Letter: Greylock School Project Worthy of Support

To the Editor:

Although I no longer reside in North Adams, after moving to eastern Massachusetts a few years ago to be closer to family, my roots in North Adams run deep. As a native of North Adams, a Drury High School graduate, a 16-year member of the North Adams School Committee, and a father of children who greatly benefited from their education in North Adams schools, I will always care about the future of North Adams and its children.

I have long been an advocate for a K-8 grade school configuration. However, the current infrastructure of North Adams schools cannot support this approach. You would need significant investment in a much larger facility, at a substantially higher cost to taxpayers, and without the backing of the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA). The proposed new configuration — a preK-2 school at Greylock, a Grades 3-6 school at Colgrove Park, and a Grades 7-12 high school at Drury — is the right fit for North Adams.

I am disappointed that renovating Brayton Elementary School is not a viable option to building a new school. But without MSBA support, North Adams taxpayers would have a much larger cost to absorb to bring Brayton up to 21st-century standards.

John Hockridge
Stoughton, 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 fulling 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.