Community Legal Aid: 'Know Your Rights' Sessions at North Adams Public Library

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NORTH ADAMS, Mass. Community Legal Aid will hold a Northern Berkshire information session on Massachusetts housing law, with a special focus on how eligible tenants can seal past evictions. 
 
It will be held on Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026, at 5:30p.m. in the community room at North Adams Public Library, located at 74 Church Street. 
 
Community Legal Aid is a non-profit organization that provides free legal services annually to over 700 low-income and elderly residents of Berkshire County. The information session, which is free and open to the public, will
be led by Community Legal Aid Housing Law Attorney Angelina Morisi. 
 
This information session, a collaboration between Community Legal Aid and the North Adams Public Library, is the first event in a series of Know Your Rights presentations that will be held in 2026. Other presentations may include Know Your Rights topics such as Family Law, Public Benefits Law, Education Law, and other topics of interest to the Northern Berkshire community.
 
At the event, Community Legal Aid will provide important general information on Massachusetts housing law, including how eviction cases work, how tenants can defend themselves and their homes, and how
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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. 
 
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