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Pittsfield High Names Speakers, Top 13 Students for 2023

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PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Pittsfield High School class of 2023 will hear three graduate addresses at graduaton ceremonies being held on Sunday, June 4, at 4 p.m.
 
The senior class has elected Lennox Silvestro-Dias Jr., Asa Chard and Daysha Bell to speak at graduation.  These three students represent the voice of this year's senior class who have worked diligently through a challenging four years of high school.  
 
The ceremony will be held on the grounds of Pittsfield High School's 300 East St. campus. Shuttle buses will be available to pick up families parking near the Common and then bring them back at the end of the ceremony.
 
Pittsfield High School recognizes students who have achieved the top 10 cumulative grade point averages in the senior class.  This year there is a tie that creates a top 13: they are, in alphabetical order, Taibat Ahmed, Allison Blau, Asa Chard, Li Chen, Kiera Elizabeth Devine, Jamie C. Duquette, Randi H. Duquette, Kellie K. Harrington, Katerina Marie Livermore, Colin Anthony McKinney, James Herbert Swanton, Tyler J. Vosburgh and Jack Arthur Wildgoose
 
Academic departments also give awards to honor the most outstanding students in their respective disciplines.  
 
The following are this year's outstanding students: Cameron Sime (Art), Kellie K. Harrington (Band), Collin Merwin (Business), Walker Abdallah (Computers), Sidni Anderson (CVTE), Tessa Hanson (Drama), Marlene Mary LeBeau (English, Edward J. McKenna Award), Asa A. Chard (Math), Eladio Mendoza (Multilingual), Geivens Dextra (Orchestra), William B. Kinne (Physical Education), Abigail Archey (Psychology), Kiera Elizabeth Devine (Science, John P. Leahy Memorial Award), James Herbert Swanton (Social Studies), Taina Denise Figueroa (Chorus), Lily Smith (World Language).
 
The Seal of Biliteracy recognizes graduates who speak, read, listen, and write proficiently in another language in addition to English with a seal on their high school diploma. The Seal of Biliteracy movement has the goal of promoting long-term foreign, native, and heritage language study, documenting achievement in biliteracy, and producing a biliterate, multicultural workforce. 
 
Pittsfield High School is proud to be one the first schools in Berkshire County to recognize seniors for this achievement. The students who received this distinction are: Katerina Livermore, Kasey Miranda and Angel Sandoval, all for Spanish with distinction; and Manuel Lewis, Gabriela Loaiza Chavarro, Paola Rosito, James Swanton and Maria Villanueva Portillo, all for Spanish.
 

Tags: graduation 2023,   PHS,   val & sal,   

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Pittsfield School Committee to Again Vote on PHS Report Release

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The School Committee will again discuss releasing a redacted version of the PHS report after confusion over a March vote. 

On Wednesday, member Ciara Batory, who has been vocal about releasing last year’s investigation into allegations of staff misconduct at Pittsfield High School, demanded a date for its release to the public.  It was indicated that the item can be put on the next meeting's agenda. 

"I am done playing the game. The public wants a date of when the redacted PHS report will be released, and I will not stop until I get a date," she said before a five-minute recess was called on the meeting. 

Last school year, five past and present PHS staff members were investigated for alleged misconduct, and allegations were found to be "unsupported," according to executive summaries released by the last term's committee. 

The School Committee agenda for its March 25 meeting included a "request by Ciara Batory to release the May 2025 Pittsfield High report with required redactions." It was reported that there were threats of legal action if the redacted report were released. 

Batory on Wednesday said she did not request that agenda item, and that the motion had already passed. Mayor Peter Marchetti, also chair, said they voted in January to review the redacted version, not to release it. 

Batory played the motion that passed in January from her phone: 

"I move the committee vote to release a PHS investigation report in a redacted form by February 18, 2026, and I'd like to add to that the School Committee reviews it before its release to the public, to make sure that there is enough to present to the public."

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