William S. Ballen Candidate For School Committee - Pittsfield
With over 30 years of teaching and school administration experience, William Ballen, 58, said he would lend his expertise to affecting change in the city's school system. This year, Ballen will be retiring from his ten-year position as superintendent of Mount Greylock School Union 69. Ballen was also a special education teacher in the same district for eight years and in Pittsfield schools, where he also acted as the vice principal of Morningside Elementary School.
A former personnel director for the city, Ballen moved to the Berkshires from Pennsylvania in the 1970s, after receiving a bachelor's degree in American history from Washington University and a master's degree in education from Temple University. Ballen said he doesn't "see the school system keeping up with the renaissance" and he hopes his experience will lead the school committee in a new direction.