The CES Newsroom

Local News

Mahar students learn a new way to communicate: sign language

Posted on Tuesday, March 19th, 2019 by Collaborative for Educational Services

Source: David McLellan, Greenfield Recorder
Date: 3/18/2019
Link: Complete Article

RANGE — It was a chilly March day, and four Mahar students got together after school to do what many friends would — share snacks, chat about their lives and unwind after a long day. A local boy — boyfriend maybe? — bought one of their younger sisters some ice cream; math class has been… [Read More]

Stretched too thin: Rural school districts go on the offensive for legislative help

Posted on Sunday, March 3rd, 2019 by Collaborative for Educational Services

Source: Greta Jochem, Hampshire Gazette
Date: 3/2/2019
Link: Complete Article

CHESTERFIELD — As the state eyes changing the way it funds public education, rural schools are asking that the law take into account the unique challenges their districts face and establish rural school aid. The Massachusetts Rural Schools Coalition, led by Michael Buoniconti, the superintendent of the Mohawk Trail and Hawlemont Regional School districts, went… [Read More]

Orange: state shortchanges its SPED funding by $3.5 million

Posted on Thursday, February 28th, 2019 by Collaborative for Educational Services

Source: David McLellan, Greenfield Recorder
Date: 2/27/2019
Link: Complete Article

ORANGE — It’s not just rural schools feeling left behind by the 25-year-old formula for state aid, it’s schools with a high number of special education students too. Unfortunately, Orange’s elementary schools are both, and the special education issue is costing Orange taxpayers about $3.5 million a year, town officials calculate. The town Finance Committee… [Read More]

FC Tech hosts gender and sexuality conference

Posted on Thursday, February 28th, 2019 by Collaborative for Educational Services

Source: Melina Bourdeau, Greenfield Recorder
Date: 2/27/19
Link: Complete Article

TURNERS FALLS — Franklin County Technical School hosted a conference for all western Massachusetts high school Gender and Sexuality Alliances to help LGBTQ students become leaders in their schools and create a more inclusive environment. Not only did the group of 30 students discuss problems related to gender and sexuality within their schools, but they… [Read More]

Deepening Paraeducator Skills at Erving Elementary School

Posted on Monday, February 25th, 2019 by Collaborative for Educational Services

Source: Martha Maloney, Collaborative for Educational Services
Date: February 25, 2019
Link: Complete Article

The day begins at Erving Elementary School, and Principal Jim Trill’s team of educators are ready. As students leave their cars and buses, they run for the school entrance, where adults greet each entering student with a smile, calling them by name as students move through the long hallway to different learning areas, hang up… [Read More]

Northampton students build computers in new digital literacy program

Posted on Friday, February 22nd, 2019 by Collaborative for Educational Services

Source: Greta Jochem, Hampshire Daily Gazette
Date: 2/21/2019
Link: Complete Article

NORTHAMPTON — On Friday morning, R.K. Finn Ryan Road School third-grade students were playing Minecraft on small computers. But they weren’t using an average laptop — they were computers the students had built themselves. As part of a new technology education initiative in Northampton elementary schools, third-graders are building simple computers in small groups and… [Read More]

Art Inspires at HEC Academy

Posted on Friday, February 22nd, 2019 by Collaborative for Educational Services

Source: Martha Maloney, Collaborative for Educational Services
Date: February 8, 2019
Link: Complete Article

At this year’s HEC Academy graduation in June, guests were treated to a striking piece of art on the graduation program cover. Entitled Social Justice and Identity, and the culmination of a year’s work, the mural represented a project that the HEC Academy community of student artists are very proud of.   Adid Roman is… [Read More]

Barbara Cheney Appointed Fellow for Summit Learning

Posted on Thursday, February 21st, 2019 by Collaborative for Educational Services

Source: Martha Maloney, Collaborative for Educational Services
Date: February 1, 2019
Link: Complete Article

Barbara Cheney, Lead Teacher at Mount Tom Academy, smiles as she thinks about last June’s  graduation ceremonies for Mount Tom students, where seven seniors received certificates from Mount Tom to accompany diplomas from their sending schools. Prior to the ceremony, graduating students presented their capstone projects, and the memory of these presentations sparked conversation about… [Read More]

State Legislators and School District Superintendents Gather to Discuss School Funding

Posted on Saturday, February 16th, 2019 by Collaborative for Educational Services

Source: Kathryn Levesque, Collaborative for Educational Services
Date: 2/15/2019

NORTHAMPTON – The Collaborative for Educational Services (CES) hosted nine state legislators and aides, and twenty School Superintendents from Franklin and Hampshire counties on Friday morning, February 15th at their offices at 97 Hawley Street in Northampton. Challenges Facing Education in Our Region provided the group an opportunity to discuss concerns, ideas and solutions about… [Read More]

Students to ask state for more education funds

Posted on Tuesday, February 12th, 2019 by Collaborative for Educational Services

Source: Grace Bird, Max Marcus, Greenfield Recorder
Date: 2/11/2019
Link: Complete Article

Students and educators from seven Pioneer Valley school districts are going to Boston on Feb. 28 to ask state lawmakers to increase funding for rural schools. The students were supposed to go this week, but the trip was postponed due to inclement weather. The group has one main request: that legislators add a “rurality factor” to… [Read More]