To the editor:
I spend a lot of time thinking about teaching and how best to advocate for students, families, colleagues, and our communities. I have been an educator in Berkshire County for 20 years. I am in my 14th year as a first grade teacher at Muddy Brook. I have been an officer in the Berkshire Hills Education Association for 12 years, helped negotiate four teacher contracts, and often join leadership roles created by the district. I believe that this experience gives me an important perspective on the possibility of merging Berkshire Hills and Southern Berkshire school districts.
I strongly support the merger. I didn’t at first. Like many, I have had tons of questions and concerns about everything from busing to bureaucracy to loss of local identities. After a lot of thought, however, I realized the core issues are really around the reality of shrinking student populations and how best to collectively use our educational resources.
Even though the county’s current educational picture has been in place for many years, it only exists because, like now, committed individuals were making the best decisions they could in response to the challenges and stressors of their day. The story of how we have educated our collective children—like the story or our towns themselves—is one of change.
I know there will be plenty of challenges, compromises, and things to work out ahead, but I see merging the districts as the best way for our educational communities, our towns, and our families to support each other. It is a way to create as many opportunities as we can for all students. This has me feeling hopeful and optimistic about what we can achieve together.
Glendon Chamberlin
New Marlborough
