Interim Police Chief Mark Bailey, left, Officers Christopher Voss, Jasmine Knapp and Samuel Demolino, and Lt. Anthony Beverly. Image via North Adams Police Department's Facebook page.
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The city welcomed three new police officers to the force last week.
City Clerk Tina Leonesio swore in Samuel Demolino, Jasmine Knapp, and Christopher Voss at Tuesday's City Council meeting. All three had graduated from the Police Academy a few days earlier.
Mayor Jennifer Macksey introduced the officers and urged them to embrace their new responsibility with "integrity and purpose."
Delmolino is a native of Adams and a 2017 graduate of McCann Technical School and earned a degree in sports management from Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in 2021. He had been working at a bank in Westfield but moved back to pursue a career in law enforcement.
"Officer Delmolino hopes to put his computer skills that he gained at McCann to use in helping protect vulnerable individuals by targeting online predators," said Macksey, adding that he is following a family legacy as his grandfather was an Adams police officer.
Knapp is also from Adams and graduated from Hoosac Valley High School in 2016 and earned an associate's degree in criminal justice from Berkshire Community College. Her background includes "compassionate care," working at Berkshire Medical Center and No Paws Left Behind and running a dog-walking service.
"She has long felt a calling to make a deeper impact on her community," said the mayor. "Her love for animals inspires her dream of one day serving as a K9 officer."
Voss has the most diverse background, growing up in Lexington and graduating from Lexington High in 2007. He earned a bachelor's degree and the received a master's in vocal performance and opera.
"He was a familiar voice behind the afternoon drive time in Boston," Macksey said, until moving here to work in construction during the pandemic. She said he has a "strong sense of empathy and people skills which led him to pursue a career in policing. ...
"He was a standout at the academy, which made me very proud, as class president and received the prestigious academy leadership award."
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Clarksburg Students Write in Support of Rural School Aid
By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
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.
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.
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