the past, then in paving the way for a promising future. The younger generation can know that they can stay here and have a voice without having to leave for opportunities elsewhere," he said.
 
The only person to return papers so far is former member the board Donald Sommer. Sommer served as a selectman from 2007 to 2010 and before that was a member of the School Committee and the Redevelopment Authority. He ran unsuccessfully for selectman in 2019 and again in 2021 but dropped out of before the election.
 
Incumbent Moderator Myra Wilk and Town Clerk Haley Meczywor have returned papers for their respective positions.
 
Assessor Paula Wheeler has returned papers and incumbents James Loughman and Eugene Michalenko have returned papers for library trustees.
 
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