CAN IT GET ANY WORSE FOR BITCHFIELD PUBLIC SCHOOLS? NOW, ADMINISTRATORS ARE CHARGED WITH MANSLAUGHTER
BY DAN VALENTI
PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY
ADD-1 FRIDAY 6 p.m.–THE PLANET spoke to D.A. Tim Shugrue’s office today with some questions. We received the following:
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Ms. Whitacre was very cooperative throughout the entire process. I am not clear one when Ms. Braley left the area; however, on the question of cooperation with law enforcement -she would not come in for an interview.
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Both women will appear ant Berkshire Superior Court to be arraigned this summer. Linda has scheduled her date for 7/14. In communications with Megan’s attorney, Hochberg, she will appear in early August.
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We have NOT issued warrants for either woman as they are not deemed a flight risk or danger to the public. While Meghan has left the area, her attorney was quick to respond to setting a date for arraignment.
We thank the D.A.’s office, particularly Shugrue and Julia Sabourin, for its prompt responses and openness to our queries. If you will recall, Shugrue’s predecessor, “Wrong Way” Harrington, closed the office to THE PLANET. She made the same mistake so many have made (Ed Reilly, Gerry Doyle, Sara Hathaway, Peter White, Pete Marchetti, everyone on the council, in that long, gray line!): “If we ignore him, he won’t get the information.” In their prideful stupidity and media ignorance, they don’t know that THE PLANET has our spies in EVERY office. If we wish, we can find out most anything.
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(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION JUNE 27-9, 2005) — Can it get any worse for city public schools? Now we have two Herberg Middle School administrators charged with manslaughter by Berkshire Country D.A. Tim Shugrue.
Meg Braley, 29, and Linda Whitacre, 67, face charges in the death of EarlGiver Essian, a girl days shy of her 13th birthday. She drowned in Benedict Pond in Gt. Barrington on July 17, 2024. The outing was part of Herbert’s 21 Century initiative, another of those suspect programs operating with taxpayer money that avoids educating kids. Anything to get away from the Three Rs. Whitacre was program coordinator. Braley was site supervisor.
According to charges brought by Shugrue:
- The state requires swim tests for all students taken for swimming. There were no swim tests.
- The school had a permit for 25 students. Whitacre and Braley brought 35.
- The lone lifeguard, a high school student, thought he would be watching 15 students, not 35. That number would need two lifeguards, according to state law.
- Essian couldn’t swim. She wasn’t provided a flotation device.
- While Essian was going under, Shugrue said, three students reported it to Braley. She laughed it off.
- There was no buddy system in place.
- After the event, Braley did not take roll call as they loaded the bus. They didn’t realize Essian was missing for an hour and 10 minutes.
- The girl’s body was under water for 70 minutes.
“If these rules and procedures were followed, this child would not be dead today. There’s just no question in my mind,” Shugrue said in a Thursday press conference. “The investigation found that the reckless conduct of program coordinator Linda Whitacre and site supervisor Meghan Braley led to Giver’s death.”
THE PLANET commends Shugrue for pursuing this case and filing charges. This action fulfills every promise he made in his campaign for the office, all contained in the “S” folder for “Seeking Justice.” When a child dies needlessly because the adults charged with her care behaved recklessly, civil society demands justice. Two words best sum up this case with respect to justice: Shugrue delivered.
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If Shugrue’s assertions are true, Braley and Whitacre must be found guilty for gross negligence resulting in the death of a child. This raises the question: “Who was responsible for program oversight, that is, above Whitacre?” Will that person be identified, if not charged? THE PLANET has long pointed out the complete lack of accountability throughout the entire governmental infrastructure that continues to torture its best citizens–and kill innocent children.
To be clear, only Braley was physically present at the Benedict Pond outing. Whitacre was charged as program chief. Shugrue said the latter is cooperating. Braley had fled the area.
