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Williamstown Select Board Discusses Delay in Meeting with Lanesborough, School Committee

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
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WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The chair of the Select Board on Monday defended the decision by its counterpart in Lanesborough to delay a joint meeting to fill a vacancy on the Mount Greylock Regional School Committee.
 
A meeting of both boards plus the committee itself is required to fill the unexpired term of Williamstown resident Dan Caplinger, who resigned in February. One candidate met the district's deadline to fill the seat, an action that should be taken within 30 days of the resignation, per the regional agreement between the two towns.
 
The first planned joint meeting on March 23 was postponed immediately after the beginning of the governor's state of emergency over the COVID-19 pandemic; a second joint meeting was scheduled to be held remotely on April 6.
 
Seven days before that meeting, Lanesborough Town Manager Kelli Robbins sent the district a letter from the three-person Board of Selectmen saying the board felt a session to fill the vacancy was "in no way an essential meeting." She also wrote that the Lanesborough board would attend, "when the Governor's Order has been lifted or amended to allow such a meeting."
 
That decision sparked consternation on the part of a couple members of the currently six-person School Committee and a conversation that was continued on social media and in the comments section on the iBerkshires.com article.
 
On Monday, Williamstown Select Board Chairman Jeffrey Thomas said he understood the Lanesborough board's decision and respected it.
 
"I spoke personally to [Lanesborough's] John Goerlach," Thomas said. "He reached out to me with the simple question: I don't understand the urgency.
 
"What he didn't say in his email and I understood subsequently is Lanesborough is dealing with a lot of pressing issues, and I thought it was a fair question. I talked to some people about it. And I could not come up with a response to him that I thought was adequate to say, 'This really is urgent.' "
 
Thomas spoke in response to a question raised by resident Karen Falk during the petitioner's request port of Monday's Select Board meeting.
 
"It is our right in Williamstown to have this representation on the School Committee," Falk told the Williamstown board. "It doesn't seem right or fair."
 
Falk reiterated the point raised by School Committee member Steven Miller that the joint meeting should not take long, as there is only one candidate under consideration.
 
"I've heard many people say it should be a quick meeting," Thomas replied. "It might. It might not. That's an assumption."
 
The other four members of the Williamstown board were split on what the town's response should be to Lanesborough's decision.
 
Andy Hogeland argued that the district should commit to holding the joint meeting on May 4 by video conference whether or not the commonwealth's emergency order has been lifted, an opinion shared by Jane Patton and Anne O'Connor. May 4 is the date the School Committee decided to call the joint meeting.
 
"I agree with the notion that we should respect where their priorities are," Patton said. "I'm not seeing equal respect for where the priorities are for many of our townspeople.
 
"There are a lot of concerns for what's happening in the [school] district right now. And it just throws fuel on a long-smoldering fire to not do the easy things like meet … and just move forward."
 
Hugh Daley sided with Thomas, arguing that there is no reason to believe that the Lanesborough Selectmen has an ulterior motive in asking for the postponements.
 
"These are competent, professional people, representative of their community," Daley said. "It is only if you give yourself over to the idea that there is some motivation beyond coronavirus, beyond the times in which we live, that you would say this [Lanesborough] board is trying to hurt the district or derail the district or hamstring the district."
 
Caplinger, whose resignation created the vacancy, did not go that far, but he did talk about why he believes the seat should be filled.
 
"I resigned from the School Committee when I could no longer support the school administration's handling of critical issues," Caplinger said. "Rather than staying on to oppose the administration, I resigned in good faith, with the hope that a successor might be more effective and successful in bringing about necessary change.
 
"I see no good-faith reason for the select boards and the School Committee not to meet now to appoint that successor. Please urge your colleagues in Lanesborough to follow the spirit of the rule of law and meet your joint obligations under the Regional Agreement."
 
Caplinger pointed out that both the Mount Greylock Regional School Committee and Williamstown Select Board have adjusted to the realities of social distancing by holding meetings by video conference.
 
Patton agreed with Hogeland that the Lanesborough Selectmen should be able to commit to a remote meeting by May 4 at the latest.
 
"I have 85-year-old people doing Zoom and not having issues," Patton said. "We should be able to figure this out."
 
Thomas said Goerlach had given him no reason to believe that technology was the barrier to meeting.
 
"I want to reiterate my conversations indicated their only reason to postpone was that they had other, urgent things to focus on," Thomas said, appearing to make an attempt to wrap up the conversation. "I certainly hear you, and I will ensure the folks in Lanesborough understand that. I will ask them to do their level best to ensure we can meet on the May 4 date."
 
Hogeland added, "Meet by Zoom, right? I don't want them to say they're not going to show up because we can't meet in person."
 
"I will recommend that," Thomas replied.

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WCMA: 'Cracking the Code on Numerology'

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA) opens a new exhibition, "Cracking the Cosmic Code: Numerology in Medieval Art."
 
The exhibit opened on March 22.
 
According to a press release: 
 
The idea that numbers emanate sacred significance, and connect the past with the future, is prehistoric and global. Rooted in the Babylonian science of astrology, medieval Christian numerology taught that God created a well-ordered universe. Deciphering the universe's numerical patterns would reveal the Creator's grand plan for humanity, including individual fates. 
 
This unquestioned concept deeply pervaded European cultures through centuries. Theologians and lay people alike fervently interpreted the Bible literally and figuratively via number theory, because as King Solomon told God, "Thou hast ordered all things in measure, and number, and weight" (Wisdom 11:22). 
 
"Cracking the Cosmic Code" explores medieval relationships among numbers, events, and works of art. The medieval and Renaissance art on display in this exhibition from the 5th to 17th centuries—including a 15th-century birth platter by Lippo d'Andrea from Florence; a 14th-century panel fragment with courtly scenes from Palace Curiel de los Ajos, Valladolid, Spain; and a 12th-century wall capital from the Monastery at Moutiers-Saint-Jean—reveal numerical patterns as they relate to architecture, literature, gender, and timekeeping. 
 
"There was no realm of thought that was not influenced by the all-consuming belief that all things were celestially ordered, from human life to stones, herbs, and metals," said WCMA Assistant Curator Elizabeth Sandoval, who curated the exhibition. "As Vincent Foster Hopper expounds, numbers were 'fundamental realities, alive with memories and eloquent with meaning.' These artworks tease out numerical patterns and their multiple possible meanings, in relation to gender, literature, and the celestial sphere. 
 
"The exhibition looks back while moving forward: It relies on the collection's strengths in Western medieval Christianity, but points to the future with goals of acquiring works from the global Middle Ages. It also nods to the history of the gallery as a medieval period room at this pivotal time in WCMA's history before the momentous move to a new building," Sandoval said.
 
Cracking the Cosmic Code runs through Dec. 22.
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