Berkshire Benchmarks Releases State of the County Update

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PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Berkshire Benchmarks data team recently released a State of the County Update for 2023. 
 
This brief report builds on the Berkshire Benchmarks State of the County Report published in May 2022 and highlights notable changes in regional indicators over the past year. The berkshirebenchmarks.org website has also been updated to reflect the most current available data. 
 
The purpose of the Benchmarks initiative and report is to highlight the region's successes and challenges.
 
The 2022 Berkshire Benchmarks State of the County report provided a comprehensive overview of our region's performance across eight sectors: Economy, Education, Environment, Government, Health, Housing, Social Environment, and Transportation.  
 
In the future, the Berkshire Benchmarks team will continue to monitor these and other indicators to aid with the regional understanding of changes in these sectors and whether the work happening throughout the region is having the intended impact. 
 
Berkshire Benchmarks is a collaborative initiative managed through Berkshire Regional Planning Commission (BRPC). Our sources are publicly available data, including the U.S. Census Bureau, the American Community Survey, various Massachusetts data sets, and periodic surveys of Berkshire County residents. 
 
Berkshire Benchmarks aims to work with the community to understand priorities and help inform the region on how we are doing and if we are improving. Berkshire Benchmarks enhances the region's access to quality data and analysis. 

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Pittsfield School Committee OKs Contracts, New Time-Out Regulations

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The School Committee held a special meeting last week to settle contracts for the new, institutionally different school year. 

During a virtual meeting, members approved a contract with the Pittsfield Federation of School Employees for fiscal years 2026 to 2028, and a memorandum of agreement with the United Educators of Pittsfield for the new bell schedule. 

The Pittsfield Federation of School Employees represents bus drivers and monitors, cafeteria and custodial staff, paraprofessionals, and secretaries. 

For Pittsfield Public Schools, staff returns on Aug. 26 and students' first day is Aug. 31; pre-kindergarten and kindergarten begin school on Sept. 2. The district will have one less elementary school, as the committee voted to retire Morningside Community School earlier this year and reassigned students to Allendale, Capeless, Egremont, and Williams elementary schools, and a different middle grade model. 

PPS now has an upper elementary and junior high school, with Grades 5 and 6 attending Herberg Middle School and Grades 7 and 8 attending Reid Middle School. This concept is also new to the 2026-2027 school year and has altered bell times, staffing, and transportation

An MOA with the Pittsfield Educational Administrators Association for school assignment changes after the contractual timeline was tabled.  It will be taken up at the next meeting with an executive session. 

The School Committee also updated the district's policies and procedures for physical restraint, time-out, and seclusion to align with revised state regulations.  It was adopted on the first reading. 

"We're not proposing any changes that haven't been suggested per the law," Superintendent Latifah Phillips reported. 

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