Dalton Town Employees Gets ADA Training

By Sabrina DammsiBerkshires Staff
10:49AM / Saturday, March 16, 2024Print Story | Email Story

DALTON, Mass. — Municipal employees will have the option to participate in Americans with Disabilities Act training.

ADA coordinator Alyssa Maschino informed the ADA Committee on Monday that Town Manager Thomas Hutcheson approved the idea and is currently in the planning process.

The virtual training will cover state ADA requirements, ensuring program accessibility for people with disabilities, and the reasonable modification process.

The training is led by Julia O'Leary, general counsel for Massachusetts Office on Disability. The Office on Disability "provides information, guidance, and training on disability-related civil rights and obligations," the state website says.

A lot of people are used to being able to walk upstairs and being mobile, so they are not thinking about how their surroundings affect people with mobile disabilities, committee member Edward "Bud" Hall said.

This will give town employees a better understanding of what is compliant and what is not,

"A lot of people are just used to the everyday walking upstairs, running into the building, not thinking about, what about the other person that can't do it. So this just will probably give them insight and hopefully helping

Maschino and Hutcheson are considering holding the training during the monthly staff meeting on the third Wednesday of each month.

Although the training is an hour and "I feel like everyone should really take the time to do it" it is unclear if the town can make it mandatory, Maschino said.

In other news, the committee signed a letter recommending the town install sidewalks on Orchard Road.

Tags: ADA,

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Pittsfield Schools Get Additional Chapter 70 Funds

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
05:09AM / Tuesday, August 18, 2026

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Pittsfield schools received almost $459,000 in additional Chapter 70 funds, and officials are looking to restore some positions.

On Tuesday, the City Council accepted an additional $458,660 for the Pittsfield Public Schools fiscal year 2027 budget. Mayor Peter Marchetti confirmed that they were Chapter 70 funds, the primary source of state aid for public elementary and secondary schools in Massachusetts.

"What I can tell you is, during the budget process, [State Rep. Tricia Farley-Bouvier] was talking about two different pots of money that she was looking to get, and so some of this came from the per pupil aid amount. That's what the increase in our funding was for,” he explained when asked about how it will be spent.

"It was her intent, and it was the intent of the superintendent, to save positions. Positions that we were cutting from the budget. But I can't give you a definitive answer because the School Committee has not engaged in the conversation of where that money will go inside the school budget," he said.

The School Committee can appropriate the funds at its discretion. Marchetti, also School Committee chair, agreed to notify councilors where those monies went in the budget, per Ward 7 Councilor Kathy Moody's request.

The Pittsfield Public Schools' original $86,855,061 budget included $68,886,061 in Chapter 70 funding. PPS faced a more than $4 million deficit during this process.

Assistant Superintendent for Business and Finance Bonnie Howland on Wednesday told the School Committee that they have discussed adding at least four paraprofessionals.

"We're going to try to stretch the money as far as we can," she said, explaining that they talked about maintaining the assistant principal of teaching and learning and Reid but were notified that it will be grant-funded.

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