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Top Students Announced for Hoosac Valley Class of 2023

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CHESHIRE, Mass. — Hoosac Valley High School has named Kathryn Scholz and Tia Kareh as the valedictorian and salutatorian, respectively, of the class of 2023. 
 
Graduation exercises will take place at 6 p.m. on Friday in the school gymnasium. 
 
Scholz, daughter of Erik and Laura Scholz of Adams, is a member of the National Honor Society and recipient of the Superintendent's Award. She was a member of the Ski Club and Leo Club, the track and field team and a Hoosac PRIDE (Perseverance, Respect, Integrity, Diversity, Empathy) mentor. She participated in band and as backstage crew for the school's musicals, and in Project 351. 
 
She was also an intern with the Garden Club and a member of Girls Who Code and Berkshire Community Rowing, and team member and instructor at the Gemini Gymnastics. She was the recipient of the Feel Good in Your Community Award, the Cornell University Sweat Shirt Award and the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Medal. 
 
Scholz is planning to attend the University of Massachusetts at Amherst to study microbiology and German
 
Kareh, daughter of Paul Kareh and Hasna Nehme of Adams, was president of the local National Honor Society chapter, a class officer for the past four years and vice president of Student Council, and a member of the Athletic Leadership Council for four years. She also was a member of the Link Crew, the Leo Club, Ski Club, the art club, the school's 84th Chapter (on smoking prevention) and World of Difference. She was a PRIDE mentor, co-chair of the District Attorney's Youth Advisory Board and participated in the school's annual musical productions and band.  and band. 
 
She was captain of the soccer team and named to the All-League Team and captain of the lacrosse team.
 
Kareh has received the statewide Youth Leadership Award, the Feel Good in Your Community Award, the Williams College Book Award and the CIAO soccer scholarship as well as excellence awards for Advanced Placement in history, world history, literature and physics. 
 
She plans to first attend Massachusetts College of Liberal and to later transfer to complete a double major at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.  

Tags: graduation 2023,   HVHS,   val & sal,   

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School Budget Has Cheshire Pondering Prop 2.5 Override

By Daniel MatziBerkshires correspondent
CHESHIRE, Mass. — The Board of Selectmen voted to schedule a Proposition 2.5 override vote, a move seen as a precaution to cover funding for the Hoosac Valley Regional School District if an agreement between the school and town cannot be reached.
 
The town's 2025 fiscal year budget is still being finalized, and while budget totals were not available as of Tuesday night, town leaders have already expressed concerns regarding the HVRSD's proposed $23 million budget, which would include a $3,097,123 assessment for Cheshire, reflecting a $148,661 increase.
 
The board did share that its early budget drafts maintain most town spending at current levels and defer several projects and purchases. Chairman Shawn McGrath said with a level-funded HVRSD budget, Cheshire would face a $165,838 budget gap. He believed this was an amount the town could safely pull from free cash and reserves.
 
However, with Hoosac's proposed budget increase, this budget gap is closer to $316,000, an amount member Jason Levesque did not want to drain from the town reserves. 
 
"I am not comfortable blowing through all of the stuff we have nitpicked over the last couple of years to save up for just to meet their budget," he said. "I am not OK with that. We have way too many other things that have been kicked down the road forever and every year they always get their check cashed."
 
The Selectmen agreed the only way to meet this increase would be for the town to pass an override that would permit it to increase property taxes beyond the state's 2.5 percent cap, an action requiring approval from Cheshire residents in a townwide vote as well as town meeting approval.
 
Selectwoman Michelle Francesconi said that without an override, the town would have to cut even deeper into the municipal budget, further derailing town projects and needs.
 
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