WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. -- On Tuesday evening, Pine Cobble School confirmed a third member of its community, a pupil, has tested positive for COVID-19.
Head of School Sue Wells informed iBerkshires.com of the positive test of a kindergarten student.
Earlier in the day, the Wells notified the media that a second kindergarten teacher had tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
The first positive test of a kindergarten teacher prompted the private elementary school to go fully remote for at least two weeks starting Monday.
That first test came back on Saturday, three days after a teacher in the kindergarten went home from school with a fever.
At that time, the kindergarten pupils also were sent home, and families were advised to get their children tested at Berkshire Medical Center.
The rest of the school remained in session for in-person classes through Friday, until the first positive test came back.
At that time, despite a protocol that required the school to go remote after a second test, school officials decided to go fully remote for all grade levels based on the one positive.
Pine Cobble's plan for a return to school kept all of its grades in individual cohorts, meaning that there was to be no mixing of students or teachers in different grades.
Students and teachers also were following 6-foot social distancing rules and wearing face coverings provided by the school.
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WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Artist Erin Shirreff discusses her work and her current exhibition at the Clark, "Remainders," in a live conversation with Robert Wiesenberger, associate curator of contemporary projects, on Wednesday, March 10.
This free program takes place over Zoom at 12:30 pm.
Trained as a sculptor, Shirreff works between photography, sculpture, and video to explore the relationship between objects and their representations, and the mythmaking behind art history. Remainders, her year-long installation in public spaces at the Clark, encourages slow looking, forensic attention to detail, and an appreciation that things may not be quite as they appear.
Erin Shirreff was born in 1975 in Kelowna, British Columbia and currently lives and works in Montreal. She holds a BFA in visual arts from the University of Victoria, British Columbia, and an MFA in sculpture from Yale University. She has recently been the subject of solo exhibitions at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Kunsthalle Basel; the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston; and Albright-Knox Gallery.
Gov. Charlie Baker on Monday said the commonwealth has been told to expect a "lot more" of the single dose Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine by the end of the month.
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Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts professor of social work Kerri Nicoll suggested that the board could benefit from training in light of the twin strains of a controversy that has engulfed the town over the last year and a pandemic that has forced a new mode of conducting meetings in a virtual... click for more
Jeffrey Johnson, 47, grew up in Williamstown, attending both the local elementary school and Mount Greylock Regional School, and currently works for the commonwealth's Department of Developmental Services in its Pittsfield/North Adams office.
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Mount Greylock was one of the first districts to sign up and take advantage of a state-sponsored pool testing program. Essentially, samples (non-invasive nasal swabs) from a batch of individuals are bundled together into a single sample that is analyzed in the lab.
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On Thursday, Gov. Charlie Baker announced that on Monday, March 1, the commonwealth will shift to Step 2 of Phase 3 of its COVID-19 reopening plan.
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