Pupil Tests Positive for COVID-19 at Pine Cobble School

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires.com
05:52PM / Tuesday, September 15, 2020Print Story | Email Story

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 Housing Trust Inquiring About Repairs Program

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
05:16AM / Wednesday, November 04, 2026

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The board of the town's Affordable Housing Trust last month agreed to seek legal guidance on an issue it has been batting around for a couple of years.

The question is whether Community Preservation Act money can be used to fund a critical repair program for income-qualified homeowners to help them stay in their residences.

The CPA, which identifies "community housing" as one of its three favored categories for funding, largely has been used in town to support home purchases by income-qualified first-home buyers and the creation of income-sensitive housing in town, like the apartments in the former St. Raphael's Church at the corner of Cole Avenue and Church Street or the homes that the Northern Berkshire Habitat for Humanity homes that the trustees have supported.

The trust, which has run a successful mortgage assistance program for more than 10 years, also during the COVID-19 pandemic created programs to help assist with mortgage and rental payments in emergencies.

But, from time to time, Trustees have discussed finding a way to use some of its funds — which primarily have come from the CPA — to help residents in need make needed repairs to leaky roofs or dilapidated porches in order to stay in their homes.

The Trustees have never gotten a definitive answer on whether that's an allowable use of the CPA money, generated locally by a 2 percent surcharge on property taxes (with the first $100,000 of a property's value exempted) and partially supplemented by revenue raised by the commonwealth from fees on transactions at the Registry of Deeds.

Guidance on the website of the state's Community Preservation Coalition (a non-profit that supports local Community Preservation Committees) indicates that the repair issue is, to put it mildly, complicated.

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