UPDATE ON FRIDAY MORNING: Superintendent Kimberley Grady confirmed on Friday morning that the boys basketball game on Friday night and the girls basketball games on Saturday will be held as scheduled.
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Student Council representative Jacqueline Wells injected a little levity into the start of her presentation at Thursday's Mount Greylock Regional School Committee meeting.
"I guess spring break starts now," she joked during her monthly presentation to the committee.
But it was a cruel joke on the middle-high school community when it was thrown a curve ball with Thursday's announcement that school would be out of session Friday for an "inspection of the roof-top units and ventilation systems."
Principal Mary MacDonald announced the closure Thursday in an email to the school community.
She wrote that there would be no co-curriculars at the school on Friday, but athletic director Lyndsey von Holtz later clarified that she is hoping to hold Friday night's boys basketball games as scheduled. On Friday morning, the district's superintendent confirmed that, in fact, the basketball games and other events not involving the three-story academic wing would go on as scheduled.
The problem appears to be localized to the academic wing built as part of the recent addition/renovation project at the middle-high school. Students and staff have recently complained of a foul odor in the classroom wing.
On Friday evening, Mount Greylock Superintendent Kimberley Grady said she is working with her staff, the construction team that built the school, local inspectors and the school counsel "on the roof top units and venting issues."
"At this time, we are investigating the smell being reported in the three-story building," Grady said. "Since the smell was present more than once, we are utilizing precautions and closing the building for a comprehensive test of the system. This requires the building to be closed"
Mount Greylock was scheduled to hold its annual February weeklong vacation starting at the end of classes on Friday.
This is the latest in a line of issues related to the $64 million building project, which have included the delayed start of the school year in 2018 and a protracted wait to get access to the school's auditorium that ended about a year ago.
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Williamstown Charter Review Panel OKs Fix to Address 'Separation of Powers' Concern
By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Charter Review Committee on Wednesday voted unanimously to endorse an amended version of the compliance provision it drafted to be added to the Town Charter.
The committee accepted language designed to meet concerns raised by the Planning Board about separation of powers under the charter.
The committee's original compliance language — Article 32 on the annual town meeting warrant — would have made the Select Board responsible for determining a remedy if any other town board or committee violated the charter.
The Planning Board objected to that notion, pointing out that it would give one elected body in town some authority over another.
On Wednesday, Charter Review Committee co-Chairs Andrew Hogeland and Jeffrey Johnson, both members of the Select Board, brought their colleagues amended language that, in essence, gives authority to enforce charter compliance by a board to its appointing authority.
For example, the Select Board would have authority to determine a remedy if, say, the Community Preservation Committee somehow violated the charter. And the voters, who elect the Planning Board, would have ultimate say if that body violates the charter.
In reality, the charter says very little about what town boards and committees — other than the Select Board — can or cannot do, and the powers of bodies like the Planning Board are regulated by state law.
The Charter Review Committee on Wednesday voted unanimously to endorse an amended version of the compliance provision it drafted to be added to the Town Charter. click for more
Developer David Traggorth asked the trustees to make the contribution from its coffers to help unlock an additional $5.4 million in state funds for the planned 54-unit apartment building at the south end of the Cable Mills site.
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The donors, who wish to remain anonymous, say the gift reflects their desire to not only support Williams but also President Maud S. Mandel's strategic vision and plan for the college.
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Neighbors of a proposed subdivision off Summer Street last week asked the Planning Board to take a critical look at the project, which the residents say is out of scale to the neighborhood. click for more