The manslaughter charges will only continue the mass exodus of worried parents pulling their kids out of Bitchfield’s public schools. Drug charges, sex scandals, now manslaughter, all involving school administrators. Why would ANY loving parent or guardian trust ANYONE in the PSD administration? No wonder a disgraced Joe Curtis has hightailed it into his unearned-but-lucrative retirement. He presided over the decimation of a department on life support … and pulled the plug.
Memo to Joe Curtis: Think long and hard, at night, when you’re alone, about Essian’s drowning. Ask yourself how much responsibility, if any, you share in a tragic but fully preventable death? Will you “pull a Pilate?” Will you wash your hands of the mess and pretend you have no part in this shocking event?
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The 21st Century program has four so-called “Learning Centers” in the city. In addition to Herberg, these dubious “out-of-school time” activities can be found at Morningside Elementary, Reid Middle, and Conte. According to the school department website, the 21st programs are “designed to close”
- proficiency/learning gaps
- increase student engagement (whatever that means)
- support social and emotional learning
- promote college and career readiness.
The website leaves out “killing children.”
At Herberg, the website currently lists Jessica Hopson as site coordinator.
As usual, no one from the school department, the school committee, the corner office, or city council had anything to say.
Have a great weekend, everybody.
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“Accountability separates good government from corrupt government“–Sir Donald Turpentine, Knight of the Bath.
“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.”
LOVE TO ALL.
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Might be interesting to see these woman s resumes as they applied for the jobs. How much were they getting paid or were they volunteer? Was this the first trip of its kind? Who do they report to directly? Who hired them?
If their credentials were iffy as to job capabilities then whomever hired them needs to be also questioned. Not sure the buck should stop with them.
And will this be another investigation that stops short of higher level management?
MORE
Yes. There’s much more to the story. You ask some of the pertinent questions. Others will come out in the prosecution. This is where the local daily needs to step up and do its job. Arraignment is July 17.
Theres no press in America today.Trump owns the media
If PHS was a private school it would of been closed down,
In a half a second.
It sounds like the district attorney has a very strong case against these two women. The deceased girl didn’t even know how to swim, but she was allowed to go in deep water according to the article in local media. Then to ignore the kids telling the adults that she had fallen in the water. She must have fallen in shallow water and been pulled into deeper areas of the pond or one of the kids who saw it happen could have pulled her out, but for the adults to ignore their cries for help is really disgusting.
According to the D.A., they “laughed it off.” And remember the reaction of Sara Shoegum (nee’ Hathaway) when a student talked about the sexual/drug laced goings on at PHS. She did the same thing.
Sitting here shaking my head!
It’s been almost a year.
Unbelievable.
So heartbreaking for this young girl, her family, & friends.
This story is reprehensible. After reading this and being a parent myself, it just angered me to no end. I’m not an educator and have never taught, but I was a coach for my kid’s sports teams when they were growing up. When my team traveled anywhere, I did a head count, both before we left for the game and before we returned back home, to make sure I had every player I left with.
The kids are an extension of your kids, during the time they are in your care. Those two Picklefield Pubic Scohol edgubacaters better hope I’m not sitting on their jury.
**To fu*king laugh and blow it off, when kids were telling Meghan Braley, that Ever Essian was drowning, is unfathomable.
I honestly am at a loss for words and feel for those Ever’s poor parents and the kids who had to witness their classmate and friend drown.
https://www.masslive.com/news/2025/06/supervisors-laughed-off-warnings-before-childs-death-on-mass-field-trip-da-says.html
The Picklefield/Bitchfield Pubic Scohol is an embarrassment to all Pittsfield school-aged parents and taxpayers.
Under the mayoral “leadership” of Linda “Flat” Tyer-Clairmont and now Lumpy Marchetti, we have witnessed PHS transforming from an educational institute into a red-light district brothel, complete with a lil booger sugar, to help get the students heart rates racing before History class.
Hey, but at least people from outside Picklefield/Bitchfield, will be “jealous of our diversity and inclusiveness,” isn’t that correct Flat?
Here’s an idea, maybe instead of turning schools into liberal indoctrination centers, you go back to teaching the 3 R’s, hold kids accountable for their actions, no TDS, and turn off the cell phones during school hours.
