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The Board of Health hopes to engage groups and individuals in a communitywide cleanup.

Adams Board of Health Wants to Clean Up Town

By Jack GuerinoiBerkshires Staff
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ADAMS, Mass. — The Board of Health thinks a community cleanup campaign will renew a sense of pride in the town. 
 
"To me, it gets into community pride and how do we get the message out," board member Bruce Shepley said last week. "This is your town. Have some pride and you have control over what it looks like."
 
He has noticed overgrown lawns on vacant properties and people leaving garbage in abandoned homes.
 
Shepley said in his own neighborhood, he took it upon himself to mow unsightly properties and alert the authorities when late-night loitering becomes a nuisance.
 
"Do I want to be the bad guy? No, but do I have the ability to act and say not in my neighborhood?" he asked. "I certainly do and we need to get that message out."
 
Shepley said he would like to start a campaign and urge people who may carelessly litter to stop and for those who see it happen to stand up and say something.
 
"We have control over this," he said. "I think we can start a campaign and go to the select board and the building inspector and maybe light a fire under them. Where is our pride in Adams? We should not be afraid to rise to the occasion, call or approach someone."
 
Chairman Peter Hoyt suggested holding community cleanup days and targeting specific trouble areas. 
 
"When you get your hands dirty cleaning something up, you are less likely to dirty it up again," Hoyt said.  
 
Shepley said the board could harness community groups that may be sitting dormant to see if they want to get involved. 
 
The straw that broke the camel's back, he said, was upper East Hoosac Street, which for years has been a notorious dumping ground for litterers.
 
He has talked to the Department of Public Works director and the police chief about installing a "no littering" sign and perhaps security cameras.
 
"Maybe we need to do some electronic surveillance … I think there are a couple of trouble spots and we need to be making some statements," he said. "This needs to be a town effort." 
 
In other business, the board decided to drop the idea of a syringe disposal policy and refer all syringe disposal to Tapestry Health in North Adams.
 
"Do I still think we need some sort of policy on the books? Kind of," Shepley said. "But I think let sleeping dogs lie and we don't want to own a problem if we don't have to."
 
The board has mulled over different ways to dispose of medical syringes over the past year and even became part of a regional effort to create a consistent procedure. Tapestry opened a needle exchange and disposal office earlier this year near North Adams City Hall. 
 
The Adams Police used to collect the syringes but will no longer offer the service, although officers will pick up syringes found in public.
 
"They don't have a kiosk and they kind of did it in a haphazard way," he said. "The chief felt it was an endangerment to his officers."
 
Shepley said he will reach out to Tapestry to make a connection with the town.
 
The board also decided at the moment it does not need a deadline for processing vendors for events.
 
Code Enforcement Officer Thomas Romaniak said a vendor asked for a permit a few days before an event and because he was not familiar with the Vermont vendor, had to turn them away.
 
But in general, Romaniak said there isn’t a problem. 
 
"I am willing to work with people because I don't want to turn people away," he said. "I like the idea of deadlines but for a lot of these events, I want to see more people. It is not a problem now and I am not afraid to jump through hoops. If it becomes a problem we can revisit it." 
 
Board member David Rhoads said he had concerns about children not wearing sunglasses on the Ashuwillticook Rail Trail or at the Greylock Glen. 
 
"I was walking the trail and the Glen and I would see parents with their kids in strollers. The parents had sunglasses on but the kids didn't," he said. "I would like to see some sort of campaign and maybe get some signage up so parents are aware they need to protect their kids' eyes."   
 
The board thought it was a good idea to promote the effort and will purchase children's sunglasses to give away.

Tags: cleanup,   community event,   trash,   

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Hoosac Valley High School is Moving and Shaking

There have been some major shifts within the Hoosac Valley Regional School District recently, all of which have focused on enhancing the student experience to make it a place where ALL students can find their path.
 
In 2023, Hoosac Valley High School was designated an Innovation Pathway School by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) and has since restructured the Program of Studies, utilized creative scheduling, and expanded internship opportunities. Part of this transformation includes participating in a "Portrait of a Graduate" cohort alongside four other Berkshire County schools to determine a collective vision for student success, in partnership with the BARR Foundation.
 
The Innovation Pathways at HVHS are designed to give students coursework and experience in a specific high-demand industry, such as technology, engineering, healthcare, or life sciences. Currently, Biomedical Science & Healthcare and Environmental Studies have received official state IP designation. In addition to the IP designated pathways, HVHS offers programs in Engineering & Technology, Business & Entrepreneurship, Arts & Entertainment, Education, and Sports Medicine. The result is that students have an opportunity for a transformative experience – enabling them to build essential skills, gain awareness of future career opportunities, and make informed choices about post-secondary education in promising fields.
 
Principal Colleen Byrd notes, "What makes our program special is that entry into the Pathway of your choice allows a student to access Advanced Placement and dual enrollment college courses, as well as internships in the community to set them up for success after high school."
 
The Portrait of a Graduate initiative consists of a team of Hoosac educators and students who exemplify the essential skills, practices, and beliefs that define learning experiences across the district. They work to outline the competencies, values, skills, and knowledge that define our vision for student success – keeping in mind that not every student's pathway will look the same. The District's goal is to ensure that all students graduate as responsible people, prepared individuals, lifelong learners, global citizens, critical thinkers, and thoughtful communicators.
 
Another recent change district-wide in grades K-12 is the "Crew" culture. Teachers and students now have time each day to create positive connections and build authentic relationships with one another. Through Responsive Classroom at the elementary school and Crew at the middle and high schools, students and staff gather for 30 minutes each day to engage in meaningful experiences rooted in mutual and shared interests. 
The Crew block is a prioritized structure that allows staff to support all students socially, emotionally, and academically – anchoring them and promoting the Portrait of a Graduate competencies. Crew takes many forms at the high school, such as gardening, bird watching, yoga, and sports talk with visits to college games.
 
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