To the Editor:
I respectfully ask for your vote for a second term on Berkshire Hills Regional School Committee. I served on the School Committee for the past four years and I am proud of the work we have done. We have enacted important reforms, including establishing a finance committee to rigorously review the budget, crafting a more equitable funding formula for the Regional Agreement and brokering a shared services agreement with the Shaker Mountain School Union. I am most proud of the fact that these reforms will control costs without sacrificing the quality of the education we offer our children.
Our schools are our community’s most important asset. I am a proud graduate of Monument Mountain and I am blessed to be able to send my daughters to Muddy Brook and Monument Valley. If working families like mine our going to continue to live here, we must continue to keep the quality of the education high while keeping the costs reasonable for taxpayers. This will not be easy. The next four years are going to be challenging times. The high school is in need of major capital investment. The children who are entering our elementary school were born into the worst recession of our lifetime and the worst drug epidemic Berkshire County has ever seen. Every year the District faces a new batch of testing requirements and unfunded mandates from the state and a steady decrease in the amount of funding the state provides. I am extremely optimistic that we will overcome these challenges and I see a very bright future for our schools. If I am honored with your vote, you have my commitment that I will approach these challenges honestly and work toward solutions that are fair to everyone in our community.
Rich Dohoney
74 Blue Hill Road
Great Barrington
