AccessPlus Awarded Grant to Bring Fiber to Affordable Housing Units

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
03:15PM / Friday, April 18, 2025Print Story | Email Story

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Internet provider AccessPlus was recently awarded the Massachusetts Broadband Institute Retrofit program grant.

"We are committed to delivering high-quality, high-speed internet to the Pittsfield community," said Kevin Alward, CEO of AccessPlus in a recent press release. "This grant allows us to further our mission of ensuring that everyone has access to the fast and reliable internet they need."

The grant was a part of the Healey-Driscoll administration's $10.4 million initiative to modernize the public housing internet in Massachusetts.

This grant will be used to bring high speed fiber internet to 13 multi-unit dwelling properties. This serves 587 housing units in Pittsfield, helping those who work from home.

"Some of the major benefits are the work from home we’ve seen so much of that through the years with covid but really became the standard is that work from and before COVID, if you had one person at home, it was not a big deal to work off the connection that was there," Chief Operating Officer Jason Cummins said. "With fiber broadband you got the symmetrical, that's the big key to that it’s symmetrical internet so you can have the entire household work from home."

AccessPlus has been with the community for more than 20 years and is the only second round award winner to provide a minimum starting speed of 500 Mbps (megabits per second0 internet connectivity to all its housing units, with options for residents to upgrade to multi-gig fiber internet for even greater speeds.

Just about a year ago AcessPlus' Fiber Broadband Network went online with the first business customers in Pittsfield.

"We’ve been focused on business users up to about a year and a half ago when we really identified that the market here in Western Mass really could use fiber you know a fiber to the play," Cummins said.

AccessPlus has also applied for a third round of funding with MBI to help expand their fiber internet access to more affordable housing units.

Their goal is to expand access to the rest of the Berkshires as well. For those interested in applying, visit www.getaccessplus.com.

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Pittsfield Extends Interim School Superintendent Contract

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
05:31AM / Wednesday, December 17, 2025

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Interim Superintendent Latifah Phillips' employment has been extended to 2027.

Last week, the School Committee approved an employment contract that runs through June 30, 2027. Phillips was originally appointed to a one-year position that began on July 1 and runs through the end of the fiscal year in June 2026.

"You didn't ask me simply to endure challenges or struggle to prove myself. Instead, you believe in me, you've given me the space to grow, the encouragement to stretch, and the expectation that I can truly soar," she said earlier in last Wednesday's meeting when addressing outgoing School Committee members.

"You question, you poke, you prod, but not to tear anything down, but to make our work stronger, grounded in honesty, integrity, and hope. You've entrusted me with meaningful responsibility and welcomed me into the heart of this community. Serving you and leading our public schools has been, thus far, a joyful, renewing chapter in my life, and I want to thank you for this opportunity."

Chair William Cameron reported that the extended contract includes a 3 percent cost-of-living increase in the second year and more specific guidelines for dismissal or disciplinary action.

Phillips was selected out of two other applicants for the position in May. Former Superintendent Joseph Curtis retired at the end of the school year after more than 30 years with the district.

The committee also approved an employment contract with Assistant Superintendent for CTE and Student Support Tammy Gage that runs through June 30, 2031. Cameron reported that there is an adjustment to the contract's first-year salary to account for new "substantive" responsibilities, and the last three years of the contract's pay are open to negotiation.

The middle school restructuring, which was given the green light later that night, and the proposal to rebuild and consolidate Crosby Elementary School and Conte Community School on West Street, have been immediate action items in Phillips' tenure.

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