McCandless Sets Record Straight on Rumored Incident at Herberg

Staff Reports02:13PM / Friday, November 03, 2017Print Story | Email Story

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — A personnel manner took on a life of its own on social media Thursday and Friday.

On Thursday, school administrators at Herberg Middle School dealt with a "personnel" matter with an employee. The district took steps to shield the children from seeing or hearing what was happening. Those tidbits of information then grew as the conversation about the matter spread on Facebook, dovetailing into accusations of teacher misconduct and arrests.

"It had absolutely nothing to do with children and no arrests were made," Superintendent Jason McCandless said on Friday. "There was not a single student involved and there were no allegations regarding misconduct."

McCandless said the administration took "every effort to keep students from seeing what was transpiring among grown-ups."

"If there was anything that really concerned kids or put kids in danger at any level, this district has a reputation of letting parents know," he said.

On Friday, school administrators began hearing the widespread rumors of teacher misconduct and "outlandish claims" and put together a robocall to alert parents to what happened. One call went out Friday morning and another was scheduled for later Friday.

McCandless said he could not provide further information regarding the personnel matter.

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Dalton Board Signs Off on Land Sale Over Residents' Objections

By Sabrina DammsiBerkshires Staff
05:50AM / Tuesday, December 23, 2025

Residents demanded the right to speak but the agenda did not include public comment. Amy Musante holds a sign saying the town now as '$20,000 less for a police station.'

DALTON, Mass. — The Select Board signed the sale on the last of what had been known as the Bardin property Monday even as a handful of residents demanded the right to speak against the action.

The quitclaim deed transfers the nine acres to Thomas and Esther Balardini, who purchased the two other parcels in Dalton. They were the third-highest bidders at $31,500. Despite this, the board awarded them the land in an effort to keep the property intact.

"It's going to be an ongoing battle but one I think that has to be fought [because of] the disregard for the taxpayers," said Dicken Crane, the high bidder at $51,510.

"If it was personal I would let it go, but this affects everyone and backing down is not in my nature."

Crane had appealed to the board to accept his bid during two previous meetings. He and others opposed to accepting the lower bid say it cost the town $20,000. After the meeting, Crane said he will be filing a lawsuit and has a citizen's petition for the next town meeting with over 100 signatures.

Three members of the board — Chair Robert Bishop Jr., John Boyle, and Marc Strout — attended the 10-minute meeting. Members Anthony Pagliarulo and Daniel Esko previously expressed their disapproval of the sale to the Balardinis.

Pagliarulo voted against the sale but did sign the purchase-and-sale agreement earlier this month. His reasoning was the explanation by the town attorney during an executive session that, unlike procurement, where the board is required to accept the lowest bid for services, it does have some discretion when it comes to accepting bids in this instance.

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