Letter: Breen Has Right Experience for North Adams Council

To the Editor:

Well, I just voted, and I gave my first vote for City Council to Pete Breen. Why, you ask?

No other new candidate has the experience and devotion and has been as generous with their time. Over the past 40 years, Pete has served on many boards and commissions. He has worked for a variety of employers including MCLA, where Pete was a facilitator and instructor for technology and curriculum development and assistant registrar. Pete took that experience over into the town of Adams, where he implemented the town's entire computer system, serving as the town's technology administrator. Pete then went farther south, where he was a member of the adjunct faculty at BCC for four years.

Shifting gears into education, Pete taught computer science at Hoosac Valley for 12 years, while also serving in the district office and as the pupil transportation officer.

David Willette
North Adams, Mass.

North Adams Boards Unanimously Elect New School Committee Member

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
05:44AM / Wednesday, January 14, 2026

 Alexandra Di Addezio is congratulated by city and school officials. 

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — A joint convention of the School Committee and City Council on Tuesday unanimously elected Alexandra DiAddezio to fill the vacant seat on the committee. 

 

DiAddezio described herself as an "ardent public school advocate" who worked as an English teacher and college counselor at a high school in the Bronx, N.Y. She holds masters' degrees in English secondary education and in mental health counseling, and now works as therapist for students at Williams College.

 

"I'm passionate about service and collaboration, and would really be eager to bring that energy into the North Adams School Committee," she said, adding that she will have two children in the school system.

 

"I also noticed a growing number of folks in the community choosing to leave the public school system for alternative options, and I'm really eager to join in the work of attracting families to stay."

 

She said she'd been thinking about how she could serve, but was unsure about running in an election. Seeing this opening, she said, "felt like something serendipitous."

 

The last School Committee member elected this way was Alyssa Tomkowicz in 2023. 

 

DiAddezio and fellow candidates Jackie DeGiorgis, Kayla Sullivan-Lane and Eric Wilson presented their reasons why they would be the best candidate to replace the departed Richard Alcombright.