image description — William Pham with his scarecrow, 'Love,' at the Williamstown Youth Center. The activity was made possible by Wild Oats Market.

Williamstown Youth Center Children Create Scarecrows for Town Decor

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
01:07PM / Monday, October 06, 2025Print Story | Email Story

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Children at the Williams Youth Center last week decorated scarecrows that will be showcased around the town this season.

The activity was in partnership with Wild Oats Market, which provided the materials.

The market recently held an ice cream social that raised more than $600 for the center, and it was planning a free Wild Smoke Party on Oct. 18, featuring a barbecue with locally raised pork.

"When we finished [the ice fundraiser], we were planning on delivering the money, we had some shirts, and we're planning our Wild Smoke Party," said Amy Carey, marketing and owners relations manager with Wild Oats Market.

"And I thought, what a great thing. Maybe the kids could make scarecrows and we could put them around town? So I ended up contacting the school here, saying, 'Would you be interested?' and they were thrilled."

Wild Oats Market brought over hay, shirts, and more for the children to build scarecrows. They made 10 scarecrows that will be placed in locations, including the market for the barbecue. The children were able to stuff, name, and decorate their scarecrows.

"The kids are coming up with their own names for the scarecrow, and they're designing the whole decoration of each one, and making the scarecrow faces, the whole nine yards," Carey said. "So they're using their own creativity. And then, as we name them, I'll be around and people will be able to see them and know who made what scarecrow. So their goal is to use their creativity to make them."

Carey said Wild Oats was happy to have the children do this and repurpose items.

"We love the fact that it's all using material that is sustainable. You know, it's about repurposing what we have and making it be something fun for the season," she said.

The Williams Youth Center was excited for the kids to do this.

"Organizations in communities working together is, first of all, just a great thing for kids to see that we can work together and come up with a project, and then these kids will take such pride in going around town and showing their families and friends what they worked on," Youth Center Business and Operations Director Miriah Downing said.

Eight-year-old Luisa Tokeshi had fun making a scarecrow with her friends and said it was really fun and is excited to see her scarecrow displayed.

"We're making scarecrows. So everyone's working in a group, and we get to name our scarecrows, and we're making them with different designs and different colors. And the scarecrow I'm making with my group is a big green scarecrow, we're naming him Greenie," she said.

Seven-year old William Pham made a scarecrow he named Love because he really loves hearts.

Executive Director Michael Williams said the Youth Center value's the partnership with WIld Oats.

"We love our friendship partnership with Wild Oats, they've always been so supportive of our mission here, and we appreciate them taking the time out to work with us. The center continues to be a fun, safe, secure place for kids to enjoy their after-school time," he said.

Tags: Wild Oats, williamstown youth center,

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Mount Greylock School Committee OKs Updated Policy on Seclusion, Restraint

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
05:57AM / Tuesday, August 25, 2026

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Mount Greylock School Committee recently approved an updated policy on time-outs, seclusion and the physical restraint of students.

The policy is based on updated state regulations that came down last winter. Superintendent Joseph Bergeron told the panel at its August meeting that his office waited on recommendations from the Massachusetts Association of School Committees that were released in May and ran the proposed changes past the district's legal counsel.

That timing — and an expectation from the commonwealth that districts have the updated policy in place for the start of the 2026-27 academic year — led to an expedited process for the School Committee, which did not do a first read with a vote at a subsequent meeting as is its practice.

"Policy JKAA speaks to the ways the school district and our procedures shall abide by the updated state regulations," Bergeron said. "We're not going to have a lot of leeway.

"Nothing about the way we interact with our students on a day-to-day basis is being shifted by this."

For example, the commonwealth does not allow schools to use "seclusion," or, "the involuntary confinement of a student alone in a room or area, with or without adult supervision," except some extreme cases, like when, "when student behavior poses an imminent threat of assault, or imminent serious physical harm to self or others, but only if safeguards are accounted for," the updated policy reads.

"From the state's perspective and my perspective, the idea of locking a child in a room without adult supervision is something we've never done," Bergeron said. "And it's something the state wants to make explicitly that nobody ever does."

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