From the Desk of Superintendent Peter Dillon Berkshire Hills Regional School District (BHRSD)

The summer has been busy running our summer programs, getting ready for school, and supporting pre-season athletes.

We've also spent a lot of time and effort finalizing the draft regional school agreement created by the Regional School District Planning Board, which has 3 members from each of the 8 towns: Alford, Egremont, Great Barrington, Monterey, New Marlboro, Sheffield, Stockbridge, and West Stockbridge. As you may recall, that group has been meeting for 3 years to explore if it would be advantageous to work together. They recommended merging the two school districts and creating a shared high school on the Monument campus.

Last night, select board and finance committee members for all eight towns met to hear and discuss that possibility. The 8 towns are also tentatively holding October 23 as a date for special town meetings.

The work to analyze the impact of the merger is thorough and quite detailed. I urge you to look at the updated website https://8towns.org/ and do some research.

As always, feel free to reach out to me with any questions --Peter.Dillon@bhrsd.org

For future updates, I'll share some details on our new staff, a farm to school grant from the USDA, and the high school project.

Photo: Joan Gallos