Dalton Assistant Fired Over Letter Secures Unemployment

DALTON, Mass. — According to an unemployment hearing officer, the letter resulting in the termination of the Select Board's former executive assistant doesn't appear to be confidential. 

Nearly six months ago, the Select Board voted to fire Alyssa Maschino for sharing the anonymous letter addressed to "Dalton Select Board" and to iBerkshires, which was cc'd. 

"There is nothing in the record to support an allegation that the claimant intentionally or deliberately shared the letter so as to cause the employer harm," the state Division of Unemployment Assistance hearing found. "Therefore, it cannot be concluded that the claimant's discharge was attributable to deliberate misconduct in willful disregard of the employer's interest."

The letter-writer had asked it be read out loud at the Jan. 27 Select Board meeting and contained complaints about board members and town officials. 

The board did not read the letter. However, Maschino did share it with iBerkshires.com. 

iBerkshires did not cover the letter's contents because of its overly broad complaints and lack of signature. The online newspaper does not publish anonymous letters.

During an executive session on Feb. 13, which Maschino requested to have in open session, the board placed her on administrative leave. On Feb. 19 she was discharged for sharing the letter with a reporter.

During the meeting, board members described her actions as a "breach of trust."

"Although the letter was critical of town officials, including the police chief and select board members, the information in the letter does not appear to be 'highly sensitive' or confidential," the DUA hearing officer found.

The Select Board did hold an executive session on Monday, July 28, on "strategy with respect to litigation" with Maschino regarding the DUA hearing.

The unemployment hearing on July 11, held by phone with Maschino, Johnson and Chair Robert Bishop, found the town did not establish substantial and credible evidence disqualifying Maschino from unemployment.  

Under state law, a person is disqualified from unemployment if there is evidence to show that the claimant left voluntarily, involuntarily for urgent, compelling and necessitous reasons, for deliberate misconduct, or for knowingly violating a reasonable and uniformly enforced policy or rule. 

According to the hearing's findings, the town upheld a policy that mandates confidentiality for highly sensitive information, which is outlined in the executive assistant's job description. 

"The employer did not present a written policy to the hearing. Additionally, because the consequence for violation of the policy is disciplinary action at the discretion of the employer, it cannot be concluded that the policy is uniformly enforced. Therefore, it is concluded the claimant did not knowingly violate a reasonable and uniformly enforced written policy or rule," the hearing document states.

Additionally, an instruction from Bishop regarding whether the letter should be treated as confidential was unclear, the document states. 

Maschino initially sent the letter only to Bishop by email, who later responded by text message with "Send it." Bishop said later that he meant it should be sent to the other board members. 

"Given that the letter was addressed to the Select Board and the local newspaper, it was reasonable for the claimant to interpret the Chair's text message to mean send it to all the listed parties," the hearing officer said. 

"Deliberate misconduct requires the claimant to have intentionally acted or failed to act in disregard of the employer's interest. A mistake, negligence, human error or poor judgment does not rise to the level of misconduct.

"Here, the claimant followed unclear instructions from the chair as she understood them. Although the chair may have intended for the claimant to send the letter to only the select board, his text message, as testified to by both parties, did not make that clear."

Maschino has previously expressed to iBerkshires the possibility of filing a wrongful termination suit. 

Toys for Tots Bringing Presents to Thousands of Kids This Year

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
12:21PM / Friday, December 05, 2025

Volunteers organize toys by age and gender in the House of Corrections storage facility. 

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Plenty of toys are on their way to children this holiday season thanks to Toys for Tots.

Christopher Keegan has coordinated the local toy drive for the Berkshire Chapter of the Marine Corps Reserve since 2015 and said he has seen the need rise every year, last year helping more than 6,000 kids.

"This is 11 years I've been doing it, and the need has gone up every year. It's gone up every year, and I anticipate it going up even more this year," Keegan said.

On Thursday, the Berkshire County House of Corrections storage facility was overflowing with toys making it the county's very own Santa's workshop. 

Keegan said Berkshire County always shows up with toys or donations. 

"This county is outstanding when it comes to charity. They rally around stuff. They're very giving, they're very generous, and they've been tremendous in this effort, the toys for pride effort, since I've been doing it, our goal is to honor every request, and we've always reached that goal," he said.

Keegan's team is about 20 to 25 volunteers who sort out toys based on age and gender. This week, the crew started collecting from the 230 or so boxes set out around the county on Oct. 1.

"The two age groups that are probably more difficult — there's a newborn to 2s, boys and girls, and 11 to 14, boys and girls. Those are the two challenging ages where we need to focus our attention on a little bit more," he said.

Toys For Tots has about 30 participating schools and agencies that sign up families and individuals who need help putting gifts under the tree. Keegan takes requests right up until the last minute on Christmas.

"We can go out shopping for Christmas. I had sent my daughter out Christmas Eve morning. Hey, we need X amount of toys and stuff, but the requests are still rolling in from individuals, and I don't say no, we'll make it work however we can," he said.

Community members help to raise money or bring in unopened and unused toys. Capeless Elementary student Thomas St. John recently raised $1,000 selling hot chocolate and used the money to buy toys for the drive.

"It's amazing how much it's grown and how broad it is, how many people who were involved," Keegan said.

On Saturday, Live 95.9 personalities Bryan Slater and Marjo Catalano of "Slater and Marjo in the Morning" will host a Toys for Tots challenge at The Hot Dog Ranch and Proprietor's Lodge. Keegan said they have been very supportive of the drive and that they were able to collect more than 3,000 toys for the drive last year.

Volunteer Debbie Melle has been volunteering with Toys for Tots in the county for about five years and said people really showed up to give this year.

"I absolutely love it. It's what we always say. It's organized chaos, but it's rewarding. And what I actually this year, I'm so surprised, because the amount that the community has given us, and you can see that when you see these pictures, that you've taken, this is probably the most toys we've ever gotten," she said. "So I don't know if people just feel like this is a time to give and they're just going above and beyond, but I'm blown away. This year we can barely walk down the aisles for how much, how many toys are here. It's wonderful."