WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Like municipal entities across the county, the Mount Greylock Regional School District is bracing for another year of steep increases in health insurance costs.

 

It is unknown just how steep, but Superintendent Joseph Bergeron tried to prepare the School Committee at its January meeting on Thursday.

 

"The rumors, just so you hear them from me … are not confirmed, but right now, the projections are we might be close to a 20 percent increase in what's proposed in order to have premiums cover cost," Bergeron said. 

 

"We're going to see where that goes. That's not at all confirmed. But, if true, a 20 percent increase, if that needs to go all to the appropriated budget, that by itself would be a 3.6 percent increase in our assessments."

 

Those are the assessments the district makes to member towns Lanesborough and Williamstown that voters each see in the form of, effectively, a bill that gets approved each spring at the annual town meeting.

 

For the current fiscal year, FY26, the district sent the towns assessments that were up from FY25 by 6.45 percent in Lanesborough and 7.59 percent in Williamstown.

 

Those hikes largely were driven by the 16 percent health insurance hike sought by the Berkshire Health Group to cover the cost of municipal employees covered by the joint purchase group.

 

Berkshire Health Group includes 31 towns and school districts from across the county, including Mount Greylock and both its member towns; all three have a seat on BHG's Board of Directors, which is set to vote on the FY27 budget at its Jan. 28 meeting.

 

As of Thursday, the anticipated cost of health insurance for next year was one of several unknowns for the district as it formulates its FY27 spending plan, Bergeron said.

 

Also missing is the governor's budget, which is delayed, in part, by the fallout from the federal government shutdown in late 2025, Bergeron told the committee. School districts are being told to expect the governor's plan on Jan. 27, at which time the Mount Greylock district will have an idea what to expect in the way of Chapter 70 and transportation aid in the fiscal year that begins on July 1.

 

Bergeron could offer one good piece of news on the budget front: the district's assessment from the Berkshire County Retirement System for FY27 is down by about $200,000 from FY26.

 

"But, unfortunately, that is more than likely to be thoroughly swallowed up by the probable health insurance premium increases," he added.

 

The bottom line for insurance in the district in FY26 is about $3.9 million out of a $28.8 million gross operating budget.

 

"Maybe we should have done [the FY27 budget forecast] first and then jumped into the Superintendents' Certificate of Academic Excellence Award," Bergeron quipped.

 

Instead, Thursday's meeting opened with what longtime School Committee member Carolyn Greene called "the best part of the year," the annual awarding of the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents honor. This year, it went to Mount Greylock senior Natasha Nugent.

 

She and her parents appeared before the School Committee on Zoom to be recognized for the honor at the start of the meeting.

 

The budget discussion closely followed and hung over two other items for discussion on the agenda: the FY27 budget requests from Lanesborough Elementary School and a proposed amendment to the district's policy on school nutrition.

 

LES Principal Nolan Pratt appeared on behalf of the elementary school and its School Council, which developed three budget priorities for the school in the coming fiscal year.

 

The first is the addition of a half-time math interventionist. Pratt explained that the school's math assessments are lagging behind its achievement in English language arts. The second more time in the schedule for Lanesborough Elementary teachers to focus on writing, where the school's pupils are performing slightly below state averages in grades 3, 4 and 5. The third is more short-throw projectors to help teachers best utilize the math and language curricula that the school already is teaching.

 

"Observationally, it is great to see teachers and students efficiently and effectively using these interactive white boards to go through a lesson," Pratt said. "And what we're seeing is, with our new curriculums, presentation matters. Both Wit and Wisdom [English] and i-Ready [math] have interactive slides that go with their curriculum. So having a tool that matches the curriculum allows our teachers and students to interact with those lessons more effectively."

 

Pratt said priority No. 2, the increased attention to essay writing, would not require new staff but would mean increased substitute teacher coverage to allow teachers to devote time to the effort during the school day.

 

"I imagine it's probably less than $5,000," Pratt said.

 

Bergeron noted that, "Oftentimes it's great to have priorities that don't necessarily cost a ton of money. They just need a lot of attention and focus."

 

The School Committee's Policy Subcommittee on Thursday showed its colleagues a few policy changes in the pipeline, including one, titled EFBA, that would address meal modifications for students with disabilities or special needs.

 

Eleanor Kaatz, a Williamstown resident and former Williamstown Elementary vice principal, was one of a half dozen constituents who told the School Committee that it should think more broadly about the role of school nutrition and create policies that reflect the district's goals.

 

"It is my hope that the district recognizes that minimum standards are the floor, not the ceiling," said Kaatz, the only resident to speak on the topic in the meeting. "We should strive to provide high quality, nutrient dense meals that support the cognitive development of all students, not just those who may require modifications.

 

"I recommend the School Committee set a policy ... that emphasizes whole foods, reduction of additives, reduction of highly processed ingredients, eliminating the use of artificial sweeteners and initiating or bolstering farm-to-school purchasing."

 

Kaatz further recommended the district strive to provide meals that "reflect the diversity of our student body, as honoring cultural food could be a component of our mission of fostering a sense of belonging for every student."

 

She acknowledged that the proposed changes to the schools' nutrition policy would add increased cost — in training for cafeteria workers, potentially more cafeteria workers and higher-quality ingredients.

 

School Committee Chair Julia Bowen referenced those costs later, when the food policy came up on the agenda.

 

"I'd love to do all of this tomorrow," she said. "I'm concerned when we hear about things like the Berkshire Health Group and other expenses we know are coming up."

 

Bowen also noted that another topic on Thursday's agenda, the Northern Berkshire Regional Collaboration and/or Regionalization Group, could help put the district — and others — on a road to better managing nutrition costs.

 

"I don't think we're the only district likely facing this," Bowen said. "We might be the only one facing it right now. But sometimes these things are best addressed through economies of scale. It feels like this could be, potentially, a place for collaboration."

 

On the collaboration task force, the School Committee voted unanimously to appoint its four members to the initiative's steering committee, which will be tasked with selecting and working with a consultant to help the North Berkshire districts explore ways to work together.

 

Mount Greylock appointed School Committee members Greene and Curtis Elfenbein along with Williamstown resident Margo Neely and Lanesborough resident Lyndon Moors. Both Neely and Moors serve on their respective towns' Finance Committees; Moors also is a former teacher at Mount Greylock Regional School.

 

In other business on Thursday, the School Committee discussed a potential policy to cover the use of artificial intelligence in the schools and the agenda for its Jan. 21 in-person meeting, which the committee is calling a "retreat."