Letter: Lynette Bond Represents Change

To the Editor:

I am a new resident, having lived here part time for almost 10 years prior. I'm honored to have started a small business (www.thestudio-atbeavermill.com) to provide a much needed service to our community. If the COVID era has produced one positive thing, it's that I now proudly call North Adams my home.

I am what many here would describe as an "outsider." I did not grow up in this town, state or part of the country. I did, however, grow up in a very small town with little to no economy in a very conservative state. I know what lack of change looks like. I know what it feels like to have no vision and to experience little to no progress. I know what communities can become if nothing changes. I know the narrative, and in some ways, I once played a part in that story.

Eventually, I figured out that to change my life I needed to change the story I told myself about myself. I needed different conversations focused on solving problems rather than lamenting the past. I wanted a better life, so I created one. The first step was the hardest, and that was identifying the things in my control that I could change — today.

I hear a lot of amazing people in this community craving change, telling themselves a similar tired, outdated story. I feel the weight of the past in their words and see it clearly in their actions. Decades of stagnation drives the local narrative, yet clearly change is desired. Lynette Bond represents change. She has improved this community in her past work while proudly raising her family here. She has a vision for the future that begins with different conversations towards different outcomes. Her expertise and vision speak to the very thing I hear people wanting: change.

As an outsider who sees not only the potential but the current beauty in North Adams; as a small-business owner who understands the difficulty in thinking differently to live better; I encourage you to vote for Lynette Bond, the representative of change.

Michael Eagle
North Adams, Mass.

Clarksburg Students Write in Support of Rural School Aid

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
07:25AM / Sunday, March 15, 2026

Mason Langenback calculated that Clarksburg would get almost $1 million if the $60 million was allocated equally.

CLARKSBURG, Mass. — Eighth-graders at Clarksburg School took a lesson in civic advocacy this week, researching school funding and writing letters to Beacon Hill that call for fully funding rural school aid. 

 

The students focused on the hardships for small rural schools and their importance to the community — that they struggle with limited funding and teacher shortages, but offer safe and supportive spaces for learning and are a hub for community connections.

 

"They all address the main issue, the funding for rural schools, and how there's a gap, and there's the $4 million gap this year, and then it's about the $40 million next year, and that rural schools need that equitable funding," said social studies teacher Mark Karhan.

 

A rural schools report in 2022 found smaller school districts cost from nearly 17 percent to 23 percent more to operate, and recommended "at least" $60 million be appropriated annually for rural school aid. 

 

Gov. Maura Healey has filed for more Chapter 70 school aid, but that often is little help to small rural schools with declining or static enrollment. For fiscal 2027, she's budgeted $20 million for rural schools, up from around $13 million this year but still far below the hoped for $60 million. 

 

Karhan said the class was broken into four groups and the students were provided a submission letter from Rural Schools Advocacy. The students used the first paragraph, which laid out the funding facts, and then did research and wrote their own letters. 

 

They will submit those with a school picture to the governor.