Pittsfield Woman Victim of Colorado Homicide

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Jordan Labarre
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — A former city woman was the victim of a homicide in Colorado last week. 
 
Jordan Elizabeth Labarre, 32, of Breckenridge, Colo., was found deceased on Monday, July 7, at a residence in Blue River, Colo. 
 
Labarre, a graduate of the former St. Joseph's High School, was the daughter and stepdaughter of Joann Shugrue and Berkshire District Attorney Timothy Shugrue. 
 
According to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, police were called to the Blue River residence at 6:20 p.m. over reports of gunshots, and more were heard when they arrived at the scene. 
 
CBI said the home's occupant, Daniel Joseph DeVito, 46, came out when ordered and was taken into custody without incident.
 
DeVito was charged with first degree murder and is being held on $2.5 million bail. He also is facing charges for allegedly assaulting and threatening another woman three days earlier. 
 
The articles did not indicate what the relationship was between Labarre and DeVito but her brother, Joshua Labarre, wrote "her life was tragically taken in an act of domestic violence" on a GoFundMe page to help cover the costs in bringing her home. 
 
Labarre grew up in Chicopee until moving to the Berkshires with her mother and brother and attending St. Joe. She graduated from  Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in 2015 and moved to Breckenridge not long afterward. She worked at a cleaning service. Her family said she loved the outdoors, the family she'd created in Breckenridge, and her dog, Lincoln. 
 
Besides her mother, stepfather and brother, she leaves a stepsister, Caitlin Shugrue. Her father, Kenneth E. LaBarre, died in 2010.
 
Calling hours will be Thursday, July 17, from 4 to 7 p.m. at St. Mark's Church, with Liturgy of Christian Burial on Friday at 11. Dwyer Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements. More information can be found here

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Pittsfield School Committee Votes to Close Morningside

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — There were tears as the School Committee on Wednesday voted to close Morningside Community School at the end of the school year. 

Interim Superintendent Latifah Phillips said the purpose of considering the closure is to fulfill the district's obligation to ensure every student has access to a learning environment that best supports academic growth and achievement, school climate, equitable access to resources, and long-term success. 

"While fiscal implications are included, the7 closure of the school is fundamentally driven by the student performance, their learning conditions, the building inadequacy, and equitable student access, rather than the district's budget," she said. 

"…The goal is not to save money. The goal is to reinvest that money to make change, specifically for our Morningside students, and then for the whole school building, as a whole." 

Over the last month or so, the district has considered whether to retire the open concept, community school at the end of the school year. 

Morningside, built in the 1970s, currently serves 374 students in grades prekindergarten through Grade 5, including a student population with 88.2 percent high-needs, 80.5 percent low-income, and 24.3 percent English learners.  Its students will be reassigned to Allendale, Capeless, Egremont, and Williams elementary schools.

The school is designated as "Requiring Assistance or Intervention," with a 2025 accountability percentile of seventh, despite moderate progress over the past three years, and benchmark data continues to show urgent literacy concerns in several grades. 

School Committee member and former Morningside student Sarah Muil, through tears, made the motion to approve the school's retirement at the end of this school year.  

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