NBCC to Host 'Back-Packed for Success'

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NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The Northern Berkshire Community Coalition is hosting its 12th annual back-to-school event for kids entering kindergarten through 12th grade for Northern Berkshire students. 
 
This includes homeschooled students. 
 
Students will receive a free backpack to fill with school supplies. The deadline for families to register has been extended to Wednesday, Aug. 7, at 5 p.m.
 
The event for families living in Florida and Savoy will be located at Gabriel Abbott Memorial School, 56 North County Road, Florida on Tuesday, Aug. 13, from 5 to 6 p.m. Families picking up from Florida and Savoy will receive pre-packed backpacks and be given a choice of backpack color upon registration. 
 
The event for families living in Williamstown, North Adams, Clarksburg, Adams and Cheshire will be located at Terra Nova community space, 85 Main St., North Adams on Thursday, Aug. 15, from 1 to 3 p.m. Families picking up at this location will choose their backpacks and school supplies at the event.
 
This event requires registration as supplies are limited. Families can register at https://bit.ly/2024backpacked or by contacting NBCC's Family Resource Center at 413-663-7588 through Wednesday, Aug.7.
 
For more information, contact Nancy Kennedy, Northern Berkshire Community Coalition at 413-663-7588 or nkennedy@nbccoalition.org

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Geothermal Switch Lowers System Cost for North Adams School Project

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The cost estimates for the Greylock School project are coming in slightly under budget — including the planned geothermal system. 
 
Initial estimates for the alternative heating system came in at $5 million — $3 million over budget. 
 
"We realized this is never going to work at this cost and we needed to think about the system a little differently," said Jesse Saylor of TSKP Studio, the school's designer, told the School Building Committee on Tuesday. "So we reached out to the well designers and came up with an alternative design, which we feel is much more appropriate for your site."
 
A redesign from using vertical wells to horizontal wells, reduced the costs to $1.5 million.
 
Saylor explained that the drillers had gone down more than 440 feet, through soil and more than 200 feet of bedrock and hit the aquifer, which had to be capped off because of the pressure. 
 
"So our design heading into the cost estimate was to shorten the depth of the wells. Let's not penetrate into that aquifer. Let's just go down 400 feet," he said. "They wanted to carry steel casing all the way down the 400 feet of depth, because the concern is that aquifer depth may vary across across your site, and so that was driving up the initial cost."
 
That vertical system would have required 66 wells and cost about $5 million. Instead, the system will now run horizontally at a depth of about 20 to 30 feet. 
 
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