It worked when we went to school.
Excellent comments, MARK. We share your outrage. Yes, and perhaps Lumpy and Flat need to ask themselves some tough questions about their responsibility in this tragedy.
Flats blatantly stated before being mayor during the campaign trail inviting everyone to come here. Not to work but just come here.
If there were lawsuits behind the scenes involving the city of Pittsfield would there be away to find out?
Is there somewhere, a list of ALL current and or past lawsuits against the city of Pittsfield, Ma?
A field trip to the lake is liberal indoctrination? And all the cutesy names for local institutions reduce the credibility of an otherwise informative article.
I wonder why the parent signed a release for the field trip to the lake for a child that can’t swim.
The main issue of course is the horrendous administrative governance in apparently all of the Pittsfield school system.
Pete has to address the whole system
Did parents sign permission slips? Did the school provide it? Why isn’t the City named in the lawsuit too? Leaving the city (psd) out may limit the prosecutors’ extent to counter the two principals.
Sir Chaz, I’m not sure I’ve read or heard anything that indicated a civil suit is pending with anyone or any entity within Bitchfield/PPS. I could be wrong?
Honestly, if the DA didn’t have a presser and announce criminal charges against the two PPS employees, I (sadly) forgot about this. Just like the GOBSIG’s wanted me/us to.
The DA had no choice. You can’t sweep homicide under the rug. Some bells can’t be un-rung.
Add this to “The Sheppard Pie’s Party Cru” and Bitchfield might lose their cities insurance coverage. It’s An insurance company will only pay out just so much, before “they cut the cord.”
IMO a large majority of blame belongs to Linda “Flat” Tyer-Clairmont and Gang, for ignoring this festering issue and enacting policies that align with identity politics and social activism over best qualified. Lumpy Marchetti is just the face of the operation with Chewbacca “Wimpy” White, eating and waiting for his chance.
That cushy job at BCC sure did open up just in-time….wink, wink….
No press to deal with over all of this. Not to mention she was mayor when it all of these problems seem to have begun.
***I’m not John Krol either. No ax to grind with Flat, just call it like I see it.
Marketing Pittsfield to middle-class families and small business:
* Level 5 (failed), Group 11 (underclass) public school district with alleged scandals that were covered up by a secret legal report that cost taxpayers 6-figures
* Violent Crime rate that doubles the statewide average since at least 1980
* Downtown Pittsfield’s North Street that is sarcastically called “Social Services Alley” with rows of empty storefronts
* Inner-city distressed neighborhoods that surround North Street are sarcastically called “The Ring of Poverty”
* The fiscal year 2026 – July 01, 2025 – June 30, 2026 – $226.2 million municipal operating budget that costs tens of millions of dollars more than similar sized small cities, such as Westfield
* Annual predictable city spending increases of 5 percent going back over 4 decades
* Hundreds of millions of dollars in municipal debts plus unfunded liabilities that will be paid off by Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny with the help of the Tooth Fairy
* Pittsfield politics other name is RETRIBUTION because it is the rule of corrupt insiders instead of the rule of law that is the foundation of our democracy that is about as real in Pittsfield as Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy paying off Pittsfield’s municipal debts plus unfunded liabilities
* GE’s industrial chemicals called PCBs sitting in time-limited capped “leaky” landfills, including Hill 78 that abuts Allendale Elementary School
* The Berkshire Eagle newspaper blacklisting good people from publishing their letters because they are biased
* The only economic growth in Pittsfield is in its excessively large underclass population
* Pittsfield City Hall using “Perverse Incentives” by counting the city’s underclass residents towards the tens of millions of dollars per fiscal year that they receive in state administered, federal aid funding
* Gregory Crewdson showings his Photography Art Exhibits of: “Pittsfield: A City in Decay” in London, NYC, and L.A.
