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.

Tags: Pittsfield Public Schools,

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15 People Displaced in Pittsfield Home Fires

Staff Reports11:35AM / Sunday, October 11, 2026

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Fifteen people were displaced after 2-alarm home fires this weekend on Springside Avenue and Elaine Drive.

On Friday evening, the Fire Department responded to a structure fire at 209 Springside Ave., which took a four-hour battle to extinguish and resulted in a partial roof collapse. The next day, on Saturday evening, crews knocked down a fire at 121 Elaine Drive in about an hour.

The garage and part of the single-family home on Elaine Drive were gutted to the frame, along with a vehicle parked in the driveway. On Springside Avenue, the top level and porch of the multifamily were burned through.

A GoFundMe has been started for the family of the Elaine Drive home, which includes several young children. The fundraiser, with a $5,500 goal, explains they lost their home and all of their belongings. (iBerkshires.com does not confirm or endorse fundraisers; they are provided as information only.)

There were no civilian or firefighter injuries, and both incidents are under investigation. One dog was rescued on Springside Avenue.

On Oct. 10, around 6:15 p.m., PFD responded to the Springside Avenue home for a reported structure fire and saw a 2 1/2-story wood frame multifamily with a heavy blaze showing from the second-floor front porch, extending out.

The building suffered a partial roof collapse, which prolonged extinguishment. The fire was brought under control after about four hours.

“An aggressive offensive attack was mounted by first arriving crews stretching hose lines into the building as well as primary searches that proved negative. Ladders were placed around the structure to provide access as well as escape if needed. An off-duty Fire Captain had also been on scene early in the incident to help evacuate the structure and rescue a dog,” PFD wrote in a press release.

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