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Top Students Announced for Hoosac Valley Class of 2023

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CHESHIRE, Mass. — Hoosac Valley High School has named Kathryn Scholz and Tia Kareh as the valedictorian and salutatorian, respectively, of the class of 2023. 
 
Graduation exercises will take place at 6 p.m. on Friday in the school gymnasium. 
 
Scholz, daughter of Erik and Laura Scholz of Adams, is a member of the National Honor Society and recipient of the Superintendent's Award. She was a member of the Ski Club and Leo Club, the track and field team and a Hoosac PRIDE (Perseverance, Respect, Integrity, Diversity, Empathy) mentor. She participated in band and as backstage crew for the school's musicals, and in Project 351. 
 
She was also an intern with the Garden Club and a member of Girls Who Code and Berkshire Community Rowing, and team member and instructor at the Gemini Gymnastics. She was the recipient of the Feel Good in Your Community Award, the Cornell University Sweat Shirt Award and the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Medal. 
 
Scholz is planning to attend the University of Massachusetts at Amherst to study microbiology and German
 
Kareh, daughter of Paul Kareh and Hasna Nehme of Adams, was president of the local National Honor Society chapter, a class officer for the past four years and vice president of Student Council, and a member of the Athletic Leadership Council for four years. She also was a member of the Link Crew, the Leo Club, Ski Club, the art club, the school's 84th Chapter (on smoking prevention) and World of Difference. She was a PRIDE mentor, co-chair of the District Attorney's Youth Advisory Board and participated in the school's annual musical productions and band.  and band. 
 
She was captain of the soccer team and named to the All-League Team and captain of the lacrosse team.
 
Kareh has received the statewide Youth Leadership Award, the Feel Good in Your Community Award, the Williams College Book Award and the CIAO soccer scholarship as well as excellence awards for Advanced Placement in history, world history, literature and physics. 
 
She plans to first attend Massachusetts College of Liberal and to later transfer to complete a double major at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.  

Tags: graduation 2023,   HVHS,   val & sal,   

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Hoosac Valley School Committee Approves $23M Budget for Fiscal 2026

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
CHESHIRE, Mass. — The Hoosac Valley Regional School Committee approved a fiscal 2026 budget of $23,136,636 on Monday. 
 
The budget consists of a foundation budget of $21,038,650, a transportation budget of $1,013,986 and a capital budget of $1,084,000.
 
The vote was 5-1 with member Fred Lora voting in opposition. 
 
The spending plan is up $654,917, or 2.9 percent, over this year. Out-of-district special education tuitions and a 16 percent hike in health insurance are major drivers of the increase. 
 
"Between those two pieces alone, we're about a $1.5 million increase in our budget," said Superintendent Aaron Dean. "That doesn't take into account any of our obligations contractually, and things like utilities. So the bottom line is we have limited resources."
 
The town assessments will be within their levy limits with Adams seeing a 2.3 percent increase of $135,391 for a total of $5,958,203, and Cheshire a 3.623 percent increase of $104,773 for a total of $2,996,643.
 
"I will point out that both of these assessments are lower than the municipal minimum that was put out by the state," said Dean. "So we did a lot of work and continue to do to get these to a range that I think was respectful to the towns. As you look around, there's a lot of towns that are that are going to go up, 7, 8, 9 percent."
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