* Millionaire Andrea Francesco Nuciforo Junior’s largest in Western Massachusetts marijuana growing operation on Dalton Avenue stinking up nearby residential neighborhoods with his skunk-like odors, while he lives in his $950,000 mansion in Pittsfield’s elitist Gated Community west of Berkshire Community College, along with his upscale residence in Boston
* Pittsfield’s State Representative Tricia Farley-Bouvier’s number one legislative priority of legalizing sex work in Massachusetts
* The fictional Mary Jane and Joe Kapanski digging their own graves after saving for their own coffins because they are Pittsfield’s ATM, doormat, and toilet that the corrupt career politicians use to shit on
Jon Melle
I know you’ll be shocked JM, but I agree with 90% of your post.
One correction for your future posts concerning Tricia Farley-Country Buffet (d-illegal aliens). Her main priority isn’t sex workers. They offer no benefit to the democRAT party like illegal aliens do. Congressional representation JM. You know that. As “President” Auto-Pen used to state, “C’mon Man!”
Wait until Trump passes an XO not allowing illegal aliens to be counted towards the US Census. Especially after the USSC ended low-level (federal district court) lawfare setting US policy, that a MAJORITY OF US DID NOT VOTE FOR.
The democRAT house of cards is crumbling.
Noncitizens have been barred from voting in federal elections in the United States for at least a century.
Passing another law that says the same thing is ridiculous- the keto Institute has published that there are very few illegal aliens that vote illegally but if it keeps him occupied instead of raising our taxes through tariffs – have at it
Reading comprehension plays a huge part in understanding a post.
With that being said Meanwhile, now “Joe,” where in my post did mention illegal aliens voting?
Tell me you’re an honer-grad from a Picklefield/Bitchfield Pubic Scohol, without telling me you are? Let me guess, a Roads Scolholer?
He’s talking about documenting illegal aliens with drivers licenses so they can be added to census rolls to stabilize Democrat seats in house. People are fleeing their states and districts, and illegals – millions available to be shipped wherever needed – take their places.
TFB’s personal interest: she works as an agent for the state DNC – she works for them and primarily represents their interests. Their interest is money (first) and power.
Democrats playing this game don’t need votes, they paper constituents.
We’ve seen this movie before. The city council will feign concern over the tragedy and demand an independent investigation into the program and policies. A connected firm will be hired and will lead what will be described as a thorough investigation at a cost of nearly 200 thousand dollars. Citizens will be told that the investigation found that there is nothing to see here and that only those charged are culpable. However, they will not be able to see the report detailing the investigation that they paid for due to “privacy concerns”. All this from people so concerned with democracy and dictatorships. It is time for citizens to revolt or leave, there are no brighter days in Pittsfield’s future.
Look no further than PPS District Emergency & Safety Coordinator Eric Lamoureaux. This stooge sucked his way into this cush job and doesn’t ensure the safety of anyone except himself.
He was part of a lawsuit from a school employee who was suspended because Lamoureaux who at the time was a teacher and sucked up to then Principal Curtis ratting on a custodian that said Curtis was a fucking asshole.
This guy’s job is to ensure the safety of everyone in the PPS district. He failed when he allowed this to happen. But don’t expect this guy to be charged. They let the underlings take the heat.
The emergency safety coordinador is not qualified to do his job.He has been a very shady employee whos goal in life is to suck up to people in high places and show the rest of the people below his title what a immature dork he is.Why he still pulls a check from taxpayers is a Miracle. He would moonlight at the country club while working at the city.He does not care about student safety.Why would anyone keep this guy doing a job he can not do is irresponsable
My heart and sympathies go out to the family. I can’t imagine the grief they are going through. Seeing your child off and excited for the child to return back home to talk about the outing, only to find out because of total incompetence that would be the last time you would your child.
We have children dying while under the care of the Pittsfield public schools and what are they worried about building new school buildings?
With all the terrible atrocious issues going on in the Pittsfield Scohol Department , it blows my mind that Joe Curtis retires with the comment “I HAVE NO REGRETS”. What a first class jackass. Yet us taxpayers will be paying him a stealthy pension.
