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BENNINGTON â The town and the Berkshire Family YMCA, which operates the town Recreation Center, are considering a plan to lease space at the former Bennington High School â including the gymnasium and nearby rooms.
Negotiations are underway with the owner, Christopher Gilbert of Red Hook, N.Y., and Dorset, who purchased the vacant and deteriorating former high school on Main Street in March, officials said, while providing the Select Board with a presentation Monday on prospects for use of the gym and other indoor space for recreation.
After purchasing the vacant school building at 650 Main St. for $146,000 through his Benn High, LLC, Gilbert, a developer of homes in the Hudson Valley, N.Y., area, said he also has renovated a former mill and other structures for mixed reuse. He said he planned something similar with the former high school and later middle school, which dates to 1913 and includes additions constructed
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BENNINGTON â In a darkened room at the Mount Anthony Union Middle School a week before Christmas, math teacher James Caswell was trying to teach his seventh-grade students how to figure out the slope of a line.
It was 9 a.m., first block, and with the Southwest Vermont Supervisory Unionâs hybrid learning plan, only seven students were in the classroom in person. It was the Blue teamâs day in person, and they were completely spread out, at least 6 feet apart, with each student wearing a mask.
Caswell also wore a mask, but he has a booming voice, easily understood through the cloth covering. It was very quiet â partially because it was the first class of the day â but also because school in the time of coronavirus is difficult for everyone: students, staff and especially teachers.
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BENNINGTON â In all her years as the advisor of The Patriot Players, Lynn Sweet, the Mount Anthony Union High School drama club director, has never had to be more creative to get a fall production off the ground.
Brainstorming ideas, Sweet eventually came up with the idea to do a radio show version of Itâs A Wonderful Life â and the show, done completely virtual over Zoom, will air on both Christmas Day and Dec. 26.
âSo it became pretty obvious over the spring and summer that we werenât going to be able to do our typical fall musical extravaganza,â Sweet said. âI had to start thinking of some alternative ways to keep the kids excited and engaged. And I donât know when it hit me, but at some point, the idea of a radio show seemed like it might be a really good thing because we knew that we wouldnât be able to have a live audience.â
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BENNINGTON â The Mount Anthony Union High School board voted 6-2 to censure fellow board member Edward Letourneau for comments he made earlier this year concerning race and racial issues, including Black Lives Matter.
Carrie Bond moved for Letourneauâs censure during the boardâs monthly meeting Wednesday night, and Leon Johnson seconded her motion. Voting yes were Bond, Johnson, chair Tim Holbrook, David Durfee, Amy Dobson and Ron Higgins. Voting no were Jackie Kelly and Fran Kinney.
None of those who supported the censure spoke before the vote.
Kelly said she voted no because the First Amendment is supposed to be âheld sacred.â