Mount Greylock School Committee Affirms Protection for All Students, Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Mount Greylock School Committee last week unanimously approved a policy that affirms the district's support for all students and employees without regard to sexual orientation or gender identity.
The policy, one of several that have been in development for months by the panel's Policy and Governance Subcommittee.
Prior to the full committee's action, Carolyn Greene asked her colleagues on the subcommittee whether they had factored in more recent changes in federal policy.
Interim Superintendent Joseph Bergeron clarified that the local policy, which affirms that the district "does not and will not discriminate on the basis of sex, sexual orientation or gender
identity in the educational programs and activities of the public schools," complies with the laws of the commonwealth.
"These Title IX updates that we've been working on for the last four months, they changed midway through the process," Bergeron said. "When the federal government repealed the 2024 Title IX regulations and sent us back to 2022. That said, the state of Massachusetts stepped in and said: Because you're in the state of Massachusetts, certain provisions that we require by law should still exist.
"But protection around gender identity is included because ... if we were in another state, that might not be a part of Title IX. Because we're in Massachusetts. So a lot of thanks to our state for maintaining higher and more forward standards."
Greene followed up by asking whether the Mount Greylock district runs the risk of violating federal law by recognizing the rights of all of its students.
"We are required by Massachusetts law to do what we are doing," Bergeron said. "The federal government would be going after the state of Massachusetts instead of the Mount Greylock Regional School District."
Thursday's meeting was held against a backdrop of the federal government doing just that, going after the state of Maine for its inclusionary practice, specifically as it regards school sports.
While relying on Massachusetts law to support the district's policy, Bergeron acknowledged that the issue is far from settled.
"Unfortunately, it's a topic for the Policy and Governance subcommittee, and we're also working on it with the Equity Imperative team," he said.
Thursday's agenda also included an update from Bergeron on the district's collaboration with Equity Imperative, a Chicago-based consultant whose work in the Mount Greylock Regional School District is funded by American Rescue Plan Act funds supplied by the Town of Williamstown.
Bergeron said the consultants have been working with district staff and community members to review Mount Greylock's policies and practices around incidents of bias, sex-based harassment, discrimination or bullying.
"We need to do a better job of educating people before anything ever happens as to, 'Here's what to expect from us when something happens,'" Bergeron said. "Here's how to report it, and here's what to do next. Here are the documentation pieces you should expect to receive so accountability is there.
"That couples with increased training for staff about how to respond when an incident occurs, whether it's in a classroom or in a hallway."
Bergeron said the district also needs to improve its process for communicating out when incidents occur and what steps have been taken to address them.
He said the consultant has been helping to identify effective practices that are employed in other public school districts so that the Lanesborough-Williamstown district can build a better system.
"What we are involved in right now is the work necessary to pick all of the best practices we could find, incorporate them into a process for us and be able to come out with something I think, quite honestly, should be a wonderful standard bearer for a thoroughly thought-out, cohesive way to respond to incidents," he said.
After several months of meetings and special meetings focusing on the fiscal year 2026 budget, the committee had a relatively light agenda on Thursday.
And it heard some good news on the budget.
After a relatively warm reception from the Finance Committee in Williamstown, where both the Fin Comm and Select Board voted to recommend town meeting approval next month, Bergeron said that the Lanesborough's officials appeared ready to follow suit.
"My sense is both [the Lanesborough Finance Committee and Select Board] were largely in favor of what we were presenting, albeit with reservations about how large the percentage ask was," Bergeron reported from meetings between district officials and the Lanesborough panels.
WIlliamstown voters will have a chance to make the final call on the town's appropriation to the public schools at town meeting on Thursday, May 22. Lanesborough's annual town meeting is in June.
One step the School Committee did take on Thursday was to approve Chair Julia Bowen's proposal to form a subcommittee to look at the process the committee should follow to hire a permanent superintendent. Bowen appointed herself, Greene and Curtis Elfenbein to the group that will bring a proposed process back to the full panel.
Last year, after Jason McCandless abruptly resigned in the middle of his contract, the School Committee decided to appoint Bergeron to the job on an interim basis for two years with a goal of hiring a new superintendent during the 2025-26 academic year.
In other business on Thursday, Bergeron reported that:
• The commonwealth's Green School Works program is funded for 2025, and the district is submitting applications for funding to place solar on the roofs of its two elementary schools and replace the more than 20-year-old roof on each at the same time. Bergeron said Lanesborough Elementary qualifies under the program's set-aside for districts with a high percentage of low-income students. It is possible that Williamstown Elementary, which would be done as part of one contract with the regional school district, would be funded as part of a single grant.
• The commonwealth on Wednesday approved a change in its FY25 transportation reimbursement for regional school districts. That means an increase of about $175,000 in state aid for the district this year.
• The Mount Greylock Regional School is readjusting its 2024-25 school calendar to ensure the middle-high school has the correct number of hours of structured learning this academic year. The result is that two half-day exam days in June will be changed to full days. Bergeron said that the 2025-26 academic calendar recently approved by the School Committee would not create the need for such an adjustment next year and that no changes are required in the schedules for the two elementary schools.
• Mount Greylock's new track and field has hosted several events bringing in teams from all over the county. While the facility is great, Bergeron said, it has taxed the campus' parking capacity. "We've got a lot of overflow parking happening," he said. "We are working on reinstating ways to better utilize where the temporary administration buildings have been up the hill. So we've got a good problem to have — which is we're bringing too many people to campus. And we're working on it."
Tags: equity, MGRSD,
