BArT Students Conduct Size of Earth Science Project

ADAMS, Mass. — Students at Berkshire Arts and Technology (BART) Charter Public School and at Oak Hall School in Florida conducted a science project together and determined the size of Earth.

High school seniors in the BART course, "Astronomy: At Home in the Universe," organized and carried out the joint experiment with 1st graders at Oak Hall School in Gainesville, Florida. On three days surrounding the autumnal equinox on Sept. 22, students at the two locations measured lengths of shadows at local solar noon.

"Our students performed an updated version of an experiment performed more than two millennia ago by the Greek scientist and thinker, Erastosthenes," said Jay White, BART’s executive director and teacher for BART’s Astronomy course. "With shadow data from a couple of days, knowledge of the distance between Adams and Gainesville, and geometry and trigonometry, BART’s students determined values for Earth’s radius and circumference less than 1% from the accepted values. That’s fantastic—and it gave BART students the opportunity to connect with a group of bright but much younger students in a different part of the country."

BART students combined data collected at the two schools and determined Earth’s circumference.

"I’m impressed by the students and their work and really appreciate the enthusiasm of the Oak Hall School science teacher, Ginny Switt. BART students and Ms. Switt’s class today Zoomed together to see their results. What a terrific outcome for two schools separated by a thousand miles and situated on a planet 25,000 miles in circumference," White said. 

Adams Town Meeting OKs $19M Fiscal 2025 Budget; Glen Articles Trigger Debate

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
09:50PM / Monday, June 03, 2024

Town Meeting member John Cowie held five articles for further discussion during Monday's annual town meeting. 

ADAMS, Mass. — Town meeting members on Monday night passed a $19 million operating budget for fiscal 2025 along with assessments to the two regional school districts.

 

One hundred and six of the 150 town meeting members, enough for a quorum, attended the annual town meeting held in the Memorial Building. 

 

All articles passed overwhelmingly, most unanimously, but several sparked some discussion and explanations when held by Town Meeting member John Cowie and Selectman Joseph Nowak, particularly those related to the Greylock Glen.

 

Adams uses a consent calendar, or the grouping of articles by topic, to be voted on at once. Any town meeting member can call for one or more articles to be held out of the vote for further discussion. 

 

The town budget totals $18,830,525, up 3.49 percent, or $634,334, over this year. The proposed operating budget is $9,845,854, up $286,172, or 2.95 percent, and includes expenses for utilities, repairs, maintenance, supplies, services and programming, and a significant investment in technology.

 

The Hoosac Valley Regional School District assessment to the town is $6,345,380, of which $662,000 is the annual payment on the high school building project. The assessment to the Northern Berkshire Regional Vocational School District (McCann Technical School) is $1,063,774.

 

The warrant also had a long list of spending articles from stabilization, free cash and other accounts; a bylaw requiring dogs be leashed; and the creation of two funds — a sewer enterprise fund and a Greylock Glen revolving fund — that raised questions from town meeting members.