Schools Announce Recipients of John and Abigail Adams Scholarship

Berkshire County Schools are now announcing the names of students who have received the John and Abigail Adams scholarship. Schools are encouraged to send their lists to info@iberkshires.com to recognize their students in this space.

The John and Abigail Adams Scholarship provides merit-based credit toward tuition for up to eight semesters of undergraduate education at a Massachusetts state college or university (with the exception of the Massachusetts College of Art and Design). The waiver is good for up to eight semesters of undergraduate education.

In order for a student to qualify, they must score "advanced" on their grade 10 MCAS English Language Arts, Mathematics tests or STE (Biology, Chemistry, Introductory Physics or Technology/Engineering) and "proficient" or "advanced" on the remaining two tests. Additionally, their combined MCAS scores must place them in the top 25 percent of their classmates within the school they attend or the district in which they reside.

Berkshire Arts and Technology Charter Public School: Alyssa Anderson, Driss Bourzgui, Sarah deBethune, Gwendolyn Farnsworth, Miles Fippinger, Andrew Gillman, Grace Krzanik, William Peets, Ashley Pixley, Finley Root, Luke Salinovici, Sean Salinovici, Alison Sanchez, William Schrade, Gianna Sondrini, Kylie Taylor, Nicholas Viggiano, and Philip Williams.

Pittsfield High School: Dylan Bell, Loren Benoit, George Bissell, Genevieve Brites, Cole Brombeck, Benjamin Brooks, Emanuel Brown, Kobe Chen, Madeline Coco, Sophia Contini, Brandon Cook, Cassandra Crockwell, Joseph Cronin, Kevin D'aniello, Cameron Diehl, Daniel Dimassimo, Liam Fitzgibbons, Aliyah Heideman, Allison Henderson Mary Hines, Makai Jones, Jena Kaddoura, David Kankam, Jack Kelly, Stella Kimball-Dembitzer, Emma King, Mckenzi Kinnas, Abigail Kittler, Ella Korte, Logan Kroboth, Lucien Lamoureaux, Ryan Lapierre, Brian Lavino, Szofia Lewis, Cole Masiero, Emily Mazzeo, Patrick Mckinney, Sierra Murray, Declan O’Brien, Lilly Ouillette, Ryan Polastri, Ryan Poulton, Kyle Pullaro-Clark, Autumn Rodgers, Hannah Roloson, Corey Scarfone, Samantha Scoco, Kailee Soberano, Andrew Sohl, Elizabeth Sprague, Sasha Stedman, Emelyn Theriault, Elliot Thompson, Madison Tobin, Hailey Widdison and Whitney Zapotitla.

Dalton Board Signs Off on Land Sale Over Residents' Objections

By Sabrina DammsiBerkshires Staff
05:50AM / Tuesday, December 23, 2025

Residents demanded the right to speak but the agenda did not include public comment. Amy Musante holds a sign saying the town now as '$20,000 less for a police station.'

DALTON, Mass. — The Select Board signed the sale on the last of what had been known as the Bardin property Monday even as a handful of residents demanded the right to speak against the action. 

 

The quitclaim deed transfers the nine acres to Thomas and Esther Balardini, who purchased the two other parcels in Dalton. They were the third-highest bidders at $31,500. Despite this, the board awarded them the land in an effort to keep the property intact.

 

"It's going to be an ongoing battle but one I think that has to be fought [because of] the disregard for the taxpayers," said Dicken Crane, the high bidder at $51,510.

 

"If it was personal I would let it go, but this affects everyone and backing down is not in my nature." 

 

Crane had appealed to the board to accept his bid during two previous meetings. He and others opposed to accepting the lower bid say it cost the town $20,000. After the meeting, Crane said he will be filing a lawsuit and has a citizen's petition for the next town meeting with over 100 signatures. 

 

Three members of the board — Chair Robert Bishop Jr., John Boyle, and Marc Strout — attended the 10-minute meeting. Members Anthony Pagliarulo and Daniel Esko previously expressed their disapproval of the sale to the Balardinis. 

 

Pagliarulo voted against the sale but did sign the purchase-and-sale agreement earlier this month. His reasoning was the explanation by the town attorney during an executive session that, unlike procurement, where the board is required to accept the lowest bid for services, it does have some discretion when it comes to accepting bids in this instance.