They frequently went to the ITAM Lodge in Pittsfield to listen to the bands and so Lucy could dance. She liked to do the polka, which she continued to do until she was 86 years old.
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the Sheffield members of the school committee had refused to appoint Bruno after interim member Tim Schroepfer had withdrawn his name from consideration.
"Culture eats strategy for breakfast: If you don’t understand the school culture, you’re not going to be able to change things effectively and in a way that is sustainable." SBRSD elementary school principal Charles Miller
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."
"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
The superior experience most parents say their kids have in the very small schools has less to do with scale, and more to do with quality teaching and the right kind of leadership.
-- Susan Engel, director of the Program in Teaching at Williams College, and a resident of New Marlborough
The latest move by the school committee was to hold a closed-door meeting of invited guests Tuesday morning in the Eagle's Loft meeting room at Mount Everett Regional School.
Quite apart from getting the budget passed before July 1 is the question of how to find the extra $52,000 to restore transportation to New Marlborough Central School for next year.
The School Committee has insisted the Monterey and Egremont schools were not closed, but that their operations were temporarily suspended or put "on hiatus." But others see the busing policy as a tactic to cripple enrollment at New Marlborough Central in order to close it.
Monterey's "future probably lies in leaving the district," not only because of the town's dissatisfaction with Southern Berkshire but because 46 percent of the town's students are choicing out to other districts anyway.
-- Kenn Basler, chair of Monterey Board of Selectmen
“We should be celebrating the fact that when they get to high school, our students are leading the pack. Teachers do above and beyond. It’s not about a damn test; it’s about the kids.”
--- Southern Berkshire Regional School Committee member Charlie Flynn
As Flying Cloud’s founder and first executive director, Jane Burke has overseen the organization’s growth from an inventive experiment on a family farm in New Marlborough to an effective educational force reaching more than 3,500 young people.
