COVID-19 Closes Two Grades at North Adams Elementary School

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NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Cases of COVID-19 among staff at Colegrove Park Elementary School is causing the closure of one grade for the week and remote learning for another. 
 
Kindergarten classes are closed this week with a reopening date of Tuesday, Jan. 18, and third grade will be remote also until next Tuesday. 
 
Parents and staff were notified of the closures on Monday afternoon. Superintendent Barbara Malkas in an update posted on the school district website reported that there were 31 positive cases reported in the schools. 
 
Colegrove had the most at 11, Brayton and Drury High had seven each, and Greylock reported six. 
 
"Every individual with a potential exposure has been contacted and given instructions on the course of action they need to take according to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education guidelines regarding quarantine, including self-isolating and testing," Malkas wrote. 
 
The school system has been participating in the state's "test and stay" program that allows those who have been in close contact with an infected individual but aren't showing symptoms to be rapid tested for seven consectuvie days. As long as the student remain asymptomatic and has negative results, they can stay in school. 
 
Only about half the city's children in the 5 to 11 age group are vaccinated.
 

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MCLA Selects Pennsylvania Educator as 13th President

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The board of trustees on Thursday voted 8-2 to offer the 13th presidency of Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts to a Pennsylvania higher education executive. 
 
Diana L. Rogers-Adkinson is senior vice chancellor for academic and student affairs and chief academic officer for the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, providing system-level leadership for 10 universities serving approximately 80,000 students.
 
"I thought she was really able to articulate the value of a liberal arts education and our mission to both society and, you know, to our students in their lives," said Trustees Buffy Lord before presenting the motion to offer her the post. "I think that she'll be a fantastic advocate for MCLA within Berkshire County, but also in Boston. You know, my sense is that she's going to be able to fight for us if it needs to happen." 
 
Rogers-Adkinson was one of four finalists for the post out of 102 completed applications. 
 
Trustees expounded on her experience, leadership and communication style. She was also one of two candidates, with preferred by the faculty, the college's unions and Higher Education Commissioner Noe Ortega. 
 
The second candidate, Michael J. Middleton, provost and vice president at Ramapo College of New Jersey, withdrew after consultation wiht his family, according to Lord. 
 
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