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Mount Greylock Continues Teacher Talks Over Remote Learning

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
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WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Mount Greylock Regional School Committee met on Tuesday but did not have a resolution on two issues stemming from the school closure that entered its third week on Monday.
 
Districts statewide are closed through at least May 4 by order of the governor. Last week, the commissioner of education advised school officials to implement remote learning plans to continue students' education during the closure.
 
On Friday, Superintendent Kimberley Grady and other members of the administration sent an email to the district's families explaining plans for remote learning the PreK-12 district.
 
"We met this afternoon with the [teachers union] executive board and had a productive conversation about the ways in which we can transition to a more structured distance learning experience beginning the week of April 6," the letter read in part.
 
On Tuesday, the School Committee's Negotiations Subcommittee held an executive session to talk with the union, and a 4:45 p.m. special meeting of the full committee had agenda items to vote on memoranda of agreement between the district and its teachers and paraprofessionals.
 
But Regina DiLego of the Negotiations Subcommittee informed her colleagues that the discussions will need to continue.
 
After the meeting, Grady said that Tuesday's negotiations lasted an hour, and she characterized them as productive. The School Committee's subcommittee will meet again on Thursday.
 
In the meantime, the School Committee also needs to negotiate a contract adjustment with Dufour Tours, which provides bus transportation service to the district.
 
"We had a discussion today with the legal counsel for the district," School Committee member Jamie Art said. "He is going to do some follow-up review on the details of the federal stimulus package with an eye toward seeing how that will inform the renegotiation of the contracts with the bus company."
 
An agenda item to approve a bus contract also was deferred to a future meeting.
 
Grady told the committee that the administration continues to coordinate with town officials in Lanesborough and Williamstown and reached out to families with information about the instructional resources that currently are available on the district's website.
 
And Mount Greylock continues to provide lunches Monday through Friday to students and seniors in both its member towns, though that schedule will change next week.
 
"Starting next week, we will still do meals five days per week, but we'll only have deliveries and pickups on Monday, Wednesday and Friday," Grady said. "This way the administrative team who has been here since the beginning gets a little rest."
 
Meals for Monday and Tuesday will be delivered on Monday. Meals for Wednesday and Thursday will be delivered on Wednesday.
 
Grady again noted that any resident of Lanesborough or Williamstown who would like a meal under the grab-and-go program should contact the school  at 413-458-9582, Ext. 1195, or email lunches@mgrhs.org.

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Williams Seeking Town Approval for New Indoor Practice Facility

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Planning Board last week gave Williams College the first approval it needs to build a 55,000-square foot indoor athletic facility on the north side of its campus.
 
Over the strenuous objection of a Southworth Street resident, the board found that the college's plan for a "multipurpose recreation center" or MRC off Stetson Road has adequate on-site parking to accommodate its use as an indoor practice facility to replace Towne Field House, which has been out of commission since last spring and was demolished this winter.
 
The college plans a pre-engineered metal that includes a 200-meter track ringing several tennis courts, storage for teams, restrooms, showers and a training room. The athletic surface also would be used as winter practice space for the school's softball and baseball teams, who, like tennis and indoor track, used to use the field house off Latham Street.
 
Since the planned structure is in the watershed of Eph's Pond, the college will be before the Conservation Commission with the project.
 
It also will be before the Zoning Board of Appeals, on Thursday, for a Development Plan Review and relief from the town bylaw limiting buildings to 35 feet in height. The new structure is designed to have a maximum height of 53 1/2 feet and an average roof height of 47 feet.
 
The additional height is needed for two reasons: to meet the NCAA requirement for clearance above center court on a competitive tennis surface (35 feet) and to include, on one side, a climbing wall, an element also lost when Towne Field House was razed.
 
The Planning Board had a few issues to resolve at its March 12 meeting. The most heavily discussed involved the parking determination for a use not listed in the town's zoning bylaws and a decision on whether access from town roads to the building site in the middle of Williams' campus was "functionally equivalent" to the access that would be required under the town's subdivision rules and regulations.
 
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