Many of the children, and a few adults, were sporting painted faces.
CLARKSBURG, Mass. — Northern Berkshire School Union wrapped up its summer camp last Thursday with what's becoming an annual event: a school community night at Clarksburg School.
That meant a bounce house, music, dunk tank and lots and lots of activities — plus ice cream and hot dogs for dinner.
"Oh, it's fantastic. They do a really good job," said one Monroe parent as her daughter waited for a balloon animal.
The five-week summer camp program is open to children in the school districts of Clarksburg, Florida, Monroe, Rowe and Savoy.
The program is funded through a grant from the United Way Summer Step Up Program, through the United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley with the support of Northern Berkshire United Way.
"I love this event because it brings our community partners together. It showcases all the things that we do during the summer camp. Jordan [Rennell] puts together a great program for all of our kids in our four schools," said Assistant Superintendent Tara Barnes. "And this is an extension of that where we are able to bring in our community partners and our families into one venue and really do this for the kids.
"Which, as you can see, are having a blast. Parents are having fun, too."
The activities — ranging from tie-dye to block building to face painting to "fishing" for prizes — were coordinated by staff members.
"We brainstormed on how to bring families together and how to show them what we do with their kids all day," said Rennell, the district's director of summer programming. "So almost everybody came up with an idea and when we gave them a table station, ordered the things they wanted and brought it to life."
Outside, Nolan and Seamus Barnes, Barnes' sons, were taking turns as the targets in the dunk tank.
"I wasn't here last year. I did it two years ago and it's not that bad. It's the most entertaining thing to do here, probably," said Seamus, a 2023 graduate of Mount Greylock Regional. "I'm the big guy they love to dunk. They see me up there, they're like everyone comes over and they want to do it.
"Everybody's just sharing what they're passionate about — working with kids and fun things that they do. They're really good at it, too."
Patti Messina, executive director of the Northern Berkshire United Way, said funding was lower than expected this year but NBSU made it work. She dropped by during the event, she said, "there was so much going on."
Denise Maselli, "Nana to the Moultons," was there having fun with three of her grandchildren.
"They went to camp for a whole week, they loved it. They did all kinds of stuff," she said. "It's nice I get to do this with my grandkids."
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North Adams School Finance Panel Reviews Fiscal 2026 Spending Plan
By Tammy Daniels iBerkshires Staff
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The Finance & Facilities Committee took a deeper dive this week into next year's school spending plan.
The draft proposal for fiscal 2026 is $21,636,220, up 3.36 percent that will be offset with $940,008 in school choice funds, bringing the total to $20,696,212, or a 2.17 percent increase.
Business and Finance Director Nancy Rauscher said the district's school choice account would be in relatively good shape at the end of fiscal 2026.
As a practice, the district has been to trying not to exceed the prior year's revenue and to maintain a 5 percent surplus for unexpected special education expenses. However, this year's revenue would be about $500,000 so the amount used would be significantly more.
"But given our current balance, we could absorb that in the net result of what we're anticipating in the way of revenue next year," Rauscher said. "Relative to committing $940,000 to school choice spending next year, that would leave us with a projected balance at the end of FY 26 of a little over $1.2 million, and that's about 6 percent of our operating budget."
But committee members expressed concerns about drawing down school choice funds that are projected to decrease in coming years.
"I think mostly we're going to go through this and we're going to see things that this just can't be cut, right? It's just, it is what it is, and if we want to provide, what we can provide," said Richard Alcombright. "How do we prepare for this, this revenue shortfall?"
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The draft proposal for fiscal 2026 is $21,636,220, up 3.36 percent that will be offset with $940,008 in school choice funds, bringing the total to $20,696,212, or a 2.17 percent increase.
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Mayor Jennifer Macksey had hoped to gain immediate approval on the purchase-and-sale agreement with the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art Foundation but councilors balked at approving a document they'd had for only a few days.
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