Marina Dominguez, the Head of the Katunemo Arts Collective, received the Under 40 Change-Maker award for working to support immigrants in building their businesses as entrepreneurs, artists, and performers.
Graduating seniors have been coming into school, three or four at a time, and walking across the auditorium stage to receive their diplomas. The video footage of the students will be incorporated into a virtual graduation.
Frankly, I never wanted to get into this, but the issues here are so clear and the arrogance of the Great Barrington Selectboard majority is so great that I am doing what I have to do.
Though the school district denies any wrongdoing, the investigator did make recommendations which the school committee voted to adopt and that it has directed Superintendent Beth Regulbuto to implement.Â
The most recent edition of the Bold Eagle, the student newspaper for Mount Everett Regional School, ran a front-page news story and an editorial on the controversy surrounding two administrators and the school committee.
It was that kind of night. Indeed, the atmosphere was tense enough that two Sheffield police officers were called to observe the school committee meeting lest things get out of control.
Brenda Olivieri alleges that Southern Berkshire Regional School District Superintendent Beth Regulbuto has "created a culture of fear and intimidation," resulting in retaliatory action against her "for reporting unlawful conduct."
The district has been battered by challenges and tragedies over the last few years, including declining enrollments that have caused Southern Berkshire to consider consolidating with the Berkshire Hills Regional School District in Great Barrington.
According to the complaint, Kurt DeGrenier had voiced concerns that his son, now in 10th grade at Mount Everett, was not receiving the services and accommodations set forth in his individualized educational program, a plan developed to ensure that a child with an identified disability receives specialized instruction and related services.
School committee members noted that the driving force behind the merger should be greater opportunity for students and a desire "to keep education strong" in the two districts amid declining enrollments.
Berkshire Hills voted unanimously to appoint two subcommittees. The first will focus on the nuts and bolts of a potential consolidation. On the recommendation of the Southern Berkshire school committee, a second subcommittee would focus on the educational aspect of the potential consolidation.
The Berkshire Hills Regional School Committee voted unanimously to send a letter to Southern Berkshire and its five member towns asking to establish a planning group to explore consolidation for grades 9-12
At last Thursday’s school committee meeting, Rich Dohoney of Great Barrington proposed that Berkshire Hills issue a written request to its member towns, along with the Southern Berkshire Regional School District and its own member towns, to form a planning board "for the purpose of either forming, or consolidating into, a regional high school district to serve grades 9-12."
