Repairs Being Done on Notre Dame in North Adams

Notre Dame steeple towers over the trees as seen from the bottom of Willow Dell.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Workers from Five Star Building Corp. of Easthampton have a commanding view of the city on Friday as they make repairs to the steeple on Notre Dame Church.

Repairs to portals on the steeple, including the prominent louvered sides, and replacement of the rear portions of two of the church's roofs are being done through a matching grant of up to $100,000 from the Massachusetts Historical Commission awarded in late 2008. Reinhart Associates of Agawam is the project engineer for the estimated $95,000 project.

The cross atop the steeple was removed two years ago along with other religious items.

The city purchased the Notre Dame complex nearly two years ago in an effort to preserve the buildings. The rectory was sold to Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts and the school has been optioned by Arch Street Development of Needham, which is currently rehabilitating the Clark Biscuit mill for housing. The city received $25,000 from the Diocese of Springfield for roof repairs as part of the purchase agreement.

Work began nearly two weeks ago. On Friday, a crane towered above steeple, a distinctive part of the city's skyline from its eastern gateway, wth the bucket holding the workers dangling from it.

Colegrove Park Recognized as Top 10 School Statewide in Attendance

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
05:45PM / Friday, August 30, 2024

Superintendent Barbara Malkas, left, Colegrove Principal Amy Meehan, Mayor Jennifer Macksey and Dean of Students Jonathan Slocum pose with the Celtics basketball award on Friday.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The Boston Celtics gave gold to Colegrove Park Elementary School on Friday for scoring in the top 10 schools for attendance statewide. The school saw its chronic absenteeism numbers drop by 11 percent last year. 

 

Tim Connor, assistant director for the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education's west and central district, arrived with a gold basketball signed by the champion team to reward the students for their achievement.

 

"An award like this doesn't come easy. It takes a lot of work from all of you, the students, the parents, and especially Ms. Meehan and her wonderful staff, so a big round of applause," said Mayor Jennifer Macksey, after leading the assembly in the gym to chants of "Colegrove rocks!" "I am so proud of this school and the community that all of you have built. So everyone should be really excited about today, and this is an excellent way to start your school."

 

Superintendent Barbara Malkas asked last year's fifth-graders at Colegrove to join her at the front of the gym for a special applause. 

 

"When we track attendance of all the students in the whole district, these students have the highest attendance rate, the lowest chronic absenteeism rate in the entire district," Malkas said. "While all Colegrove students have been recognized as attendance all-stars, these students led the way in being attendance all-stars, so let's give them one more round of applause."

 

Colegrove switched this year to house Grades 3 to 6, so some of the younger students who helped earn the award are now at Brayton Elementary. However, all three elementary schools open last year saw improvement in attendance. 

 

Schools statewide have been working to reduce chronic absenteeism — the percentage of students missing 10 percent of the school year, or 18 days — which peaked during the pandemic.