The Berkshire Hills Technology Fund announced the winners of its first annual competitive grants program to encourage educational enrichment in the six schools of the Berkshire Hills Regional School District in Great Barrington, Stockbridge, West Stockbridge, and Housatonic.
According to Chip Elitzer, chairman of the fund, "The responses and the creativity of the teachers have been phenomenal! Out of 28 proposals from 42 teachers, we have chosen 18 project proposals from 25 teachers. About 1,400 students in four of the district's schools will be reached with some of the latest technological enhancements in education through these new projects.
The fund is supporting them with $71,000, which has been provided by over 40 donors.
In a press conference today at Monument Mountain Regional High School, all 25 teachers received personal laptop computers that they will own after completing their projects and participating in a series of technology-focused professional development sessions. The teachers briefly outlined their projects for a diverse audience that included School Committee members, school administrators, members of the local technology community, members of the Berkshire Hills Technology Fund, and donors to the fund.
According to Danny Brown, superintendent of the Berkshire Hills Regional School District, "This is a great day for the students and the teachers of the district. First, the Berkshire Hills Technology Fund made sure over the last year that every student would have access to an Internet-accessible computer at home. Through this first initiative of the fund, we believe that we are the first public school district in the country to be able to state flatly that we've obliterated the 'digital divide.’ Now, stimulating and then funding the creative ideas of our teachers will put those new computer tools to work. The community should feel very proud of its teachers. Local technology businesses should also be pleased that we will be better preparing our students for their growing hiring needs."
Nine of the new projects are at Monument Mountain Regional High School, while five are at Searles Middle School, three at Stockbridge Plain School, and one at Housatonic Elementary School. Educational enhancements will occur across the curricula in art, biology, chemistry, physical education, website creation, English, math, history, Spanish and physics. Funding will be immediately available for the costs of the projects, all of which will be completed within the coming year. As an added incentive and support for the teachers, the laptops they are receiving today will become their personal property after they have successfully completed their projects.
Elitzer also acknowledged the extraordinary support of two members of the grant committee, Michael Mino and Stephen Radin, who made presentations to special faculty meetings at each of the district schools in October to explain the program and to encourage teachers to submit proposals before the application deadline of Nov. 1. Mino, a former teacher at Monument Mountain, is a technology and curriculum specialist at Education Connection, a regional education service center in northwestern Connecticut. Radin, a retired educator, developed the first computer education curriculum for the entire New York City public school system and later managed 27 simultaneous grants serving 147 schools.
"We're extremely fortunate to have the talents and experience of people like Mike and Steve to guide this program," said Elitzer. "We're also extremely fortunate to have received generous donations from over three dozen members of the community. Their belief in and support of this initiative has helped to bring us this far and many people we have talked to are also prepared to help bring us further as we anticipate another grant making cycle next year."
The Berkshire Hills Technology Fund was formed as a fund of the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation early this year by a group of parents, business leaders, and school administrators. Its first project was to ensure that all students and teachers in the district have Internet-enabled computers at home. The fund purchased a truckload of Dell personal computers at a discounted price and made them available at cost to any member of the school community who wanted to purchase a first computer or upgrade to a new computer. The fund maintains an ongoing commitment to assist district families in obtaining affordable bank financing for a computer purchase or — depending on need — even in borrowing a computer at no charge.
Now that the computer infrastructure is in place, the launching of the annual competitive grants program is intended to make more effective use of this resource, including advanced teacher training, course enhancements, teacher/student research projects, and evaluation and acquisition of new educational hardware and software.
The Technology Fund has also financed the development of an integrated website (www.bhrsd.org) for the district and each of its schools. A work-in-progress, the site is designed to grow progressively richer in content and functionality as academic departments, classes, and extracurricular activity groups add their own pages. Going to www.bhrsd.org and clicking on the link to "Berkshire Hills Technology Fund" will provide more information about the fund and the grants program.
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New North Adams Restaurant Approved for Liquor License
By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — A new restaurant on Main Street, a provisions shop and a convenience store all got the nod from the License Commission on Tuesday.
Siblings Colleen and Sean Taylor are expanding their cuisine empire yet again with the establishment of Main & Mill in the old TD Bank. They were before the commission to apply for an all-alcohol license.
The building is owned by Ginko on Main Street LLC, which has granted 20 years exclusive possession of the property to Latent Builds as the developer. Jack and Suzy Wadsworth, behind Ginko, are development partners with Salvatore Perry and Karla Rothstein of Latent.
The bank closed in early 2021 and purchased by Ginko late that year. Plans for the property unveiled three years ago envisioned a restaurant, retail, a park and rooftop bar.
The building's hosted some pop-up eateries and is currently under construction for the new restaurant.
Colleen Taylor said the restaurant will be open seven days a week serving lunch and dinner, and be open early for coffee.
"It's not going to be a very big restaurant. It's about the same size as Trail House, except for Trail House has a bigger patio, so about the same seating," she said.
Cassidy Flynn scattered five hits in a complete-game effort in the circle as Lenox upset top-seeded Hoosac Valley, 3-2, in the quarter-finals of the Division 5 State Tournament. click for more
Brayden Durant struck out seven and walked one in a complete-game effort on the mound Saturday to pitch the Drury baseball team to a 6-0 win over Keefe Tech in the quarter-finals of the Division 5 State Tournament at Joe Wolfe Field. click for more