What is going to happen to the City Administration when all the LAW SUITS starting pouring in? How are Marchetti and Kerwood going to lie their way out of that. Sure the City has insurance but in time if the City and School Department continue to be mismanaged, insurance companies will not want to insure the City and or the premiums will be so enormous causing our taxes to increase again.
How much more corruption is going on and being hidden by City Administrators? How many City employees are on paid leave? Time for Marchetti to tell the truth about the state of the City!!!!
Off topic, but anybody have the proficiency in doublespeak to explain why the city is not pulling the TIF from Petricca due to them laying off 263 employees?
Downsizing and expanding at the same time?
Doubleplus sus…
Also, why are FIVE separate local nonprofits going to be involved in running the new 9 units of single occupancy supported housing at Zion Church?
How big is that pie???
The sitting Mayor’s “One Pittsfield” tagline is NOT for the small city’s panhandlers, the homeless, who are also called: “houseless”, the fixed-income local taxpayers and fee-payers, and the like;
….the students who are laughed at by the likes of Shoe-gum Sara Hathaway, who quipped: You kids with your anxieties, after a young woman Pittsfield High School (PHS) – my Alma Mater, 1993 – student spoke in public about the alleged scandals that were covered up after the taxpayer-funded 6-figure legal report;
NOTE: Around a decade ago, Sara Hathaway successfully sued the city for age and sex discrimination, along with several other then middle-aged women who worked for the Pittsfield Public School District as teachers, after she and the other women’s employment was terminated. She won her discrimination lawsuit, and I/we are sorry for her loss, of course, whereby she walked away with an undisclosed financial settlement from the city in 2015.
NOTE: I must ask why was is it NOT O.K. for her to have experienced alleged wrongdoing by the city around 10 years ago, but now, in 2025, she acted unprofessionally towards the aforementioned brave young woman PHS student?
NOTE: I must ask why she said that she read the taxpayer-funded legal report, and she is O.K. with it? Should we just take her word for it? What is in the secret report? We will never know barring a lawsuit(s)?
NOTE: What does the above DOUBLE STANDARDS say about her being on the Pittsfield School Committee?
…. the use of the word “Synthetic” to criticize blogger Dan Valenti by Dr. Bill Cameron, the 2-Pete’s SILENCE, the political insiders who oversee the retirements of questionable school employees, the city tax breaks to millionaires who often break the terms of their empty promises to bring jobs to the city, the city’s ARPA grants that were managed in secrecy and given to special interests who did not improve the downward spiral of the distressed and extremely unequal small city, the pot permits settlements that cut millionaire “Luciforo’s” Berkshire Roots a city check in the amount of $341,000, the denial of a forensic audit to find alleged fraudulent activities and the like, and so on.
Peter Marchetti’s “One Pittsfield” tagline belongs in The Twilight Zone! It belongs in one of his toters, along with the above failed Pittsfield politicians! It belongs in the city’s sewage plant! It belongs with the infamous ROLODEX! It belongs with the infamous late BAR-STOOL! It belongs on the bottom the polluted Silver Lake!
Jon Melle
Thanks, JON, for reminding me. I had forgotten about Candid’s pithy remark about THE PLANET’s “synthetic” analysis of the PHS scandal(s).
Petricca is a made man, as they say in the Mafia. They paid their dues. The City rents from them for the Bus depot and allows them to let their blighted building on Merrill rd. stand. Typical Pittsfield politics.
Petricca is trying to make President Trump’s policies look bad. The Berkshire Eagle article is blaming it all on Trump’s tariffs. The Democrats will have no problem destroying our local economy to try to push their agenda and put down the Republicans.
Zohran Mamdani is running on a Communist agenda for mayor in New York City and he may win because young indoctrinated college educated people are voting for him. Mamdani wants government run supermarkets, free bus service, and to globalize the intifada (an uprising against Israel) showing the tight ties between the far left and dangerous extremist groups. Mamdani has said that if he is elected mayor he would arrest Netanyahu if he ever visited New York City showing his strong antisemitism. The far left extremism is still posing a huge threat to America and the world.
Sadly, NYC did vote that vile man into office.
