WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Williams College on Tuesday announced a plan to contribute $200,000 annually to the operating budget of Mount Greylock Regional School.
The funds will continue the financial support of the Williams College Fund, which was created in 2011 by members of the Jeffrey family of Columbus, Ohio. That fund, which was supplemented by local donors, is set to be spent down in summer 2016.
Williams President Adam Falk attended Tuesday's meeting of the Mount Greylock School Committee to announce the college's commitment to ongoing financial support, which will be earmarked for the creation of a technology center and professional development of the junior-senior high school's faculty and staff.
The proposed technology center will include the hiring of a director of academic technology and a computer science teacher.
"There is nothing more important for the well-being of the community than the schools," said Falk, who has two children at Mount Greylock.
"Mount Greyock has made extraordinary use of [the Williams College Fund]. ... We are eager to pick up the baton at the college and help those initiatives to continue and grow."
Tuesday's meeting included an annual report on the activities supported by the Jeffrey family-led WCF.
In all, the school spent just more than $152,000 from the fund in the 2014-15 academic year. The largest portion, $56,000, went toward technology, including the acquisition of laptops for all faculty members.
The school put just more than $28,000 from the fund into professional development, including conferences, a Spanish immersion program and a writing program. The school spent $23,000 on academic materials like text books and just shy of $20,000 on a search firm to support the search for a new Tri-District superintendent.
Douglas Dias, who began on the job this summer, is superintendent not only at Mount Greylock but also at Williamstown and Lanesborough elementary schools.
Falk praised Mount Greylock for the manner in which it utilized the Williams College Fund for Mount Greylock.
"If that fund was an experiment to see what would happen if we added things to the budget, it's an experiment that has been extraordinarily successful," he said. "Its value is clear to everybody."
Dias and members of the School Committee thanked Falk and Williams Vice President James Kolesar, who attended Tuesday's meeting, for the college's commitment.
"One of the things I always use as a gauge of the success of a school is its connection to the community," Dias said. "This, to me, eclipses all other experiences I've had in my career as an administrator or a teacher."
Dias added that the timing of the college's gift is noteworthy.
"For a school that is looking toward building a new building, there is always a temptation to say, 'Wait until we get the new building to try new things,' " Dias said. "The decision to do it now before the new building speaks volumes of the thoughtfulness that goes into it. Kids who are here now and will be here in the future will benefit from it."
