BHS, Berkshire Boards of Health to host Vaccine Clinic

10:27AM / Tuesday, October 04, 2022Print Story | Email Story

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Berkshire Health Systems and the Berkshire County Boards of Health Association are teaming up for a vaccination clinic in Williamstown in October. The clinic, to be held on Friday, Oct. 21 from 2 to 6 p.m. at the Williams College Field House, is open to the public and to staff and students from Williams College.

The clinic will provide the COVID-19 Bivalent Booster, which is effective against the latest strains of the COVID-19 virus, BA.4 and BA.5, and the Flu vaccine to help prevent Influenza. In order to receive the Bivalent vaccine, you must have received the first two primary doses of either Pfizer or Moderna, or the single primary dose of Johnson & Johnson. Both Pfizer and Moderna Bivalent vaccines will be available at this clinic.

Pre-registration is required, with limited doses available, and the clinic has 400 open slots for the community. As a result, it is recommended that those interested register as soon as possible. To register, visit https://home.color.com/vaccine/register/berkshire. Please also have your COVID-19 vaccine card in hand.

Tags: BHS, vaccinations,

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Letter: Incomplete Picture from Greylock School Committee

Letter to the Editor06:30PM / Wednesday, October 28, 2026

To the Editor:

At the October Mount Greylock School Committee meeting, there was much celebration over the student growth percentiles (SGP) from last year's MCAS test data (Spring 2026). Growth is worth celebrating. But I worry the meeting, and the coverage of it, left families and our community with an incomplete picture of how our students are doing in math.

"Growth" sounds like it means scores went up, but that isn’t quite what SGP measures. SGP compares each student to students in the state who scored about the same the year before, then ranks how they did this year against that group. If a whole group of similar students decreases, the student who decreases the least can still earn a high growth percentile. A strong SGP tells us our students did better than their peers who scored similarly the year before. It doesn't tell us whether they are at grade level.

For example, the current 6th grade class at Williamstown Elementary School (WES) has decreased in their grade-level math proficiency every year since their 3rd grade MCAS. In 2024, 64 percent of the class was meeting expectations; in 2025 48 percent were at grade level, and in 2026 only 33 percent of their class met grade-level expectations. Our current WES 5th grade class follows a similar trend, with 48 percent meeting grade-level math expectations last year vs 56 percent meeting expectations in 2025 when they were in 3rd grade.

Not every class follows this pattern; our current 7th graders gained to 62 percent last year. But seeing entire classes decrease is something that deserves our attention.

Growth comparisons across the state provide useful information, but they do not tell the complete story. We also need to look at where our students are in terms of grade-level proficiency and how those numbers are changing from year to year within the Mt. Greylock school district. This will be our first year with the math interventionist role filled at WES and our second year with the new i-Ready curriculum.

As we watch whether these changes are working, I hope the School Committee will discuss proficiency alongside growth in its public meetings, so our community can see the full picture. Growth matters, but it isn’t enough if fewer of our kids are reaching grade level each year.

Sincerely,

Jenna Hasenkampf
Williamstown, Mass.

Hasenkampf is a parent of WES students in Grades 2 and 4.

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