Cue up Tom Lehrer’s song “National Brotherhood Week”n
And be grateful it’ only for one year.
Perfect post, OF.
I knew somebody in this crowd would know the reference!
That Was The Year That Was was one of the first records I owned due to the fact that it was left behind in the room that my parents let out to a college student, and I had received a Mickey Mouse record player from the Sears catalog— the tone arm was Mickey’s arm with the white glove holding the needle—but no records.
To this day it is one of the two most influential records I have ever listened to.
That and All the News that’s Fit to Sing?
Petricca is losing money to make Trump look bad???? Are you serious?
Petricca claims the layoffs are temporary – the layoffs are due to 2 contracts on hold – the contracts are on hold due to Trumps tax increase otherwise known as tariffs. Hopefully it’s a continuing negotiation tactic and he starts acting like a conservative
I’m sure that the City will review his documentation that show unprofitabilty and loss of revenue tied to trade policy. Of course name dropping Trump isn’t sufficient explanation.
Is construction screeching to a halt generally? Or is Petricca the only one importing bulk RM from China?
In a word – GOBSIGs
This has gone beyond what The People will tolerate.
Get off all your asses and file a fucking complaint.
This is not a drill.
Questions the Public Deserves to Ask
This isn’t about blame. It’s about governance.
Was the “but-for” test (i.e., would this expansion happen without the tax break?) ever publicly vetted?
Did the city tie tax deferrals to actual job creation, or were they given upfront?
Is there any clause that allows the city to adjust the deal or reclaim foregone revenue if promised outcomes don’t occur?
Has the public seen any of the required biennial performance reports mandated under M.G.L. c. 40, § 59?
Economic development is a worthy goal. But public trust is a fragile thing – and it withers when incentives become entitlements.
If we give, we must ask. If we promise, we must measure. If we defer taxes, we must not defer scrutiny.
The Unistress case is not an anomaly – it’s a signal. And the law gives us the right, and perhaps the duty, to pay attention.
Massachusetts TIF Law – M.G.L. c. 40, § 59
Lincoln Institute of Land Policy – Improving TIF
CDFA Recommended TIF Practices
Mass WARN Notices – Layoff Tracker
” If we defer taxes, we must not defer scrutiny.”
Stand out lying in a standout post!
If we defer taxes, we must not the first scrutiny.
Well said!
We have all stated on here that Bitchfield Pubic Scohols need to get back to the 3 R’s and remove identity politics and social activism from the curriculum.
With yesterday’s USSC ruling that parents can opt out their children from LGBTQ curriculum in public schools, what does the Communist of Massachusetts do?
The MA Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell doubles down on it and states that MA won’t remove it from their schools.
Two thoughts on this, my first being the obvious. I was completely unaware that LGBTQ curriculum was mandated as law to be taught to all students in public schools.
Second, this ruling came from the US Supreme Court, not Donald Trump.
Andrea Joy Campbell is an attorney, bound by the rule of law and ethics. Did she forget this? Or is Andrea Joy infected with TDS so much so that it causes her to make irrational statements and forget she took an oath of office to support The Constitution when she became an attorney?
AG Andrea Joy Campbell on X: “Forcing opt-outs for LGBTQ+ curriculum in schools sends a harmful message to our students, and I’m deeply disappointed by today’s Supreme Court decision. Keep in mind, MA schools are required to prevent bias-related bullying and hate – including through inclusive curricula.” / X
**It’s no wonder the edgubacation situation in the Picklefield/Bitchfield Pubic Scohol’z is a mess. Identity politics and social justice/activism has replaced the 3 R’s.
Instead of focusing on education and helping the kids to succeed in life by making sure they are able to read, write, do basic math, and think on their own, they are being subjected to having to sit through and learn The Cultural Competency Coach’s racist “teachings,” and they also get to sit through LGBTQ indoctrination classes.
It makes you wonder how much “class time,” has been wasted having to sit through Shirl’s BS and LGBTQ nonsense?
No word from last nights shooting? Was shitty spotter used or did they pay 100 an hour for detects to find casings?
