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The Class of 1966 Environmental Center has achieved Petal Certification,.

Berkshires Beat: Williams Environmental Center Earns Petal Certification

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Nearing the goal: The Class of 1966 Environmental Center has achieved Petal Certification, meeting six of the seven environmental performance criteria for the Living Building Challenge. Zilkha Center for Environmental Initiatives Director Amy Johns accepted the building’s Petal Certification at the Living Future Conference in Seattle on May 18.

Twelve months of consecutive data showed that the center qualified in six of the seven environmental performance criteria for the Living Building Challenge, but fell short for the energy standard, just missing full certification as a Living Building. The LBC program, administered by the International Living Future Institute, is the most stringent measure of sustainability in the built environment. It certifies buildings that have positive, regenerative environmental and community components. To meet the challenge, a building must demonstrate that it can live within its means, using only the electricity produced and water collected on-site and devoting 35 percent of its landscaping to food production.

Twenty imperatives determine ambitious goals in seven areas, known as petals: energy, water, materials, site, health, equity, and beauty. To date, only 11 buildings in the world have received full LBC certification. The center continues to work on the energy goal for the building, partnering with consultants who have worked on other LBC buildings to review energy consumption and generation for the building and explore ways to improve both. The consultants’ analysis suggests that the building is using approximately the amount of energy that the original model predicted, but that the solar panels are under-producing by about 20 percent. Williams hosts the panels and purchases the electricity from them, but SolarCity owns the equipment. The college is awaiting approval from SolarCity to have an independent solar engineer examine the equipment.  

Sitting in the heart of campus, the environmental center is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In addition to office space for the Zilkha Center and Center for Environmental Studies (CES), the building includes study areas, meeting and classroom space, and a kitchen that students may use to prepare and cook meals.



Florida school choice: Gabriel Abbott Memorial School in the town of Florida is accepting school choice applications for openings in the following grades for the 2017-2018 school year: kindergarten, five openings; grade one, four openings; grade two, three openings; grade four, five openings; and grade seven, six openings. There also are paid openings for out-of-district students in preK and accelerated preK-K classes. The cost is $100 per week for a full day, five day a week program.  These slots are on a first come, first serve basis.

Abbott offers a dedicated staff and a supportive and academically challenging elementary program featuring small class sizes providing for more individual attention, multiage grades allowing for individual skill development, full curriculum, including art, music, physical education, health, and technology, a friendly, small community school that encourages the academic, social, emotional, creative, and physical development of each student, service learning projects, competitive soccer and basketball after school program, full breakfast and lunch program, and more.

School choice slots applications preferred by June 9. For more information, call 413-664-6023.

 

Doing good: On Saturday, May 13, residents of Central Berkshire County donated nearly 28,000 pounds of non-perishable food via the countywide Letter Carriers Food Drive, more than double the amount collected in last year's campaign.  Local branch #286 of the National Association of Letter Carriers and Postal Workers, Berkshire Youth United, Berkshire Community Action Council, and Berkshire United Way coordinated the effort. Berkshire Community Action Council along with Berkshire Youth United, also provided volunteer support for the day of the event.

Participants placed their food donations in bags or boxes by their mailbox and letter carriers picked them up on their daily route. Donations were then brought to the Pittsfield Post Office where volunteers helped weigh and distribute the food to 16 food pantries and meal programs within Central Berkshire County, helping to provide food for nearly 2,000 individuals and families.



Committee members sought: The Pittsfield Cultural Council is extending an invitation to Berkshire County residents to apply to join the committee. Those who join in the summer will be on board in time to participate reviewing of the fall grant applications. The committee invites potential members to come to a meeting, ask questions and see how they can be involved.

Funded by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, each year the PCC reviews grant applications from artists, cultural groups and organizations in Pittsfield and surrounding communities and decides if those applications meet the criteria for funding. With limited funding available each year and working with the priorities established by the council, the members of PCC collaborate to fund projects that best serve the needs and interests of the residents of Pittsfield.

There is a limit of two three-year terms that members may serve, and new member recruitment is ongoing throughout the year. Membership on the PCC offers a great opportunity for anyone interested in supporting the arts and culture in Pittsfield. Members participate in one of the largest grassroots cultural funding networks in the nation with other like-minded volunteers who are passionate about the local cultural program and the positive impact it has on the community.

The PCC meets once a month from July through February, and are meetings are typically no more than an hour in length. There are no special qualifications to join the council, and it offers an opportunity to meet new people, share skills and support an important program that contributes to the quality of life. For more information about the PCC or to attend the next meeting, go online.



The winners are ...: The Berkshire Athenaeum and The Friends of the Berkshire Athenaeum have announced the winners of their T-Shirt Art Contest. The first place winner's designs will be made into T-shirts that will be available for purchase at the Library to help support the Friends of the Berkshire Athenaeum and the Berkshire Athenaeum.

First category winners are: first place, Paytan Flint; second place, Andrew Hamill; third place, Yashita Benga; honorable mention, Koby Cross.

Second category winners are: first place, Tessa Hanson; second place, Sariana Soares-Paradise; third place, Matt Mccormack; and honorable mentions, Kiara Mae Fuller.



Easy does it: The North Adams Public Library is joining several libraries in the CWMARS network offering the Boopsie mobile app. Thanks to a grant from North Adams Motorama and matching funds from the Friends of the North Adams Public Library, the new app will allow patrons to: search the catalog, request materials, administer your account, download e-books and audio, link to five popular library databases including magazines from Zinio and the state-wide Gale databases, check out library events, find our hours and location information, and connect with us on Facebook all from the convenience of your phone or tablet.

To get the new app, Google "CWMARS Boopsie app" or search the app store. The app is free to install. Once installed, click on the CWMARS icon and choose your favorite library. Your device will remember your login information.


Tags: food bank,   green building,   

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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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