Letter: Vote for Williamstown School Budget and Amendment

To the Editor:

We encourage all voters in Williamstown who care about education to come to the town meeting on May 19 and vote to pass the school budget and the amendment to the budget.

The amendment seeks to add a math interventionist position at Williamstown Elementary School. The proposal came from the WES School Council, the body Massachusetts law designates to identify school priorities and bring them to the community, and was presented to the School Committee in February as part of the district budget process. Before presenting, the Council, consisting of the WES principal, two elected teachers and two elected parents, reviewed historical MCAS data, current school year data, conducted a teacher survey and refined this proposal. The Council named a math interventionist the top academic need.

The School Committee was divided in their vote on adding a math teacher. It recognized that improvement in math education was a critical need but thought including the position might risk rejection of the overall budget, forcing major spending cuts and drastic compromises to educational quality.

This does not mean that we, as citizens, cannot review that decision and, based on the alarming math scores, decide to meet the need identified by the WES School Council, the teacher survey, and concerned parents. The amendment goal is straightforward: to give the town the opportunity to weigh in directly.

• This amendment is estimated to cost approximately 9 cents per day for Williamstown tax payers, based on a median home value.
• This would be a recurring expense. With inflation, next year it may cost 9.34 cents per day.
• WES spends $1,800 below the Massachusetts per-pupil average. The added math teacher still leaves us well below state average.

The math interventionist position, included in WES budget priorities since FY21, is not the cure-all to declining math scores. It would certainly help though in meeting the fundamental educational needs of this generation of children who cannot afford to fall further behind.

Town meeting is the right place for this conversation. Come with an open mind and decide for yourself.

Thomas Bartels and Elizabeth Heekin Bartels
Williamstown, Mass. 

Williamstown parents of WES and MGRSD graduates and grandparents of current WES students

Williamstown Fire District Dedicates New Station

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
06:37AM / Sunday, May 31, 2026

Chief Jeffrey Dias recognizes firefighter Alexandra Riggs, who will graduate from Williams College next week. See more photos here.

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Massachusetts fire marshal came to town Saturday to congratulate the local Fire District and the taxpayers of Williamstown for the "amazing" station they have built on Main Street.

 

"I travel around the state, and I've seen hundreds of firehouses around the state — some great, some not so great," Fire Marshal Jon Davine told a crowd gathered outside the station for its dedication. "And I think we saw what the previous station here was in Williamstown. I'll tell you, especially in Western Massachusetts, we have a really big problem with deteriorating firehouses throughout Western Mass. These buildings are collapsing around our firefighters.

 

"And, as the marshal, it's my job to advocate for the departments for more funding. We've been working with our state reps and local reps and the fire chiefs association, trying to come up with different funding streams, so that we can help these departments build new stations, do better, safer stations, so that they have the equipment and the building they deserve to do their job safely."

 

The chair of the Prudential Committee, which governs the Fire District, and the chief of the department both thanked Williamstown residents for the 2023 special district meeting vote that paved the way for the station that went into operation earlier this year.

 

"It's an honor and a privilege to join you today as we celebrate this grand opening of the new firehouse," Chief Jeffrey Dias said. "This facility is so much more than a building that houses fire trucks. It stands as a symbol of our community's commitment to safety, preparedness and public service. It's a place where our members will maintain our equipment. They will learn about our craft. They'll share meals and, yes, from time to time, they're going to share sorrow.

 

"This isn't a fire station. This is a firehouse. And people have heard me say this a million times already. And it houses the very best second family that one could imagine."

 

Dias was joined at the podium set up in the parking lot for the noon ceremony by Prudential Committee Chair David Moresi, state Rep. John Barrett III and the the Rev. William F. Cyr, who gave an invocation.