Worldwide PowerSchool Breach Reaches Pittsfield, North Berkshire SchoolsBy Brittany Polito, iBerkshires Staff
05:22PM / Thursday, January 09, 2025 | |
 PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Pittsfield Public Schools students and teachers had their personal information accessed as part of a worldwide PowerSchool breach. Mount Greylock Regional School District and Northern Berkshire School Union also reported some data was accessed. "This is not unique to the city of Pittsfield," Superintendent Joseph Curtis told the School Committee on Wednesday. "Every one of the 18,000 PowerSchool customers has experienced a data breach. We were informed yesterday with a very brief notice from PowerSchool and our technology department began to dig into the impact near immediately." The breach reportedly took place >> Read More |
North Adams School Committee OKs Search Panel, Ad for SuperintendentBy Tammy Daniels, iBerkshires Staff
12:39PM / Wednesday, January 08, 2025 | |
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The School Committee on Tuesday approved a superintendent search committee and a brochure advertisement for the post. Superintendent Barbara Malkas will retire at the end of the fiscal year after nine years in the post. The committee had agreed last month to have two of its members on the search panel in addition to Mayor Jennifer Macksey, who will be chair. But members held off on deciding who will represent them when it became apparent more than two were interested. On Tuesday, Macksey pulled the names of David Sookey and Cody Chamberlain out of a bag. They had both shown strong interest last >> Read More |
NBSU OKs Administrator ContractsBy Tammy Daniels , iBerkshires Staff
05:30AM / Monday, December 23, 2024 | |
CLARKSBURG, Mass. — The Northern Berkshire School Union Committee approved three-year contracts for two administrators and made plans for the departure of a third. The committee at its Thursday meeting, held virtually, voted the contracts for Assistant Superintendent Tara Barnes and Director of Information Technology Josh Arico. Business Administrator Lisa Blackmer gave her 90-day notice two weeks ago with final date of March 14. Her two-year contract was approved in December 2023. Both Arico and Barnes were applauded for their work and given everything they requested. Barnes will receive a 3 percent raise in each of the next three years, >> Read More |
Brayton Elementary and Berkshire Museum Bring Mobile Museum Units to Second Grade| 12:41PM / Sunday, December 22, 2024 | |
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — North Adams Public Schools, in partnership with Berkshire Museum, announced a residency project beginning December 2024. This initiative will engage second-grade students at Brayton Elementary School with seven Mobile Museum Units (MoMUs), incorporating museum objects focused on science and social studies into their visual arts curriculum. "We are delighted that our second-grade students will have deep engagement with the new MoMU exhibits each month," said Danielle Bowe, visual art teacher at Brayton Elementary School. "It is an exciting opportunity to collaborate with Berkshire Museum to enrich our art curriculum with >> Read More |
Geothermal Tests Warm Greylock School Building PanelBy Tammy Daniels, iBerkshires Staff
05:27PM / Saturday, December 21, 2024 | |
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The Greylock School site has produced positive results for the planned geothermal system for the new school. Jesse Saylor of TSKP Studio, the school project designer, said the conductivity of the soils were comparable or better than three recent school completed in Connecticut. "We were able to create a geothermal test well, and we were able to find the conductivity of the soils," he told the School Building Committee on Tuesday. "What matters is that you can see the conductivity at the Greylock site is actually pretty good." The soil conductivity — it's ability to transfer heat — plays a role in >> Read More |
Drury Recognized Among Nation's Best for College Readiness, Curriculum Excellence| 07:44AM / Friday, December 20, 2024 | |
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Drury High School has earned national recognition for its academic programs, ranking in the top 20 percent of schools in the U.S. in the U.S. News & World Report's College Readiness Index and the top 15 percent of all U.S. high schools in the College Curriculum Breadth Index. The College Readiness Index highlights schools that have demonstrated success in preparing students for the challenges of higher education. In addition, Drury High School has earned a ranking in the College Curriculum Breadth Index, placing in the top 15 percent of all high schools nationwide. "We are incredibly proud of our students, staff, and the >> Read More |
North Adams Schools Hike Substitute Wages to Increase PoolBy Tammy Daniels , iBerkshires Staff
05:43PM / Wednesday, December 18, 2024 | |
 NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The public schools are hoping to recruit and retain substitute teachers by bumping up their pay. The School Committee earlier this month approved increasing the pay scale by $35 to $55 a day and creating a new base of $130 for substitutes with fewer credentials. "It's been very hard to get substitutes. Many substitutes sign up to sub in multiple districts, and so in order to remain competitive ... we really needed to kind of align our expectations for substitutes, as well as the salary with our neighboring districts," said Superintendent Barbara Malkas. Nancy Rauscher, director of school finance and operations, said >> Read More |
MCLA Hurt by Funding FormulaBy Tammy Daniels, iBerkshires Staff
05:47AM / Wednesday, December 18, 2024 | |
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts is projecting reductions in state Department of Higher Education funding next year. President James Birge informed the trustees at Thursday's meeting that this has to do with change to the funding formula used by the department. "We will see about $140,000 less in revenue from that," he said. "We're trying to advocate with the state not to implement the change ... It's a difficult argument to make for us, but we are still trying to make it." In response to questions from trustees, Birge said the larger institutions are benefitting from the formula change. The >> Read More |
McCann Tech Debuts New Look for Mascot, GymStaff Reports, iBerkshires Staff
02:25PM / Monday, December 16, 2024 | |
The new hornet mascot with the M and T incorporated into the look. NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — McCann Technical School has made some dramatic changes to its gym over the past few months. A giant hornet peeks over the bleachers and a "jumbotron" calls out stats and cheers. Superintendent James Brosnan took the School Committee to check out the new look after Thursday's meeting. The colors are black and green and the school's hornet mascot now incorporates a stylized M and T for McCann Tech. The new wall padding is black with the hornet logo and "Welcome to the Hive" on it and the wall behind the bleachers is painted in >> Read More |
North Adams Begins Search Process for New SuperintendentBy Tammy Daniels, iBerkshires Staff
05:42AM / Wednesday, December 04, 2024 | |
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The School Committee plans to cast a wide net in its search for a new superintendent. Superintendent Barbara Malkas, hired in 2016, will retire at the end of the school year. On Tuesday, she presented her last Superintendent's Award to Drury High senior Colin Daly before the committee launched into a lengthy discussion of how to replace her. "This singular honor is conferred annually by the superintendent of the North Adams public schools to a Drury High School senior who has distinguished themselves in the pursuit of academic excellence," she said as Daly joined her at the podium at Brayton Elementary >> Read More |
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