Letter: Bernard Endorses Bond for Mayor

To the Editor:

As I prepare to conclude my service to the city of North Adams, and as I explore my options for the next chapter of my career, I've had the opportunity to talk about my work and my experience during job interviews as well as the chance to engage in a lot of personal self-reflection. Right now, Lynette Bond also is going through her own job interview, along with the public vetting that those of us in public service know well. As a North Adams voter, and therefore as one of nearly 9,000 members of the "hiring committee" for our next mayor, I recommend Lynette Bond wholeheartedly for the top job in the city of North Adams.

I've known Lynette for years. The content, message, and tone of her campaign are consistent with the character and integrity Lynette has demonstrated in her work with MCLA and the town of Adams, her service on the North Adams Planning Board, and her advocacy and leadership on behalf of our North Adams students and educators. In speaking with her over the course of her candidacy it's clear she has a deep knowledge and understanding of municipal and fiscal management, education, public safety, and economic development. What's more, Lynette has the grit and resilience to tackle the constellation of issues that cross the mayor's desk on any given day.

Great leaders ask focused, insightful, and pointed questions. They dig deep in order to understand, get to the heart of the matter (including the human concerns that inform decisions), identify options, alternatives, and outcomes, bring stakeholders together, and come away with a deeper awareness and a decisive plan of action. Lynette has demonstrated that she personifies these core competencies. I know this is how she will operate as our next mayor, and how she will lead and collaborate with city staff.

Lynette also possesses the compassion and empathy that are essential for any leader, and the awareness that true empathy is demanding. Leadership takes more than just telling people what they want to hear or reducing persistent challenges to soundbite solutions or tough-talking slogans. As she has demonstrated during her campaign, and during the Colegrove Elementary Park School project, Lynette takes the time to listen, learn, understand, and engage. She puts in the work to explain issues and options, to help people understand there are very few easy answers, and to be candid about the hard work, trade-offs, and sacrifices required to move our community forward, even when that candor is unpopular and challenges us to move beyond our comfort zones.

Lynette Bond is the candidate better suited to provide that degree of empathetic, informed, decisive leadership with and for the residents, educators and students, businesses, employees and colleagues, visitors, and the voters of North Adams.

I ask you to consider and recognize Lynette Bond's capability, potential, and vision with your vote on Tuesday, Nov. 2. Thank you.

Thomas Bernard
North Adams, Mass.

Thomas Bernard is the outgoing mayor of the city of North Adams.

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.