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Mount Greylock Making Lighting Improvements on Campus

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
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WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The new field and track is not the only upgrade to Mount Greylock's outdoor athletic facilities this fall.
 
In addition to the new multisport grass field ringed by an eight-lane running track, the school is slated next month to have the lights at its current varsity soccer/lacrosse field retrofitted with new LED fixtures.
 
Interim Superintendent Joseph Bergeron said Thursday that the new lights will be mounted on the existing poles around John T. Allen Field.
 
Bergeron said the replacement project will be funded, "through a National Grid program where 50 percent of the cost is a grant and 50 percent comes over years through on-bill rebates/payments related to the cost savings associated versus the old bulbs."
 
After a payback period of about six years, the district will reap the full financial benefit of lower energy purchases associated with the LED bulbs, he said.
 
"The LEDs will save energy and provide more focused and better light with less light pollution," Bergeron said.
 
As for the new field, installers were on-site on Wednesday testing the output to make sure the fixtures are positioned properly to provide full coverage of the field.
 
The track is fully installed and ready to host meets this spring.
 
The sod on the infield is laid — and the unseasonably mild October weather can only help the grass take root. Several school personnel have said that they hope the field might be ready to host at least two lacrosse games — one boys and one girls — in the late spring of 2025.
 
Otherwise, the projected start date for the field is September 2025, in time for the next soccer season.

Tags: MGRS,   playing fields,   

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Mount Greylock School Committee Discusses Collaboration Project with North County Districts

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — News that the group looking at ways to increase cooperation among secondary schools in North County reached a milestone sparked yet another discussion about that group's objectives among members of the Mount Greylock Regional School Committee.
 
At Thursday's meeting, Carolyn Greene reported that the Northern Berkshire Secondary Sustainability task force, where she represents the Lanesborough-Williamstown district, had completed a request for proposals in its search for a consulting firm to help with the process that the task force will turn over to a steering committee comprised of four representatives from four districts: North Berkshire School Union, North Adams Public Schools, Hoosac Valley Regional School District and Mount Greylock Regional School District.
 
Greene said the consultant will be asked to, "work on things like data collection and community outreach in all of the districts that are participating, coming up with maybe some options on how to share resources."
 
"That wraps up the work of this particular working group," she added. "It was clear that everyone [on the group] had the same goals in mind, which is how do we do education even better for our students, given the limitations that we all face.
 
"It was a good process."
 
One of Greene's colleagues on the Mount Greylock School Committee used her report as a chance to challenge that process.
 
"I strongly support collaboration, I think it's a terrific idea," Steven Miller said. "But I will admit I get terrified when I see words like 'regionalization' in documents like this. I would feel much better if that was not one of the items we were discussing at this stage — that we were talking more about shared resources.
 
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