At peak magnitude, seek out the goddess of love planet in a clear blue sky in the west-southwest during daylight hours, being extremely careful to keep eyes diverted from the sun.
Community service “helps our generation as a whole — it influences kids to be more caring. It teaches kids responsibility and how to care for the next generation.”
-- Sean Macken, Great Barrington's ambassador to Project 351
The Senior Class at the Berkshire Waldorf High School in Stockbridge is exploring imaginative ways of representing the history of a particular place, talking with those involved in it, and then translating their impressions into a collaborative "documentary illustration." The first topic the class selected is the ongoing restoration of the Great Barrington Fairgrounds.
Sheffield-based Music in Common will lead a delegation of six American high school students Israel in February to collaborate with students from Jewish and Arab schools, to write and record a song and to create a multimedia project.
Standardized testing is under fire across the country. Parents and teachers have grown mutinous. On her Facebook page, one Florida kindergarten teacher said she refused to give state-mandated reading tests to her students. Parents and educators applauded.
Jacob Robbins, a junior at Monument Mountain Regional High School, pleads for voters to approve the school's renovation: "I am imploring everyone to please vote yes on the renovation project. If we are to continue to foster an incredible learning space for the kids of today and the kids of tomorrow we must adapt: The building cannot sustain itself for much longer."
"Great Barrington has a habit of putting off expensive public projects to the detriment of future generations, waiting until its older buildings desperately need repair and upgrade."
-- Karen Smith, Renovation Committee Chair
"What is untrue and troubling is the accusations that anyone representing Monument Matters or the District lied or hid any option from the public."
-- Stephen C. Bannon, chairman of the Berkshire Hills School Committee
In her letter, Julia Erickson of Housatonic calls on voters in the Berkshire Hills School District to wake up to the real need to renovate Monument Mountain High School: "By not investing now, when we have this incredible opportunity to get almost HALF the cost of this project paid for by the state of Massachusetts, is foolish. We will not have this opportunity again for a decade or more."
Dr. Mark Sprague of Stockbridge writes: "I urge the voting community of Berkshire Hills Regional School District to make sure that they have all the necessary information they need to make an informed decision and to vote proactively on Election Day for our children's future and renovate Monument Mountain High School."
“This is a clash of economic concerns with educational concerns. It’s going to be an ongoing theme. At what point does it get too expensive?"
--Carl Stewart, chairman of the Southern Berkshire Regional School Committee
Great Barrington resident David Long explains why his 'Draft Alternative Plan' to the proposed renovation of Monument Mountain Regional High School explores viable options not considered by the Berkshire Hills Building Committee.
Richard Coons, chair of the Monument Mountain Regional High School Building Committee advises that the so-called Alternative Approach to Renovating Monument "reflects a lack of knowledge of virtually every aspect of law, building planning, design, construction and educational program needs."
Berkshire Hills Regional School Committee member Rich Bradway deplores the misinformation and what he terms outright lies being circulated about the reasons for the proposed renovation of Monument Regional High School. He sets the record straight.
The Berkshire Hills Regional School District is trying to explain the necessity of a high school renovation project to tax-weary Great Barrington voters amid a landscape studded with stealth opposition campaigns, and what some say are weapons of mass distraction.
Family, friends and colleagues paint the picture of a humble, hard-working man, a generous spirit who gave his time and love to legions of youth -- troubled or not -- and to everyone who crossed his path, including those he didn’t even know.
