PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The latest personnel report has the School Committee concerned about keeping teachers in the city schools.
The reported was shared by Superintendent Jason McCandless at last Wednesday's meeting. School Committee member William Cameron noted that some of the exiting employees were only hired at the beginning of the school year.
"There was a group called Buffalo Springfield and they had a song called 'For What It's Worth' and the opening lines were 'There's something happening here, What it is ain't exactly clear,'" he said. "We have resignations here a month into the school year from a number of people that may have started at the beginning of the school year can you tell us what is going on here?"
McCandless said there are some retirees within the group of outgoing employees but there are also recent hires who found a better opportunity elsewhere or who were not up to some of the challenges the school district faces.
"Some of these folks have been with us a long time and the time was right," he said. "But some of these folks never even started and they took a more attractive offer elsewhere and we never even saw them."
He said Pittsfield Public Schools is an urban school district in "America's premier cultural resort" and what it offers is not for everybody.
"We are not just teaching them math, English, history, and science," he said. "We are teaching 360 degrees and building human beings in a community, nation, and world."
He said some of these new employees just did not work out.
In general, there is a shrinking applicant pool to pick from in Berkshire County with fewer young people opting to take careers in education, McCandless said, adding that there are 1 million students in the commonwealth and less than 20,000 people preparing to teach them.
McCandless said wages are also an issue in the district and that Pittsfield does not offer competitive salaries. He hopes to leverage the recent influx of state money to address this.
Pittsfield's salary range is in the bottom third of the county and, in the state, he estimated it was in the bottom 10 percent.
"We lost a handful of teachers late in the game to Mount Greylock that is just a fact when you compare their salary schedule for veteran teachers with master's degree-plus to ours, it can be as much as a $20,000 a year difference," he said.
In the past 10 years, he said their salaries have regressed.
"A few short years ago, we laid off like 68 people from the district," he said. "We had people not taking raises for years at a time so we have some catch up to do."
Before closing, the committee tabled a $6,100 donation from the Allendale Parent-Teacher Organization to purchase new cafeteria tables.
Mayor Linda Tyer stopped the vote because she thought this was something the district should purchase
"I appreciate this so much ... but I wish we were buying these so that the Parent-Teacher Organization could use this gift for enhanced experiences for the kids," she said.
McCandless agreed and said he found that there is a "deficit mentality" in the school district and people are often afraid to ask for things. He said he, too, would rather the PTO use the money for something their "heart was in."
He agreed with the mayor that new cafeteria tables should be the district's responsibility and it will make it happen this school year. He added that he was positive the PTO could find a great use for the money that was more exciting.
iBerkshires.com welcomes critical, respectful dialogue; please keep comments focused on the issues and not on personalities. Profanity, obscenity, racist language and harassment are not allowed. iBerkshires reserves the right to ban commenters or remove commenting on any article at any time. Concerns may be sent to info@iberkshires.com.
Your Comments
iBerkshires.com welcomes critical, respectful dialogue. Name-calling, personal attacks, libel, slander or foul language is not allowed. All comments are reviewed before posting and will be deleted or edited as necessary.
Price Chopper/Market 32 And Freihofer’s Complete Fundraising Effort
SCHENECTADY, N.Y. — Price Chopper/Market 32 and its trade partner Freihofer's have raised more than $200,000 to benefit three organizations: Muscular Dystrophy Association, Cure Rare Disease, and the Melodies Center at Albany Medical Center Hospital.
"Price Chopper/Market 32 and Freihofer's have partnered in the fight against muscular diseases and childhood cancer for decades," said Pam Cerrone, Price Chopper/Market 32's director of community relations. "We are pleased that, with the help of our customers, we were able to raise such substantial support for these organizations."
The supermarket chain promoted the purchase of specific Freihofer's products in its stores with a designated donation to the charities. In March and April of 2020, the program raised $37,000 for MDA; in May and June, it raised $33,745 for Cure Rare Disease. It also raised $133,160 from July through February for Melodies Center at Albany Med, for a total of $203,905.
"It continues to be in our culture to give back to the families and communities that we serve," said Paul Losavio, customer executive for Freihofer's.
These funds will go toward the extension of water and sewer lines along Dan Fox Drive, connecting the lines immediately to Bousquet Mountain. Though Bousquet is an immediate part of the equation, these improvements will make the area capable of handling future growth and is purposed to promote the... click for more
The Department of Community Development hosted a virtual public meeting on Wednesday for the Tyler Street Streetscape and Roundabout Project to provide the public with details on the improvements and to allow questions and feedback.
click for more
On Tuesday, a motion to ordain a ban of large-scale, outdoor pot growing in all zoning districts of Pittsfield passed 10-1 with Ward 5 Councilor Patrick Kavey voting in opposition.
click for more
Public Health Program Manager Laura Kittross said there is limited access everywhere and doesn't expect this to be an ongoing issue. She hopes to see additional vaccine allocations later this week and is "certainly hopeful for next week."
click for more
Entrepreneurship for All Berkshire County is collaborating with R3SET Studios to run a free online "Digital Business Survival Course" to help small businesses improve their online marketing. click for more
At its Monday session, Chair Robert Bishop updated the board on an investigation he has been conducting this month into complaints brought to light in January. These complaints includes a petition requesting the committee be curtailed that was brought forward by Town Planner Rebecca Slick and... click for more