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Architect Robert Stevens updated the building committee Thursday on the status of design for every room in the proposed new school.

New Hoosac High School To Have Cutting-Edge Technology

By Andy McKeeveriBerkshires Staff
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Teacher Steven Raimer explains how he teaches a typical class with technology that he wheels from room to room.
ADAMS, Mass. — Hoosac Valley High School teacher Steven Raimer's classroom is a cart full of electronics.

A projector, a laptop computer, a portable DVD player and other technological gadgets are all he needs, and he wheels those around from classroom to classroom. As a mobile teacher, his work relies almost entirely on technology, and that is why the building committee for the high and middle school project asked him to make sure the new rooms have the infrastructure to grow with technology.

The committee approved Thursday a standard classroom but not before they heard from Raimer, a virtual expert on technology with a 20-year history in corporate information technology, about what infrastructure the school needs to keep pace with the electronic world.

"It's really compact. It all fits right here," Raimer demonstrated. "There will be a lot of neat things coming out that will be cheap."

Easy access to power, a white board and a place to put a laptop and full coverage with wireless Internet is all Raimer said he really needs. The approved classroom design will have easy access to power, a whiteboard and a chalkboard, projectors and a docking space, with all the needed connections and gadgets right by the teacher's desk.

"The function of the room depends on the teacher," said Robert Stevens, an architect with Tessier Associates Inc. "We want all classrooms to be basically the same."

The outlets will have interchangeable connections to the projectors to accommodate shifting technology. There will be about four desktop computers in the back of the room but no place for students to charge laptops. The committee voted against charging stations because there is a shift toward iPads that keep power for longer, said Principal Henry Duval.

"This gives us the flexability. It gives us the state-of-the-art technology," Adams-Cheshire Superintendent Alfred Skrocki said.

The plan is almost identical to what the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts has done with the Murdock Hall renovations, Skrocki said. Conference rooms will also feature new technology. The board has not decided how speakers will be integrated into the room though. Further along in the process the committee will decide if they will build speakers into podiums or some other way.

The board debated over flat-screen televisions or projectors. Skrocki said that eventually the school may shift to flat panels because the televisions are cheaper to maintain.

Raimer warned the board not to go too heavy on technology but rather just keep the options open. He used a grant last year to purchase an electronic writing pad and infrequently uses it now.

"People will brag a lot about technology. Sometimes simpler is better," Raimer said. "It's cool and it's fun but not very practical."

The rooms will be equipped to help the regular teachers as well as mobile teachers. There will still be about five mobile teachers, said Duval.

The building committee spent more than two hours hearing the most recent updates on the plan. Stevens  described the progress room by room and is nearing final drafts for about a dozen rooms.

Skrocki asked the committee to consider installing a rubberized floor in the new gym to accommodate all sports. Committee members will visit other places that have rubber floors before reaching a decision.

He also reported that the main structure of the bleachers will not have to be replaced and can maintain seating of about 1,000 on the home side of the football field and that it was recommended to move the driveway 105 feet to the south for safety reasons. The average speed is 53 mph on that stretch of Route 116. The committee responded by suggesting more signage instead.
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Structure Fire in Adams Closes Schools, Calls in Mutual Aid

Staff ReportsiBerkshires

Fire Chief John Pansecchi, in white, talks strategy on Wednesday. 

ADAMS, Mass. — At least eight fire companies responded to a Wednesday morning a structure fire in the old MacDermid Graphics building.

Firefighters and responders from Cheshire, Dalton, Hinsdale, Lanesborough, Lee, Savoy, North Adams, Pittsfield, Williamstown. Hinsdale also sent its rehab bus and Northern Berkshire EMS was on the scene with its rehab trailer. 

The fire was reported at about 7:30 a.m. and black smoke could be seen looming over the old mill building at 10 Harmony St. Harmony and Prospect streets were closed to traffic. 

The Adams Police Department posted on Facebook that Hoosac Valley Elementary School and Berkshire Arts and Technology Charter Public School classes were cancelled for Wednesday. The schools are located not far from the structure.

Their post also reads, "Children on the bus already for Hoosac Valley Elementary School will be brought to the middle school gym at Hoosac Valley High School."

"BArT was already in session and will be evacuating to the Adams Visitor Center."
 
Fire Chief John Pansecchi said firefighters are approaching the blaze by pouring water at it from every angle.
 
"We have a fire in the building, looks like we have a lot of fire in the building and we're trying to get to it," he said. "Places have already collapsed prior to the fire, place that have collapsed since the fire, so not a lot of activity inside the building."
 
The mill, the former W.R. Grace, is made up of a number two- and three-story structures covering about 236,749 square feet. The fire was located in a long building toward the back of the property that runs alongside the Ashuwillticook Rail Trail. The roof was fully engulfed in flames and collapsed in on itself around by 8 a.m.
 
Trucks from Williamstown were being situated in the Russell Field parking lot and firefighters were trying to find a location where they could attack the blaze from the trail. 
 
Pansecchi said the building is supposed to be vacant.
 
"I was working when the call came in," he said. "My guys did a great job getting set up putting some hose lines and being prepared and got some plans put together when I got here to extend that and that's what were looking at."
 
The cause of the blaze is unknown at this time but the state fire marshal was on the scene. 
 
Pansecchi said firefighters are providing observations from the outside and the North Adams drone has been deployed to determine the extent of the blaze. The buildings are large and unsafe in most cases to enter. 
 
"We're making good progress but we're not at a point I'd call it contained," he said. "There's already places that have caved in prior to this."
 
He's been joined by fire chiefs from the various departments, who have been aiding the attack from different fronts. 
 
"It's a really big help [having them] because you've got so much going on fighting a fire you don't think of the other things," the Adams chief said. "They start making suggestions."
 
Some of the structures on the complex date to 1881, when Renfrew Manufacturing built to produce jacquard textiles. It was the last asset of the company, and its machines and inventory were stripped out in 1927. 
 
The mill's had various owners and periods of vacancy over the last century, but was probably best known as W.R. Grace, a specialty chemical company that bought it as part of the acquisition of Dewey & Almy Chemical in the mid-1950s. 
 
MacDermid took it over in 1999 but closed the plant three years later, putting 86 people out of work. 
 
The property has been vacant since and was purchased by 10 Harmony Street LLC for $53,500 in 2019, according the online assessor's records. Principal of the LLC is listed as John D. Duquette Jr.
 
Staff writers and photographers Breanna Steele, Jack Guerino, Tammy Daniels and Marty Alvarez contributed to this article.

 

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