PITTSFIELD â Two of four finalists for superintendent of Berkshire countyâs largest school district fielded questions from the School Committee on Monday evening, in the first of two live sessions before leaders decide in whose hands to place the districtâs reins.
Joseph Curtis, the deputy superintendent appointed by the School Committee last summer to serve as interim superintendent, was interviewed first, followed by Portia Bonner, the interim Bozrah, Conn., superintendent and former superintendent of New Bedford Public Schools, a large urban district in Eastern Massachusetts.
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The candidates chronicled their educational visions, outlined their experience and, in separate interviews, acknowledged the work ahead helping students and educators rebound from the disruptions caused by COVID-19.
PITTSFIELD â During the thick of a coronavirus pandemic that has roiled public school education everywhere, school officials here are facing a high-stakes decision â who to hire as the next superintendent of Pittsfield Public Schools.
That decision is expected to come Wednesday, when the seven-member Pittsfield School Committee casts its vote from a field of four finalist candidates, according to Chairperson Katherine Yon.
âWe need someone on board who can lead us through the pandemic, who understands the system well enough to be able to accommodate for all the changes that we have to make to make sure everybody stays safe and healthy while learning in the best way possible,â Yon told The Eagle.
Starting March 11, kindergarten through grade 12 educators, child care workers and school staff will be eligible to schedule COVID-19 vaccine appointments, according to a press release from the Baker-Polito administration. Originally planned for April, the state is pushing educators and staff to the front of the line for vaccines in an effort to safely return all elementary students back to in-person learning in the coming weeks.
Local response has been generally positive from educators across the SouthCoast. With districts beginning to send elementary students back to a full in-person learning model, teachers and administration have been concerned about teachers not yet eligible for the vaccine.
FAIRHAVEN Thousands of motorists travel over the New Bedford-Fairhaven Bridge every day, but did you know there is a bit of a mystery regarding the granite pedestals on the Fairhaven side of the bridge?
If you look at the pedestals, also called plinths, clearly they have an inlay and drill holes, making it evident that a plaque used to be affixed to it.
But what happened to the plaque?
And what was written on it?
Some on social media theorized it was stolen by vandals. Others thought it was taken down to be cleaned and never put back.
“I have vague memories of bronze plaques. They ve been gone for decades,” posted Dave Despres.
Mass. reports 373 new coronavirus cases among public school students, 209 among school staff members over two-week period
A total of 6,799 cases among students and 4,658 among staff members have been reported to the state since Sept. 24
By Felicia Gans Globe Staff,Updated February 25, 2021, 5:13 p.m.
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Local school officials in Massachusetts reported to the state 373
new coronavirus cases among students and 209 among school staff members for the two-week period that ended Wednesday.
Officials estimate that about 450,000 students across the state are attending some form of in-person learning, and about 75,000 staff members are working in buildings.
Cases are only reported among students who are attending in-person school; cases among students in a fully remote learning model are not being tracked by the state. Cases among staff members are only being reported if the employee was inside a school building within the seven days prior to the reported case.