This Berkshire Town Opposes An Upcoming School Merger

A hot button topic continues to make waves in south county as Egremont parents and residents continue to slam a prospective school merger proposal and praised Southern Berkshire schools. According to The Berkshire Eagle, a meeting was held less than two weeks before residents will vote by paper ballot at a special town meeting on October 21st.

The proposal calls for a merger of the south county school district which includes the towns of Alford, Egremont, Great Barrington, Monterey, New Marlborough, Stockbridge and West Stockbridge. If this vote passes, the proposal will be branded as The Southern Berkshire Hills Regional School District (also known as "The New District") as this move will be formed and governed with a proposed agreement filed by the 8 Town Regional School District Planning Board.

Plans are under way to construct a high school in the town of Great Barrington plus enactment of special legislation permitting transfers of current buildings of The Berkshire Hills and Southern Berkshire Regional School Districts when the measure becomes fully operational.

A special town meeting to vote on this proposed merger of the two South County school districts is scheduled to take place at Monument Mountain Regional High School in Great Barrington. The meeting starts at 6 p.m. requires majority approval from voters in all eight towns. On that same day, town of Sheffield residents are qualified to vote in this matter as a special town meeting that will be held at the Mount Everett Regional High School auditorium.

BOTTOM LINE: This matter requires plenty of attention and it will be interesting to see the end result as the subject continues to offer mixed reviews within the south county community. We'll keep you posted on any further developments.