Letter: Harrington Deserves Another Term

To the Editor:

I'm writing to express my wholehearted endorsement of Andrea Harrington — we have been friends for many years, through thick and thin. I look at the criminal justice system through the lens of our community's most marginalized neighbors. Andrea walks the walk on showing up to make change.

She understands the value of harm reduction better than any other politician I’ve worked with. She has been a champion for keeping drug use in the realm of public health where it belongs. She has focused the arm of justice on where it belongs — domestic violence and murder.

She has faced extremely biased reporting by our local paper of record. It has been very disappointing to see the repeated smears. It has made people afraid to support her publicly, even though in private they think she is doing a good job.

It is also worth noting that the courts were fully closed during a significant portion of her tenure. Now that they are open, violent crimes are being successfully prosecuted.

Andrea has earned your vote for another four years.

Stephen Murray
North Adams, Mass.

Clarksburg School Pressed to Find More Savings for Fiscal 2027

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
05:12PM / Tuesday, April 07, 2026

Clarksburg Town Administrator Ronald Boucher says the town's ability to levy more taxes is severely limited and he doesn't want to go to an override vote. 

CLARKSBURG, Mass. — School officials are looking at the elimination of three teaching assistants, prekindergarten for 3-year-olds and a two part-time positions to reduce the fiscal 2027 budget. 

 

Business Manager Jordan Rennell on Thursday went through the latest draft of the budget during a joint meeting of the School Committee, Select Board and Finance Committee, explaining the figures behind a projected spending plan of $3,299,206, up $213,563 or 6.92 percent over this year. 

 

"This budget reflects what has changed since March, when I showed you a 6.8 [percent]," said Rennell to a packed classroom of residents and teachers. "Unfortunately, it went to 6.9 [percent]."

 

Rennell, who's new in the position, explained before she could even begin comparing this year's and next year's budget, there was a $151,000 difference "between what we voted on and what we needed to survive."

 

The bulk of that was employee health insurance, which has become a major factor in school and municipal budgets across the state. 

 

"I took those true numbers from FY26 and I dumped them into FY27 and if we kept everything the same, every program, every teacher, every TA, the same our bottom line budget would increase 11.2 percent," she said. "Between the collaborative work between the town and the principal and Superintendent [John] Franzoni and all of the pieces of the puzzle, we were able to make some hard, gut-wrenching cuts that got us to that 6.9 percent."

 

That includes Rennell's former position as the preK 3 teacher, the three assistants, a 0.2 speech position and a 0.2 occupational therapy assistant.