Mount Greylock School Committee to Hear Proposal for Fields Advisory Group

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
01:18AM / Monday, June 22, 2020Print Story | Email Story

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Mount Greylock Regional School Committee's Finance Subcommittee on Thursday settled on a proposal for an advisory group to help the full committee make a decision that has stymied it for months.

Following a request from School Committee Chair Christina Conry, the subcommittee crafted a proposal to bring to the full panel as soon as its Thursday, June 25, meeting.

The proposed Athletic Infrastructure Advisory Group would be charged with delivering and providing background to the School Committee two or three options "for resolving current challenges to athletic infrastructure" at the middle/high school. The proposal as drafted gives the advisory panel a deadline of mid-October to deliver its report.

That time frame coincides with the date the School Committee expects to learn the value of funds donated to the district by Williams College and held in the college's endowment, which is valued annually with a fiscal year that ends on June 30.

"The idea of the committee is to be a research group and not to make a recommendation," said Carolyn Greene, who volunteered to chair the advisory group. "We are giving the pros and cons, and then it's up to the School Committee to decide what to do."

Greene said the goal is not for the advisory group to duplicate the efforts of the former Phase 2 Subcommittee, which last year produced a comprehensive plan that included a new artificial turf playing field. The district put that plan out to bid, but the project failed to move forward after the low bid came in with a price tag of $2.85 million.

"This is the third committee to look at this issue — maybe the fourth — and the importance of wrapping this up by October is not to be overlooked," Greene said.

Since the Phase 2 Subcommittee's proposal came back with bids significantly higher than expected in September 2019, the landscape has changed on a number of fronts: The School Committee has moved forward with another project funded by the Williams College gift; the economy was slammed by the COVID-19 pandemic, adding uncertainty to the value of the endowment-based gift; School Committee members who have been the strongest proponents of an artificial turf field have committed to including a specification for organic (but more expensive) Brockfill as infill instead of crumb rubber in a future bid package; and elected and appointed officials in both the school district's member towns have advised the School Committee not to make any other large allocations from the gift.

Much of the conversation in Thursday's Finance Subcommittee meeting dealt with the composition of the proposed committee. Greene told the group she already has reached out to several prospective members from the broader community, and the committee members agreed that, as with the Phase 2 Subcommittee, students from the high school should be included on the advisory group.

That Phase 2 group also included members of the Mount Greylock faculty. Superintendent Kimberley Grady said she would pass along a message to staff asking if anyone wanted to participate on the advisory group but stressed that their participation would be voluntary on a panel whose work would commence in July, during the school's summer vacation.

Greene recommended herself to chair the advisory group and already started doing some of the leg work for the panel, compiling an 11-page spreadsheet that attempts to track all of the questions that have been asked about the field project by members of the public and the School Committee itself — and, where possible, documents the answers that already have been provided by the Phase 2 Subcommittee and/or its consultants.

One item left unresolved at Thursday's Finance Subcommittee meeting is whether the advisory group it is proposing would have additional access to paid consultants in order to help fill in any blanks.

Grady said she would inquire how much it would cost the district to ask some follow up questions of Traverse Landscape Architects, who did the design work for the Phase 2 Subcommittee's proposal.

"Whatever we spend is going to eat away at the Williams gift," Greene said. "That's something to keep in mind."

Tags: MGRS,

iBerkshires.com Text Ads

Now's the time...

to harvest value from your home. Click for more details about a HELOC. Insured by NCUA.

www.greylock.org

rk MILES Blding Materials

Are You Ready to Update Your Home? Start With rk MILES. 4 Locations (800)670-7433

www.rkmiles.com

If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.

Coggins Classic Golf Tournament Helps Bennington Project Independence

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
05:37PM / Saturday, September 05, 2026

This was the tournament's fifth year; it combined with the independence project's annual golf outing this year.

BENNINGTON, Vt. — Thirty teams hit the green for this year's Coggins Classical Golf tournament, helping Coggins Auto raise money for Bennington Project Independence.

Coggins Auto Marketing Director Valerie Harrington said the fifth annual tournament, which was held on Aug. 28, continued a tradition of community-driven giving.

Harrington first helped organize the tournament in 2022. She hoped to raise $10,000, which would allow the auto group to leverage a $10,000 Toyota match program.

The tournament has successfully raised more than $50,000 the last two years, with last year's beneficiary the Cancer Center Community Crusaders.

This year, it raised more than $50,000 alone, including meeting the Toyota match the third year in a row.

Harrington said she wanted to help the nonprofits in the area, especially those that might get overlooked.

"The idea of it was especially for those nonprofits that are pretty small and don't have really the funds or the means or understanding of how to put on a golf tournament, and to give them an opportunity to get at least $20,000 in funds that year, which is huge for a lot of them, and it's really grown since then," she said.

"There's a lot of nonprofits that are big and big and loud and you know about them, but there are so many more that are like people don't even realize they exist. But what they do is super critical and important to the people in our community."

Local nonprofits submit an application each year explaining their mission and what they need to succeed. Coggins employees narrow the submissions to their top three choices and then let the community decide who they should pick.

Bennington has more than 100 nonprofits, and it can be hard to keep track of them all, but with the tournament, Coggins is able to have many people learn and see the needs in their community and nonprofits they haven't heard about.

"Even if they don't win, they've got in front of thousands of people who read their story and know what they need and know what they do to just spread awareness," Harrington said. "And then by having the community vote on it, then we know for sure what we're doing is what the community wants the most at that given time ...

"The community is saying, 'Hey, we want this nonprofit. We like what they're trying to do. Let's give them help because it's the decision of hundreds to thousands of people rather than just a handful of us.'"

Bennington Project Independence is an adult day service for individuals and families facing the challenges of aging or disability. This year the organization is combining its 13th annual golf tournament with Coggins.

"I think they've affected a lot of people's lives and helped a lot of families because it's an adult day facility for not just the elderly but also special needs," Harrington said. "So what they do every day to keep those folks' lives enriched while giving the family a break or allowing them to go to work and do these things. It's really important."

The 2027 tournament submissions will open in March of 2027.

View Full Story