Excellent comments as usual..M A. I doubt if anything will change for the better at our local sochol program. One thing that will not change is the exodus of students and increases in funding.
Could not agree more. The new Middle School segregation plan, eliminating neighborhood Middle Schools will definitely lead to more parents opting out of Pittsfield public school system. Why not put it to a vote?Let the taxpayers have a say.
Letter: “The data we need to judge PPS middle school plan”
The Berkshire Eagle, June 27, 2025
To the editor: In the mid- to late-1970s, Pittsfield closed down a bunch of the old red brick schools, replacing them with two community schools.
In order to be on top of the most modern trends, they used the open classroom approach. This was where you placed a bunch of young kids in big rooms without walls, opening them up to every distraction known to man. Of course, it did not take long to realize this was a bad idea, and up went walls.
Today, the plan is to put all of the kids in the early teen years in one building. (“The Pittsfield School Committee has approved moving forward with a plan to restructure the city’s middle schools,” Eagle, June 26.) There have been no real details given about how this will work, but we are asked to trust the administration. I’d like to, but Pittsfield has not figured out middle school education. Per the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Pittsfield consistently has been the second-highest system for students leaving via school choice following Springfield, a city with nearly four times the population. It is not because our neighboring communities have newer buildings. It is because parents believe the other systems do a better job. In fact, many kids never step foot in a city school — and those who come back are just a small portion of those who leave.
So before we embark on a massive change, I would want to know three things.
What other communities in Massachusetts (and in New England) have made this change?
How many years have they been doing it, listed by district?
What documented improvements in student performance have occurred (by district)?
I don’t have the appetite to be a pioneer. We have one middle school in the bottom 1 percent statewide, and the other is in the 14th percentile. That means they are very low-performing — almost nonperforming.
Before we do anything this radical, I want to know who else has done it and how long have they been doing it. Have they seen improvements that don’t just move them up a few points on a scale but catapult the district toward success and consistently stay there? Otherwise, I’m out.
This data has to exist, since this plan is being pushed so hard. I’d love to see it on Page 1 of The Eagle.
Dave Pill, Pittsfield
What about the regional high scohols such as Mount Greylock that have 7 through 12 under the same roof?
Dave Pill for mayor!
He would get more than a few votes.
Mr. Melle, thanks for posting this, and Dave, you make alot of great points. These are the basic question the school committee should be all over like a fly on shit. Why aren’t they? On the surface, this whole thing doesn’t pass the smell test, not to mention the city is poor.
Saturday, June 28, 2025
In an editorial, The Berkshire Eagle stated: “Monday night’s meeting of the Pittsfield City Council’s Ordinances and Rules Committee will determine whether Mayor Peter Marchetti’s encampment ban proposal advances.“
The 2-Pete’s Pittsfield politics “War against the Underclass” are structural assaults that will only make the social problems of panhandling and homelessness worse in this distressed inner-city full of poverty.
The Underclass are always on waiting lists for social services. If the Underclass population is panhandling and/or homeless, then they are not being adequately cared for by the social services agencies.
Pittsfield is my – Jon Melle’s – native hometown. I personally experienced the banal realities of North Street’s “Social Services Alley” tagline. When I was in my mid-20’s from the Spring 2002 – Spring 2003, I looked for employment for a little over one-year of my adult life in Pittsfield without success.
I came to the conclusion that Pittsfield practices “Perverse Incentives” to use the Underclass residents, such as the Have Not named “Jon Melle”, as inputs on their bureaucratic spreadsheets and forms to receive as much state administered, federal aid funding as possible.
Pittsfield receives tens of millions of dollars in state aid funding, but the Underclass residents never have any realistic opportunities towards Social Mobility. That is the crux of the matter, of course.
The city doesn’t want its Underclass to get out of poverty because it would mean less state aid for City Hall’s coffers.
The answer is simple, Mayor Peter Marchetti, the City Council’s Ordinance and Rules Committee, and the like:
PUT A ROOF OVER THE HOMELESS RESIDENTS’ HEADS! Enough with the useless bureaucratic bullshit already.
