Volunteer to Clean Up the West Branch Housatonic River

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PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Volunteers are invited to help clean up the west branch of the Housatonic River with Berkshire Environmental Action Team (BEAT) and Housatonic Valley Association (HVA) at one of their annual river cleanups on Sunday, June 9, from 9 AM to noon.
 
After the cleanup, volunteers will be provided a free lunch from a local restaurant. Volunteers must RSVP in advance to reserve a free lunch. 
 
Participants should meet at Wahconah Park, 105 Wahconah Street, Pittsfield, at 9 AM on June 9. Cleanup teams will disperse to nearby locations, gathering miscellaneous trash from the river banks and bottom. Canoes will be used to transport the trash. Old clothes, a hat, sunscreen, old sneakers or waterproof boots/waders, a full water bottle, and sunglasses are recommended. In the event of pouring rain or lightning, the cleanup will be postponed to Saturday, June 29.
 
Join BEAT and HVA at a cleanup this summer to see what else may be in the River and make a difference for the environment. Register at www.tinyurl.com/Housatonic-River-Cleanups-2024.

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Wahconah Students Join Statewide 'SOS' Call for Rural School Funding

By Sabrina DammsiBerkshires Staff

DALTON, Mass. — Students at Wahconah Regional High School are urging the state to fully fund Rural School Aid that supports essential services that shape their future.
 
Rural districts across the state participated in Rural and Declining Enrollment Schools Week of Action to insist Beacon Hill fully fund rural aid at $60 million. 
 
Schools across Massachusetts sent their pleas for aid to lawmakers through letter-writing campaigns, sign-making, and coordinated gatherings where students and educators formed the letters "SOS."

Wahconah students did something different — they created an educational video detailing the need for increased funding for rural schools with the school's music teacher Brian Rabuse, who edited the video, Assistant Superintendent Aaron Robb said. 

The advocacy efforts move the issue from spreadsheets to show the human cost of a funding formula previously described as "remarkably wrong." 
 
During an interview with iBerkshires, students expressed how districts without rural aid would have to make reductions in world language programing, mental health support, extracurricular opportunities, and other areas they find essential. 
 
"Our students deserve the same quality of education as any child in Massachusetts, regardless of their ZIP code," Superintendent Mike Henault said in a press release.
 
"The week of action is an opportunity for our communities to come together and make it clear to Beacon Hill that the status quo is no longer acceptable." 
 
Rural schools attempt to create the same quality education as urban and suburban areas while balancing high fixed costs of transportation and operations of geographically large, low-population districts.
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