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Six COVID-19 Cases Linked to Williamstown's Pine Cobble School

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
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WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Four children and two faculty members from Pine Cobble School have tested positive for COVID-19, the private school's head reported on Friday.
 
Ten days after a kindergarten teacher went home with a fever, the ensuing tests have turned up six cases, Sue Wells said.
 
"All the cases are contained to the kindergarten families, and the teachers in the kindergarten," she said.
 
All of the families in that kindergarten cohort were ordered by public health officials to either be tested for the novel coronavirus or quarantine for 14 days, Wells said.
 
The school sent home the kindergarten pupils and any siblings on Wednesday, Sept. 9, the day a teacher first reported symptoms.
 
Due to HIPPA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) concerns, Wells said she could not disclose whether she knew if any of the other five people who subsequently have tested positive ever displayed COVID-19 symptoms.
 
After the initial teacher's test came back positive for the virus on Sept. 12, the school announced it would go to fully remote instruction for at least two weeks starting on Monday, Sept. 14.
 
Wells said Friday that Pine Cobble, which tested its entire school community prior to the start of classes on Sept. 8, plans to conduct another round of tests on the entire community -- faculty, staff and pupils -- on Friday, Sept. 25.
 
Pending the results of those tests, the school still hopes to reopen for in-person instruction on Tuesday, Sept. 29, Wells said.

Tags: COVID-19,   school reopening,   


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Mount Greylock School Committee Votes Slight Increase to Proposed Assessments

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Mount Greylock Regional School Committee on Thursday voted unanimously to slightly increase the assessment to the district's member towns from the figures in the draft budget presented by the administration.
 
The School Committee opted to lower the use of Mount Greylock's reserve account by $70,000 and, instead, increase by that amount the share of the fiscal year 2025 operating budget shared proportionally by Lanesborough and Williamstown taxpayers.
 
The budget prepared by the administration and presented to the School Committee at its annual public hearing on Thursday included $665,000 from the district's Excess and Deficiency account, the equivalent of a municipal free cash balance, an accrual of lower-than-anticipated expenses and higher-than-anticipated revenue in any given year.
 
That represented a 90 percent jump from the $350,000 allocated from E&D for fiscal year 2024, which ends on June 30. And, coupled with more robust use of the district's tuition revenue account (7 percent more in FY25) and School Choice revenue (3 percent more), the draw down on E&D is seen as a stopgap measure to mitigate a spike in FY25 expenses and an unsustainable budgeting strategy long term, administrators say.
 
The budget passed by the School Committee on Thursday continues to rely more heavily on reserves than in years past, but to a lesser extent than originally proposed.
 
Specifically, the budget the panel approved includes a total assessment to Williamstown of $13,775,336 (including capital and operating costs) and a total assessment to Lanesborough of $6,425,373.
 
As a percentage increase from the FY24 assessments, that translates to a 3.90 percent increase to Williamstown and a 3.38 percent increase to Lanesborough.
 
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