Letter: Williamstown Shouldn't Rush Zoning Changes

To the Editor:

To Members of the Select Board and the Planning Board of Williamstown,

I have been a resident of Williamstown since 1971 and the owner of residential property in town. I am concerned about the process going through your committees to consider zoning changes in this town.

The process is rushing to put these changes in the next warrant articles, to be voted on in the next town meeting. This is unfair to town residents, who need more time to learn about and consider these proposed changes — few residents are even aware of their existence.

Tela Zasloff
Williamstown, Mass.

Mount Greylock Students in Argentina For Cultural Exchange Program

By Jack GuerinoiBerkshires Staff
05:07AM / Wednesday, April 22, 2026

This is the second trip for Mount Greylock students to La Cumbre. The school has a relationship with St. Paul's School there and hosted 36 Argentine students last year. 

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Fourteen Mount Greylock seniors boarded a flight for Argentina this past Friday, to immerse themselves in a transformative experience.

 

"So many kids who have taken this trip come back and they're transformed," said Spanish teacher Joe Johnson. "... I guess, the spoiler is, that what these students learn is that they are the same … even though they may be from opposite poles, literally, of the Earth, and grew up speaking different languages … So that's what we're really hoping for. Let's get them to just fall in love with each other, and learn about the world and the culture through those friendships."

 

Students took off on Friday, April 17. They will spend nine days in La Cumbre, a community the school has built a relationship with over the years.

 

Mount Greylock hosted 36 students from St. Paul's School in La Cumbre last year, and the exchange program has become a cornerstone of Mount Greylock's Spanish curriculum. Johnson said the AP Spanish course has become hyper-focused on Argentina in preparation for the trip.

 

"It is all about what can you understand? What can you communicate? And we cover a lot of daily life things as the years go by. What do you need to be able to say? or what do you need to be able to understand?" he said. "We have geared the AP curriculum to where it's very Argentina centered… so we'll just focus on that, and that way, they get used to the accents, they know what kinds of food to expect, what kind of social interactions to expect."

 

Students have been building these relationships throughout the year. Johnson noted that each Mount Greylock student is connected with a St. Paul's student, and they regularly exchange messages in both English and Spanish.

 

As for the town itself, Johnson said it is the perfect community for a cultural exchange and reminds him of Williamstown.