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Photos of recreational area mats that the city of Newton submitted to the Architectural Access Board.

Dalton ADA Committee Considers Playground Mats for Parks

By Sabrina DammsiBerkshires Staff
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The mats are attached to the ground through pins and nubs. 
DALTON, Mass. — The Americans with Disabilities Act Committee is exploring adding playground mats to town parks. 
 
These mats would be laid out to provide accessible routes to playground equipment and swings.
 
ADA coordinator Alyssa Maschino heard about these mats while attending an Advanced Community Access Monitor Training. 
 
"[The state Division of Professional Licensure Office of Public Safety and Inspections Architectural Access Board] brought this up which I thought was very clever," Maschino said. 
 
"It's like a rubber matting system, which is very inexpensive compared to paving a pathway in the parks." 
 
The mats are fixed to the ground using pins and nubs. They are also secured to play equipment and swing sets using plastic stakes and stainless steel pins. The mats are connected to each other using zip ties. The mats are "relatively" quick to install and easy to maintain and repair. 
 
Newton paid approximately $3,000 to cover the costs of the mats at one of its parks but it looks like they did quite a bit, Maschino said. 
 
"Anything we can do to accentuate the beautiful parks we have and to make Dalton a more enjoyable, livable, accessible place," committee member Lyn Clements said. 
 
"It not only makes it easier for those children and adults who already live here. It makes us more attractive to diversify our community more and I think that's a great thing." 
 
These mats could also help in case the town considers investing in an ADA swing so disabled children can also enjoy the town parks, similar to Springside Park, Maschino said. 
 
The Green Committee is going to need something like this because it is putting electric vehicle chargers at Pine Grove Park, committee member David Wasielewski said. Wasielewski also serves as the town's Green Committee chair. 
 
"We're gonna need something to stabilize that area as well and make it accessible," he said. 
 
Maschino is currently in communication with Highway Superintendent Edward "Bud" Hall to gauge his interest. 

Tags: ADA,   playgrounds,   

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Pittsfield School Committee OKs $87M Budget for FY27

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The School Committee has approved an $87 million budget for fiscal year 2027 that uses the Fair Student Funding formula to assign resources. 

On Wednesday, the committee approved its first budget for the term. Morningside Community School will close at the end of the academic year and is excluded. 

"This has been quite a process, and throughout this process, we have been faced with the task of closing a $4.3 million budget deficit while making meaningful improvements in student outcomes for next year," interim Superintendent Latifah Phillips said. 

"Throughout this process, we've asked ourselves, 'What should we keep doing? What should we stop doing? And what should we start doing?' I do want to acknowledge that we are presenting a budget that has been made with difficult decisions, but it has been made carefully, responsibly, and collaboratively, again with a clear focus first on supporting our students."

The proposed $87,200,061 school budget for FY27 includes $68,886,061 in state Chapter 70 funding, $18 million from the city, and $345,000 in school choice and Richmond tuition revenues.  It is an approximately $300,000 increase from the Pittsfield Public Schools' FY26 budget of $86.9 million. 

The City Council will take a vote on May 19. 

Thirteen schools are budgeted for FY27, Morningside retired, and the middle school restructuring is set to move forward. The district believes important milestones have been met to move forward with transitioning to an upper elementary and junior high school model in September; Grades 5 and 6 attending Herberg Middle School, and Grades 7 and 8 attending Reid Middle School. 

"I also want to acknowledge that change is never easy. It is never simple, but I truly do believe that it is through these challenges that we're able to examine our systems, strengthen our practices, strengthen our relationships, and ultimately make decisions that will better our students," Phillips said. 

Included in the FY27 spending plan is $2.6 million for administration, $62.8 million for instructional costs, $7.5 million for other school services, and $7.2 million for operations and maintenance. 

Assistant Superintendent for Business and Finance Bonnie Howland reported that they met with Pittsfield High School and made two additions to its staff: an assistant principal and a family engagement attendance coordinator.

In March, the PHS community argued that a cut of $653,000 would be too much of a burden for the school to bear. The school was set to see a reduction of seven teachers (plus one teacher of deportment) and an assistant principal of teaching and learning, and a guidance counselor repurposed across the district; the administration said that after "right-sizing" the classrooms, there were initially 14 teacher reductions proposed for PHS. 

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