Southern Berkshire Schools Awarded Grant for Students to Attend Curiosity Camp

12:39PM / Saturday, June 11, 2022Print Story | Email Story

SHEFFIELD, Mass. — Southern Berkshire Regional School District has been awarded a grant amounting in $15,000 for Early College Supports by Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE).

The Early College Support grant will allow for five students to attend a two week summer program at Bard College at Simon’s Rock. Curiosity Camp is an academic program for students in grades 9, 10, and 11. The grant will cover tuition, room, board, and off campus excursions.

"We are so thankful that we are able to offer this incredible opportunity to our students this year," said Superintendent Beth Regulbuto. "Curiosity Camp is perfect for students who are looking to take the next steps in exploring their academic and creative interests," continued Regulbuto. "Students who partake in this camp will gain college living experience by taking classes, while also having the benefit of being part of a small cohort of 30 classmates. Students who are interested in this opportunity should speak with Mount Everett High School Principal, Jesse Carpenter."

Students will participate in an active and engaging daily Writing and Thinking workshop along with a seminar. Students will also be able to choose different art and science courses while experiencing diverse academic offerings. While students indulge in the academic experiences that Simon’s Rock has to offer, they will also be able to take advantage of the 275-acre wooded campus and scenic nature trails.

For more information about Curiosity Camp at Simon’s Rock please visit: https://simons-rock.edu/academics/beyond-the-classroom/curiosity-camp.php

For more information about Southern Berkshire Regional School District please contact Superintendent Beth Regulbuto at - bregulbuto@sbrsd.org

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Lee Wants Bioremediation in Housatonic River Vernal Pool Study

05:24AM / Thursday, September 03, 2026

LEE, Mass. — The town has asked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and General Electric to include PCB bioremediation in its vernal pool study on the Housatonic River.

Lee officials are urging the EPA to require GE to add a bioremediation treatment arm to the vernal-pool study or provide the public with a clear explanation for why such testing is being excluded.

"This is exactly the kind of question EPA and GE should be asking before final remedy decisions are locked in," Select Board Chair Bob Jones said in a statement released to the press. "The town is not asking to slow the cleanup. We are asking EPA and GE to make the cleanup smarter, less destructive, and more protective over the long term."

An open house was held in Pittsfield earlier this summer for the Vernal Pool Pilot Study on Reach 5A of the Housatonic River, a five-mile stretch between the river's confluence and Lenox border.

EPA has required GE to conduct a Vernal Pool Pilot Study as part of the Housatonic River Rest of River remediation, comparing excavation and restoration with activated-carbon-based treatments, including a product called SediMite and powdered activated carbon, the town said.

Ten vernal pools will be cleaned of polychlorinated biphenyls in total, five with excavation and five with active carbon, and seven additional vernal pools will be monitored as controls. Construction will be complete around October, but the pools will be left to their natural processes and monitored with surveys and sampling for three years.

The Lee PCB Advisory Committee wrote a letter calling for the 21st-century approach it said could reduce long-term toxicity, avoid unnecessary destruction of sensitive habitats, and improve the effectiveness of the cleanup.

It states that Lee supports the study's purpose and agrees that EPA and GE must understand how cleanup activities affect sensitive vernal-pool ecosystems.

"The current pilot includes 10 treatment pools and seven control pools, while local officials understand that roughly 100 vernal pools may occur in the broader remediation corridor," the Aug. 27 letter reads.

"That makes the pilot study consequential: the methods tested now could shape how many sensitive wetlands are excavated, reconstructed, treated, or left with PCBs managed in place."

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