Jon Melle
JM: you called yourself an underclassman.
Quoting Ollie REPO MAN, “That’s bullshit!. You’re just a white suburban punk like me,”
Yeah, but it still hurts….
“If the Underclass population is panhandling and/or homeless, then they are not being adequately cared for by the social services agencies.”
Uh, NO. They are choosing to panhandle and be homeless.
The answer is simple. Work. No one is buying my groceries or paying my rent.
Pittsfield politics 2025 municipal elections UPDATE
https://www.iberkshires.com/story/79443/Pittsfield-Sees-Certified-Candidates-Plans-Preliminary-Election.html
Voltron, Shoe-Gum, Costa-plenty, Sleepy, Banjo, Drool, Not Amused, Wrinn-tin-tin, the Dumpster, Hair-do….are all on the ballot that around 85-percent of registered voters will avoid on election day.
What an avoidable tragedy.
My sympathies to the families and friends of the victim.
Surely the victims parents attorney, realizes that the city, teachers union and school committee are all civilly accountable, for the loss of their child. But in Berkshires, it’s doubtful.
While it won’t replace their child, Hopefully finally after numerous scandals, this corrupt system is held responsible.
This is more than enough reason, to force federal court , to order release of sexual assault/ grooming report. No state judge is going to expose Rupps corruption , to protect the commonwealth.
contact DOJ civil rights division,( equal protections) , fortunately, they are very busy preparing prosecutions of state and local government employees. 98% conviction rate , gets results, makes Campbell look like she is involved ( which concealing the sex report is a conspiracy predicate act).
The parents deserve, a complete discovery process, investigation and relief for this criminal conduct.
Tom
The city of Pittsfield is run like the crooked Trump adminisration…next is 30 million for Wahconah park…a waste of money….cut taxes and consolidate schools.Even the catholic church consolidated.
If the people in Pittsfield vote these people back on the school board this November then they are also guilty. We’re not trying to change the system.
June 29, 2025
Hello blogger Dan Valenti,
I have been giving a lot of thought to the Eagle’s editorial statement:
“Monday night’s meeting of the Pittsfield City Council’s Ordinances and Rules Committee will determine whether Mayor Peter Marchetti’s encampment ban proposal advances.“
The elected officials are supposed to use our limited tax dollars to invest in people and the communities that we live in.
The elected officials are NOT supposed to use our limited tax dollars to wage wars against people most in need of social services programs.
Mayor Peter Marchetti’s proposal that will be voted on in a City Council Committee on Monday native, June 30th, 2025, is a “Structural Assault” on the city’s Underclass population.
Homelessness is a Structural Assault on a person, family, and the community. The Mayor’s misguided proposal to ban encampments will make the matter even WORSE!
“The cause of the Underclass is structural.”
“The solutions to helping the Underclass is TARGETED assistance.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underclass
The City Council should NOT even be entertaining Mayor Peter Marchetti’s proposed encampment ban. It is WRONG on many levels. It is the government applying a broad brush solution (singular) – NOT solutions (plural) – to a complex structural matter.
Many Pittsfield residents have spoken out in protest of Mayor Peter Marchetti’s proposals – anti-panhandling and anti-homelessness – that will hurt the already damaged Underclass population. The Mayor has been called a bully, cruel, a promoter of structural racism, and the like.
Pittsfield’s distressed inner-city is a concentrated area of an excessively large per capita – by population – Underclass population. As letter writer David Pill wrote, one of Pittsfield’s two middle schools ranks in the bottom 1 percent statewide. The city’s public schools are rated Level 5 – the rock bottom ranking – and Group 11 (impoverished: Underclass).
Why on Earth would the City Council’s Committee vote to make the matter(s) even WORSE?
Where are the TARGETED solutions to provide needed assistance to the city’s Underclass residents?
Why is this vote even taking place tomorrow night in our native hometown: Pittsfield, Massachusetts?
Mayor Peter Marchetti needs to resign his elected office over his War against the Underclass!
Best wishes,
Jon Melle