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.
PITTSFIELD â As the School Committee prepares to make its next big hiring decision, voters are getting an early look at which candidates they could choose to hire to represent them in city affairs.
But before that happens, educators will welcome hundreds of elementary students back to classrooms five days a week starting Monday, and work was set to continue over the weekend to modify lunch areas and otherwise ready the buildings for full-time, in-person learning â for the first time in more than a year.
After conducting virtual âsiteâ visits with four finalists for the Pittsfield Public School superintendent position, School Committee members are gearing up to grill the candidates during final interviews at special public meetings on April 12 and 13. The candidates have gone through initial closed-door interviews, but this time, the public is invited to tune in and watch starting at 5 p.m. both evenings.
WILLIAMSTOWN â The Zoom âbombâ that disrupted a classroom and shocked the Mount Greylock Regional School community Jan. 21 was instigated by two students in another school district. According to Superintendent Jason âJakeâ McCandless, they were students of color.
McCandless, in reporting the results of the investigation during a Mount Greylock Regional School Committee remote meeting Thursday evening, noted that whatever the motivation of perpetrators, it is the perception of the victims that matters.
At the time, that perception was that it was a racial attack and caused shock and pain for the victim, whose log-in was used to enter the remote classroom, and who felt the racial epithets used during a song that was broadcast to the class in the unauthorized Zoom intrusion (known as a âbombâ) were directed at him.
WILLIAMSTOWN â Mount Greylock Regional School District leaders are decrying a racist incident that interrupted a virtual class held Jan. 21.
âObviously, this starts with a very hurt individual and a very hurt family who were victims,â Superintendent Jason âJakeâ McCandless said after the statement had been read into the record during a special school panel session Thursday. âThen that hurt extends to a classroom and that hurt extends to a school, and then a whole community.â
The incident in question occurred as students were taking a self-guided midterm assessment, according to an incident report shared by Principal Jacob Schutz. As the class was wrapping up, an unknown student who was impersonating another student already in the class unmuted the mic to allow a song to be heard by the entire class. The song included profanity and an anti-Black epithet.