School Mask Requirement Extended to Feb. 28

04:44PM / Monday, January 10, 2022Print Story | Email Story

BOSTON — The requirement for face coverings in public schools has been extended through Feb. 28.

The requirement for masking had initially been approved by the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education last August to expire on Oct. 1; that was extended to Nov. 1 and then again to Jan. 15.

DESE Commissioner Jeffrey Riley on Monday alerted school districts that that masking would continue to at least Feb. 28 and possibly beyond that, pending changes in pandemic guidelines.

"The mask requirement remains an important measure to keep students safe in school at this time," the extension announcement stated.

Schools that meet the 80 percent vaccination threshold may discontinue masking for those who are vaccinated. Those unvaccinated must continue wearing face coverings.

Only a few schools have reached that benchmark and some have continued to require universal masking rather than police the unvaccinated.

About 75 percent of the population is vaccinated and about 75 percent of those eligible for the vaccine in Berkshire County have been inoculated. The highest rates of vaccination appear to be among staff and faculty but student inoculations have been lagging.

But the Boston Globe found that broad disparities in vaccination rates for children ages 5 to 11, who were eligible for the vaccine in October. Some of the lowest vaccination rates are in poorer communities and the higher rates in more affluent areas.

In the Berkshires, Williamstown reported the highest rate of vaccination in that age group at 83.5 percent. But only 9.8 percent of the town of Florida's 51 children were inoculated and 24 percent of Egremont's.

Pittsfield had a rate of 44.3 percent and North Adams (and Clarksburg) 48.5 percent. Great Barrington and West Stockbridge were both more than 70 percent but Adams about 37 percent.

Boston's rate was about 36 percent compared with surrounding towns like Newton (88.7 percent), Weston (92.5 percent), Arlington (102.5 percent), and Needham (97.3 percent).

Tags: COVID-19, masks,

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Reign Purple Reigns Over 1791 14-and-Under Field

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires.com Sports
07:58PM / Sunday, August 16, 2026

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. – Camden Sievers Sunday went 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles at the plate and struck out eight in four innings on the mound as the Berkshire Reign Purple won the 14-year-old Division Championship Game to conclude the inaugural 1791 Classic at Joe Wolfe Field.

But there were no losers in the final game of the three-day, eight-team event as the Purple beat the Berkshire Reign White, 10-2, in what amounted to a celebration of the travel baseball program’s success – over the weekend, this summer and the last five years.

Reign founder and coach Kristopher Ireland was in the losing dugout in the split squad game on Sunday evening, but, in reality, he couldn’t lose after pulling off what he promised will be the first of many 1791 Classics to come.

“The tournament went great,” Ireland said. “The weather held out. I think we only had one game that got called short for rain, which we probably could have gotten in, but it would have made it a late night [Friday].

“The weather was great over the weekend. The facilities held up wonderfully. We got hit with a thunderstorm in Dalton on Friday night, and our parents stepped up and got the field ready for Saturday’s games. And, once again, kudos to North Adams for hosting us here and Dalton for hosting us there. In Pittsfield, we had fields there, too, if necessary.”

Nothing, including the weather, could stop the Reign Purple in the four-team 14-and-under bracket, where it went 5-0 – three pool games plus Sunday’s semi-final and final – outsourcing opponents by a combined 65-17.

In Sunday’s title game, Kody Lesser was 3-for-3 with an RBI, Spencer Kotski was 3-for-4 with a double and three RBIs, and Kai Laframboise went 2-for-3 with a triple in a 13-hit attack.

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