Update on Wednesday evening: The Community-Level COVID-19 Data Report from the commonwealth lists Williamstown as "gray" with a 1.9 per 100,000 average daily incidence rate for the novel coronavirus over the last 14 days.
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — With just two positive COVID-19 tests in the last 14 days, the town is moving out of the yellow and into the gray in the commonwealth's weekly community-level data report.
That means the Mount Greylock Regional School District does not have to move back to remote instruction for its three public schools.
School officials and families were keeping a close eye on the weekly release of data from the commonwealth because of a trigger in the district's reopening plan. Williamstown Elementary, Lanesborough Elementary and Mount Greylock Regional School will go fully remote if either of the district's member towns are rated "yellow" for three consecutive weeks.
Williamstown was yellow for two straight weeks heading into Wednesday.
Each Wednesday, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health releases a new map of community transmission rates of the novel coronavirus. Although the map was not updated early Wednesday evening, the raw data was posted by the commonwealth.
It showed that on a basis of incidents per 100,000 of population, Williamstown had a score of 1.9 for the last 14 days, which puts it in the gray classification, like most of Berkshire County.
As of last Wednesday, Sept. 30, Williamstown was the only Berkshire County municipality categorized as yellow. No county towns were listed as "red" in the commonwealth's gray, green, yellow, red classifications.
By definition, yellow communities show and average daily COVID-19 case rate of between four and eight per 100,000 residents.
Green communities have fewer than four cases per 100,000 residents. Gray means a town or city has fewer than five reported cases in the period covered.
Red communities had case rates of more than eight per 100,000 residents. The only "red" community in Western Massachusetts on the Sept. 30 map was Springfield, which had 8.26 cases per 100,000. It stayed red in the Oct. 7 numbers with 14.6 cases per 100,000.
The Mount Greylock Regional School Distirct, which includes Williamstown and Lanesborough and which has tuition agreements with the towns of New Ashsford and Hancock, opened under an agreement with its teachers union that automatically moves learning to a remote model if either of the member towns (Williamstown and Lanesborough) are in the yellow or red for three consecutive weeks.
Likewise, the district will remain fully remote until a rating of gray or green is achieved "in either of the member towns of Lanesborough or Williamstown for three (3) consecutive weeks," according to language on the district's website. iBerkshires.com asked Interim Superintendent Robert Putnam on Sept. 16, but he did not respond with a clarification on whether the return to in-person instruction trigger should have read "a rating of grey or green in both of the member towns."
As of Wednesday afternoon, the phrasing "either of the member towns" for a return to in-person instruction remains on the school's website.
If Williamstown had persisted in the yellow, then the agreement specifies all three district schools would go remote.
The middle-high school uses an AARBB model where half of the student body can attend school in person on Mondays and Tuesdays and the other half can attend in person on Thursdays and Fridays.
Since hybrid instruction only began on Monday, Oct. 5, a move to fully remote instruction would have meant that only half of the middle-high school's student population will have had the opportunity to attend school in person at all until at least the end of this month.
The district's two elementary schools began hybrid instruction on an AM/PM model, where half of each schools pupils attend in person in the morning and the other half attend in person in the afternoon.
If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.
Your Comments
iBerkshires.com welcomes critical, respectful dialogue. Name-calling, personal attacks, libel, slander or foul language is not allowed. All comments are reviewed before posting and will be deleted or edited as necessary.
Dave:
The issue here is the Union Agreement that the school committee negotiated.
Williamstown Charter Review Panel OKs Fix to Address 'Separation of Powers' Concern
By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Charter Review Committee on Wednesday voted unanimously to endorse an amended version of the compliance provision it drafted to be added to the Town Charter.
The committee accepted language designed to meet concerns raised by the Planning Board about separation of powers under the charter.
The committee's original compliance language — Article 32 on the annual town meeting warrant — would have made the Select Board responsible for determining a remedy if any other town board or committee violated the charter.
The Planning Board objected to that notion, pointing out that it would give one elected body in town some authority over another.
On Wednesday, Charter Review Committee co-Chairs Andrew Hogeland and Jeffrey Johnson, both members of the Select Board, brought their colleagues amended language that, in essence, gives authority to enforce charter compliance by a board to its appointing authority.
For example, the Select Board would have authority to determine a remedy if, say, the Community Preservation Committee somehow violated the charter. And the voters, who elect the Planning Board, would have ultimate say if that body violates the charter.
In reality, the charter says very little about what town boards and committees — other than the Select Board — can or cannot do, and the powers of bodies like the Planning Board are regulated by state law.
The Charter Review Committee on Wednesday voted unanimously to endorse an amended version of the compliance provision it drafted to be added to the Town Charter. click for more
Developer David Traggorth asked the trustees to make the contribution from its coffers to help unlock an additional $5.4 million in state funds for the planned 54-unit apartment building at the south end of the Cable Mills site.
click for more
The donors, who wish to remain anonymous, say the gift reflects their desire to not only support Williams but also President Maud S. Mandel's strategic vision and plan for the college.
click for more
Neighbors of a proposed subdivision off Summer Street last week asked the Planning Board to take a critical look at the project, which the residents say is out of scale to the neighborhood. click for more