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The parade kicks off at 1 p.m.

Cheshire Boat Parade This Sunday

By Jack GuerinoiBerkshires Staff
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CHESHIRE, Mass. — The Cheshire Boat Parade will take place Sunday with a community picnic.
 
Organizer James Bush said this is the fourth year the boat parade has officially launched and this year the parade will celebrate the town’s 225 anniversary.
 
"It’s just a fun time and a good opportunity to support the town of Cheshire’s 225th," he said. "Two hundred and twenty-five is a long time and there are a lot of hard-working people who put this together."
 
The 225 Committee has organized a yearlong celebration with multiple events marking the milestone.
 
Bush said the boats shove off at 1 p.m. from the boat launch.
 
"We are going to do two and a half laps around the lake," he said. "The Cheshire Fire Department is going to be at the causeway with their water cannon arching the water out over the lake and we are going to drive underneath it."
 
He said this year the boats will be decorated and judged. There will be winners for most patriotic, most original, and best decorated.
 
"A lot of us have done it in the past but this year we are encouraging everybody to do it," Bush said.
 
He said last year there were 17 boats and he expects more this year.
 
"I anticipate more this year because I know people have purchased more boats since then," he said. "We also put flyers out, so everybody knows." 
 
Bush said there will be a community picnic at the Farnum’s Road Causeway starting at noon. He said hot dogs and hamburgers will be served and children will have the opportunity to create their own boat and compete in the Raingutter race.
 
The band After Ours will provide live entertainment.
 
iBerkshires couldn't be there on Sunday but local photographer Anita Doucette Guttmann took some lovely pictures here.

Tags: boats,   lakes, ponds,   

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Hoosac Valley Hears Educational Study Process, Timeline

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
CHESHIRE, Mass. — The Hoosac Valley School Committee got an update Monday on the North Berkshire Education Sustainability Study, now two months into its yearlong process.
 
This was the first school committee presentation, with the second planned for the North Adams School Committee on Tuesday. The Steering Committee will meet publicly at Mount Greylock Regional School on Wednesday at 5 p.m.
 
The study is investigating the state of secondary education in North Berkshire, its challenges and potential restructuring. It covers Hoosac Valley, North Adams Public Schools, Mount Greylock and the Northern Berkshire School Union.
 
Jake Eberwein, project lead with consultant Berk12, explained that baseline data would gathered over the next several months including through community forums to be held in late fall.
 
"We're not here to audit or evaluate," said Eberwein. "Our goal is to collect, curate and share it. Of course, there's always a process where, as a researcher, you have to decide how to share it and organize it, and that can certainly have a bias in itself. We're going to do our best and work with the subcommittees."
 
The data will include New Ashford and Hancock because even though they are not participating in the study, they tuition their students to North Berkshire schools, but not Rowe because it sends its high school students to Mohawk Trail Regional School.
 
"The charge really is to evaluate sort of the long-term sustainability option for the four districts that are involved in the project," Eberwein said. "It's really mostly about how do we provide the best quality, highest quality education for students in Northern Berkshire County, in light of the fact that there are some pressures: shifting enrollments, demographic shifts, and ongoing fiscal pressures."
 
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