The vote follows a contentious meeting earlier this month in which the Sheffield members of the school committee had refused to appoint Bruno after interim member Tim Schroepfer had withdrawn his name from consideration.
It does appear that a generational challenge is in the offing for the Nov. 6 elections. A flyer distributed throughout the district refers to a "clean slate for SBRSD school committee" and flatly states that "the candidates support the right of all the towns to have their elementary schools."
"No corporation enters into a sophisticated agreement with the Commonwealth and doesn't do due diligence on make-ready ... They want more money? At what point could that happen again?" -- Attorney Bill Solomon
There will be two articles on the special town meeting warrant related to the affordable housing plan: one that would "create low and moderate income housing to be located on town property at 175 Egremont Plain Road"; and another that appropriates $640,000 for construction.
"We're moving forward and expect to be ready for children well before the school year, if not sooner." -- Bruce Turner, chair, Egremont Board of Selectmen
"It's time we start talking with our neighbors. I'm certainly willing to talk to anyone who wants to talk about moving forward with Berkshire Hills or even Farmington River and Richmond."
-- Egremont Selectboard Chairman Bruce Turner
"Once we started doing our work, a clear consensus evolved that the one-district option presented the best opportunities for education and improved financial sustainability for the school districts." --John Hockridge, chair of the Berkshire County Education Task Force
As part of its Last Mile initiative, MBI will provide Charter with a grant of more than $4.4 million to defray the costs of wiring the rural towns of Egremont, Tyringham, Hancock and Peru. State Rep. Pignatelli also noted that Egremont and perhaps Monterey will have a 1 Gbps connection through Fiber Connect, 12 times faster than what Charter offers in Great Barrington.
Sixty Egremont residents, the minimum needed for a quorum, raised their pink slips in the cafeteria of Mount Everett Regional High School to cast their votes in favor of the proposed SBRSD budget, thereby ending the town's dispute with the school district -- for the time being.
After meeting separately in closed-door sessions on Monday, the Egremont Board of Selectmen and the regional school committee agreed to a settlement that would suspend operations at the South Egremont School for 2017-18.
"We have a potential settlement agreement. Both parties will be voting on it next week. If both parties agree, we will not go forward with our suit."
-- Bruce Turner, chairman of the Egremont Board of Selectmen
