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A number of games were set up for the students to play, celebrating the end of the school year.

Capeless Elementary Celebrates Year's End With Field Day

By Andy McKeeveriBerkshires Staff
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Volunteers from the Berkshire County sheriff's office helped run the games.
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The students at Capeless Elementary School put in a hard year's worth of work. And now it is time to celebrate.
 
In the waning days left to the school year, staff at Capeless put on their annual field day, setting up an array of games and activities for the children to play.
 
From tug o' war to variations of tag, to duck duck goose, the students rotated from station to station having fun.
 
"Field day is really about celebrating the end of the year, the close of working so hard all year and having a fun time with minimal competition. It is more for fun," second-grade teacher Carrie Healy said.
 
The children certainly have a good time, with the grades mixing in and out throughout the day. But the event isn't always easy to put on for the small school. It requires dozens of volunteers to supervise and run all of the games at the same time. At this time of the year, there are numerous events for parents to be involved in, there are graduations, there have been field trips. 
 
Now, "they are maxed out on time away from work," she said, and can't take the time off to volunteer at the mid-week event.
 
"In the past, we've had troubles with working parents in trying to get them to field the event. It takes a lot of volunteers," Healy said. 
 
But, "this year, we reached out to our local law enforcement — sheriff, Police, and Fire departments — to see if they would be interested in having a good time with us."
 
The call for backup worked. Joining the parents who could get there to volunteer were about a dozen from the Berkshire County sheriff's office and the Pittsfield Fire Department. The school had reached out to the community for extra volunteer support and the request was spread throughout the public safety agencies. 
 
Officer Kelly Hakulin from the sheriff's department was one of those who jumped on the opportunity. She saw the request and remembered her field days from some 20 years ago. On Wednesday, she was one of three from the department leading the game of tug o' war.
 
Beyond Hakulin's own fun of spending time with the children and playing games, the volunteerism reflects well on the Sheriff's Office, which often doesn't have the positive interaction with members of the community as Wednesday's event.
 
"We want the kids to have a good perspective from a really young age. A lot of people look at law enforcement and they are wary of anybody with a badge. This, coming here and interacting with kids, gives them a good outlook. They're able to see us in a positive manner," 
 
Rob Leary from the Fire Department echoed similar sentiments. While Fire Departments aren't battling quite the negative perception those in law enforcement have to deal with, the firefighters also don't get to interact with the community on the good days as much as the bad.
 
"It's always fun to interact with the kids and see them in a better environment — sometimes we, unfortunately, get to meet them at the worst times. To come up here and see them at the school, even though we don't have the fire truck with us, at least they know the Fire Department is out here and we're helping," Leary said.
 
As the children finished circling from station to station, they gathered for a final treat — a chance to send Principal Candy Jezewski plunging into ice cold water. Two students from each class, those who showed high levels of sportsmanship, got the honor of attempting the sink Jezewski in the dunk tank — and it didn't take long before she took her first plunge of the day.

Tags: capeless school,   school event,   

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Pittsfield CPA Committee Funds Half of FY24 Requests

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — A few projects are not getting funded by the Community Preservation Committee because of a tight budget.

The projects not making the cut were in the historic preservation and open space and recreation categories and though they were seen as interesting and valuable projects, the urgency was not prevalent enough for this cycle.

"It's a tough year," Chair Danielle Steinmann said.

The panel made its recommendations on Monday after several meetings of presentations from applications. They will advance to the City Council for final approval.  

Two cemetery projects were scored low by the committee and not funded: A $9,500 request from the city for fencing at the West Part Cemetery as outlined in a preservation plan created in 2021 and a $39,500 request from the St. Joseph Cemetery Commission for tombstone restorations.

"I feel personally that they could be pushed back a year," Elizabeth Herland said. "And I think they're both good projects but they don't have the urgency."

It was also decided that George B. Crane Memorial Center's $73,465 application for the creation of a recreational space would not be funded. Herland said the main reason she scored the project low was because it didn't appear to benefit the larger community as much as other projects do.

There was conversation about not funding The Christian Center's $34,100 request for heating system repairs but the committee ended up voting to give it $21,341 when monies were left over.

The total funding request was more than $1.6 million for FY24 and with a budget of $808,547, only about half could be funded. The panel allocated all of the available monies, breaking down into $107,206 for open space and recreation, $276,341 for historic preservation, and $425,000 for community housing.

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