UPDATE ON FRIDAY MORNING: Superintendent Kimberley Grady confirmed on Friday morning that the boys basketball game on Friday night and the girls basketball games on Saturday will be held as scheduled.
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Student Council representative Jacqueline Wells injected a little levity into the start of her presentation at Thursday's Mount Greylock Regional School Committee meeting.
"I guess spring break starts now," she joked during her monthly presentation to the committee.
But it was a cruel joke on the middle-high school community when it was thrown a curve ball with Thursday's announcement that school would be out of session Friday for an "inspection of the roof-top units and ventilation systems."
Principal Mary MacDonald announced the closure Thursday in an email to the school community.
She wrote that there would be no co-curriculars at the school on Friday, but athletic director Lyndsey von Holtz later clarified that she is hoping to hold Friday night's boys basketball games as scheduled. On Friday morning, the district's superintendent confirmed that, in fact, the basketball games and other events not involving the three-story academic wing would go on as scheduled.
The problem appears to be localized to the academic wing built as part of the recent addition/renovation project at the middle-high school. Students and staff have recently complained of a foul odor in the classroom wing.
On Friday evening, Mount Greylock Superintendent Kimberley Grady said she is working with her staff, the construction team that built the school, local inspectors and the school counsel "on the roof top units and venting issues."
"At this time, we are investigating the smell being reported in the three-story building," Grady said. "Since the smell was present more than once, we are utilizing precautions and closing the building for a comprehensive test of the system. This requires the building to be closed"
Mount Greylock was scheduled to hold its annual February weeklong vacation starting at the end of classes on Friday.
This is the latest in a line of issues related to the $64 million building project, which have included the delayed start of the school year in 2018 and a protracted wait to get access to the school's auditorium that ended about a year ago.
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BENNINGTON, Vt. — A local woman attacked on the river walkway late Monday morning died of her injuries at Southwestern Vermont Medical Center.
Police have taken a suspect into custody in the homicide and recovered a weapon believed to be used in the attack. Neither the victim or suspect's have been released by authorities.
In a statement released by Police Chief Paul Doucette, police received a call at about 11:15 a.m. reporting the victim was being attacked on the walkway between North and School streets. Responding officers located the woman and rendered first aid until the Bennington Rescue Squad arrived.
A description of the assailant was provided to officers and the suspect was located on School Street. According to police, the officer attempted to engage the suspect in conversation and, when a second officer arrived, took him into custody.
The Northern Berkshire Community Coalition recognized Ansari with its 2021 Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service Peacemaker Award in an announcement posted on the non-profit's Facebook page on Monday afternoon.
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The bottom line: students will face tighter restrictions due to the nature of the winter season, the current spread of the novel coronavirus nationwide and the increase in the number of students planning to be on campus.
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The board of the Affordable Housing Trust on Wednesday talked about how it can reach more potential beneficiaries of its emergency rental assistance program and how it can structure a companion program for homeowners. click for more
The board reviewed the most up-to-date proposal for a bylaw amendment it has been considering formally since September and, in reality, for much longer than that. The board is hoping not to repeat last year's failed attempt to implement restrictions on pot production but still allow a pathway for... click for more
The Mount Greylock Regional School Committee on Thursday decided to move forward with needed improvements to the middle-high school’s athletic fields, but it removed both a synthetic turf field and track from the project that will go out to bid this winter.
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State officials Thursday encouraged small businesses across the commonwealth to beat a Friday midnight deadline to apply for COVID-19 relief grants. click for more