Educators Gather at MCLA for Leadership Conference

07:30AM / Sunday, June 28, 2026Print Story | Email Story

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Educators from across the region will gather at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA) from July 6-8 for the Leadership Conference, the capstone of the Leadership Academy's 2025 cohort and the kickoff for the incoming 2026 cohort.

The conference will open Monday, July 6, with a keynote from Julie Haagenson, founder of New Pathways, from 6:30-8:30 p.m. in Murdock Hall. Scholar Robert Putnam will give the July 7 keynote, also 6:30-8:30 p.m. in Murdock Hall. Morning presentations will follow from Leslie Blake-Davis on July 7 and Matthew Bishop on July 8.

Concurrent sessions run July 7 and 8, from 10 a.m.-3:45 p.m., led by members of the 2025 cohort. Presenters share the research, strategies, and leadership practices they built over the year.

Sessions take on the issues schools face now: building inclusive communities, strengthening instructional leadership, improving operations, and supporting every student. They are organized around the four standards of the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education's Professional Standards for Administrative Leadership:

Instructional Leadership
Management and Operations
Family and Community Engagement
Professional Culture

"The Leadership Conference is the culmination of a year of growth, collaboration, and commitment to educational excellence," said Marianne Young, director of the Leadership Academy. "These presentations show the talent and dedication of current and aspiring school leaders working to create better outcomes for students, families, and communities across the region."

The conference will run in a hybrid format, with sessions open on campus or remotely. Registration is encouraged.

The Leadership Academy supports educators working to strengthen their leadership skills and lead effective, equitable, student-centered schools. The annual conference both celebrates the cohort's work and gives educators a chance to learn alongside colleagues from across the region.

For more information about the conference or the Leadership Academy, contact MCLA's Division of Graduate and Continuing Education at dgce@mcla.edu or 413-662-5575.

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North Adams Becomes a Purple Heart Community

By Jack GuerinoiBerkshires Staff
05:16AM / Tuesday, August 11, 2026

Veterans Service Officer Kurtis Durocher, a Purple Heart recipient, tells his own story of how he was wounded in Iraq.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — City leaders last week held a ceremony marking the city as a Purple Heart Community to honor local military service members wounded or killed in combat.

"This designation is much more than a sign that will stand at the entrances to our city," said Kurtis Durocher, Northern Berkshire veterans service officer at City Hall on Friday. "It is a lasting commitment and a promise to this community. We'll never forget the sacrifices made by those who are wounded or killed while serving our nation. It is a public declaration of the courage and sacrifices of combat wounded. Veterans will always have a place of honor here in North Adams."

As a Purple Heart Community, North Adams will place signs throughout the city acknowledging the designation. The city will also hold a ceremony every Aug. 7 on National Purple Heart Day.

During the inaugural ceremony, Durocher said he was asked by the Military Order of the Purple Heart to find a keynote speaker for the event, preferably a Purple Heart recipient. But he was unable to find someone willing to speak. With the date approaching, he decided to tell his own story.

"I don't like standing up and telling my own personal story ... But I realized, in my position as a VSO, I get so many ... children of veterans who will say, 'I didn't know anything about my father until after he passed because he just didn't talk about it,'" Durocher said. "... I have been that way until I've gotten into this position, and so, now, I try to tell my story as much as I can when it is brought to me."

Durocher served in the Army for 20 years and retired as a master sergeant. On Friday, he recalled a time early in his career while serving in the 82nd Airborne Division deploying to Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom. On Sept. 12, 2003, his squad was conducting a patrol on Route Irish in Baghdad. He was serving as a gunner on an LMTV when it was struck by a 155-millimeter artillery shell. He said the explosive had been hidden behind a guardrail and detonated using nothing more than a washing machine timer.

"In an instant, everything changed. The blast knocked me unconscious. When I regained consciousness, I instinctively was removing my helmet," he said. "Almost immediately my training took over. We had been taught repeatedly that attacks like this were often followed by a secondary attack or an ambush. I quickly put my helmet back on and began searching for my machine gun."

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