Shakespeare & Co.'s Annual Fall Festival Concludes This WeekendBy Sabrina Damms, iBerkshires Staff
06:18PM / Wednesday, November 19, 2025 | |
Mount Everett students in 'Twelfth Night' in 2024. A 'Fill the Quill' matching fundraiser is running through the Fall Festival weekend to support Shakespeare in the schools. PITTSFIELD, Mass.— For more than three decades, the community has united and learned valuable lessons through works of Shakespeare by participating in Shakespeare & Company's annual Fall Festival of Shakespeare. Although hundreds of years old, Shakespeare's rhetoric, wit, and the universality of his work and themes, are still relevant to experiences people have today, said John Leggett, the company's co-director for Mount Everett Regional >> Read More |
OLLI Presents 'Un-Separation of Church and State'| 02:43PM / Tuesday, November 18, 2025 | |
PITTSFIELD, Mass — The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Berkshire Community College will present "The Un-Separation of Church and State," a conversation with the Rev. Dr. Brian Kaylor and Doug Mishkin on Kaylor's book "Baptizing America: How Mainline Protestants Helped Build Christian Nationalism." The talk will be held via Zoom on Thursday, Nov. 20, at 7 p.m. This event is free and open to the public. To register, visit https://berkshireolli.org/event-6354850. Kaylor, a Baptist minister with a doctorate in political communication and an award-winning author, is president and >> Read More |
Pittsfield Middle School Restructuring Effort Nearing CheckpointBy Brittany Polito, iBerkshires Staff
12:49PM / Monday, November 17, 2025 | |
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Action items are coming into focus as the middle school restructuring vote nears.
In December, the School Committee will decide whether to begin moving into an upper elementary and junior high model, with Grades 5-6 in one school and 7-8 in another, or to push it off another year. After running sandbox scenarios, the district transportation team found that the current two-tier transportation system would have to be changed to three tiers.
"It's looking like it would be high school and then middle school and then elementary, but they're running the scenarios to see what would the timetable look like," Superintendent Latifah
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Pittsfield Interim Superintendent Offered Year's Contract ExtensionBy Brittany Polito, iBerkshires Staff
03:50PM / Tuesday, November 11, 2025 | |
 PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The School Committee has voted to offer interim Superintendent Latifah Phillips a yearlong contract extension.
The decision was made last week, when the agenda included deliberation about whether to advertise for a superintendent of the Pittsfield Public Schools who would begin in July 2026.
"I respect the conversation that you're having because I do believe the system is for the community, and you want the best for your community," Phillips said.
"Even though I'm coming in, I also want the best for your community, because that's my core belief about public education and the role of public education for the
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PHS and Shakespeare & Company Announce Collaborative 'Hamlet' Production| 10:23AM / Tuesday, November 11, 2025 | |
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Pittsfield High School’s Proteus, in collaboration with Shakespeare & Company, has announced a joint production of William Shakespeare’s tragedy, "Hamlet." The production features a student-led creative team, including directors Darius Journigan and Naire Poole, costume designer Michelle Hathaway, and production designer Alec Westmoreland. The show is scheduled for a limited run of three performances across two locations. The Pittsfield High School venue will host performances on Friday, Nov. 14, at 7:30 p.m., and Saturday, Nov. 15, at 2:30 p.m in its auditorium. Tickets for the PHS performances are $5 for students and >> Read More |
Morris Elementary Celebrates Veterans Day EarlyBy Sabrina Damms, iBerkshires Staff
06:50PM / Monday, November 10, 2025 | |
 LENOX, Mass. — Morris Elementary School celebrated Veterans Day a day early on Monday with its annual Wave Parade. Approximately 321 students lined West Street to wave and cheer for the community's veterans and active service members in the area. The street was filled with cheers, flags, thank-yous, and excitement. As the veterans drove past, some students could be heard discussing the various wars and when they occurred. The initiative started in 2021, in part because of the pandemic, and has continued, Principal Brenda Kelley said. "We wanted to do something nice to honor the veterans but obviously we had to do some social >> Read More |
Willa Cather Subject of Upcoming Course at BCC| 10:58AM / Monday, November 10, 2025 | |
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at Berkshire Community College (BCC) will present "Willa Cather's America: Life, Letters, and Literature," single-session course, on Friday, Nov. 14 from 9:30-11 a.m. The session, instructed by Peter Cipkowski, will be held in person at BCC's main campus, located at 1350 West Street, Pittsfield. Admission is $10 for OLLI at BCC members and $15 for the general public. Admission is free for students, staff and faculty of BCC, MCLA and Williams College; youth ages 17 and under; and those holding WIC, EBT/SNAP or ConnectorCare cards. To register for the event, visit >> Read More |
Horizons Program Helps Miss Hall's Students Find Their PathBy Breanna Steele, iBerkshires Staff
04:49PM / Sunday, November 09, 2025 | |
The Horizons program at Miss Hall's School teaches civic engagement, social justice and self-awareness. The last two years of the program include volunteering and internships in students' fields of interest. PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Students at Miss Hall's School are honing in on their interests with the Horizons program. The program helps students focus on the personal and civic development. Starting in Grade 9, they explore their identity, do a ceramics project and work in the greenhouse. As sophomores, they focus on civic engagement and global citizenship. As juniors and seniors, they are able to volunteer and intern at places that interest >> Read More |
Pittsfield School Committee Honors Retired Secretary, Top StudentsBy Brittany Polito, iBerkshires Staff
01:01PM / Sunday, November 09, 2025 | |
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Rosemarie Blake was named Executive Assistant of the Year after more than a half-century of service to the Pittsfield Public Schools.
She is described as the "institutional memory of the district."
Blake retired over the summer after 54 years with the district and, on Wednesday, was given the award from the Massachusetts Council of School Committee Administrative Personnel.
"One line in your nomination really stayed with me: 'Administrators relied on her as the institutional memory of the district.' That says so much about your heart, your knowledge, and your lifelong commitment to this community," explained Brenda
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One Incumbent Returns to Pittsfield School CommitteeBy Brittany Polito, iBerkshires Staff
05:55AM / Friday, November 07, 2025 | |
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The next School Committee will have a couple of familiar faces, but largely new representation.
On Tuesday, voters elected Ciara Batory, Sarah Muil, Daniel Elias, Katherine Yon, Heather McNeice, and Carolyn Barry for two-year terms that begin in January. McNeice was the top vote-getter with 3,995 votes, according to unofficial results, and Elias was second with 2,937 votes.
Elias is a longtime School Committee member, and Yon is the former chair.
Candidates Jacob Klein, Geoffrey Buerger, and Vicky Smith fell short in the race, but Klein earned 2,116 votes, Buerger 2,063, and Smith 2,198.
McNeice feels truly grateful and
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