North Adams Public Schools Announce Postgraduate Scholarship Opportunities for Drury High Graduates

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — North Adams Public Schools is offering three postgraduate scholarship funds for college students who graduated from Drury High School and are currently enrolled in a four-year college.

The application deadline for all scholarships is June 1st. Applicants require a Google account to apply online and submit their transcript electronically.

The available scholarships are:

• The Charles & Olivina Perron Memorial Scholarship: Open to any college student attending a four-year college.
• The Mortimer P. Howard Memorial Scholarship: Open to college students entering their junior or senior year of college.
• The H.H. Gadsby Memorial Scholarship: Open to any college student attending a four-year college.

Applications are now being accepted and must be submitted by June 1st through the following link: POSTGRADUATE SCHOLARSHIPS

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.