This year, Sabine Denise Jacques and Mariah Lapiroff from the CES Joy and Justice team have been facilitating a theater club in Easthampton that centers self- and social-awareness, embodied connection, and belonging and joy for 6th & 7th graders. They have been using the Brown Paper Studio theater practice to support collaborative thinking and play. Brown Paper Studio is an arts methodology designed to awaken creativity within individuals and groups and to utilize the resulting creative energy for peaceful social transformation; and a unique theater practice that uses art, games,...
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State cuts Mohawk preschool funding
BUCKLAND, MA — Because the state Department of Early Education and Care has decided to phase out its Inclusive Preschool Learning Environment grant program, the Mohawk Trail Regional School District will have to increase tuition rates and modify the district-funded...
Heath, Mohawk reach agreement on school closure
BUCKLAND, MA — Agreement has been reached on conditions for closing the 22-year-old Heath Elementary School and tuitioning its students to the Hawlemont Regional School in Charlemont. The Heath Education Task Force and Mohawk’s Heath Ad Hoc Committee settled on...
Governor Baker boosts funding for early education
Governor Charlie Baker unexpectedly gave early education funding its largest boost in more than a decade on Wednesday, announcing that he would devote more than $28 million in found money to rate increases for day care centers that serve low-income children. The...
Working toward a drug-free culture
GREENFIELD, MA — Standing on a stage full of middle school students from across the region, a dozen spoke about what it means to be “STRONG” — which stands for “sports, theater, respect, original, nice and giving.” It was an opportunity for leaders in their...
Officials sound off to legislators on broadband, schools
CONWAY, MA — A 14-member state Senate delegation got a blast about rural issues from nearly a dozen officials from the four western counties Tuesday. The legislators were taking a listening tour and began their day in the Conway Town Hall. Speakers from regional...
Northampton School officials approve elementary school revamp
NORTHAMPTON — Students in the city’s elementary schools will see a major shift in the way they are taught in the coming academic year. The School Committee on Thursday unanimously approved Superintendent John Provost’s budget plan, which reduces educational support...
Unanimous Supreme Court Expands Scope of Special Education Rights
The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday issued a major decision expanding the scope of students' special education rights, ruling unanimously that schools must do more than provide a "merely more than de minimis" education program to a student with a disability. In...
Tackling Controversial Issues: Pioneer Valley Regional School Students perform “Rent” this weekend
“In these dangerous times, where it seems the world is ripping apart at the seams, we can all learn how to survive … and (we) should reach out to each other and bond as a community, rather than hide from the terrors of life …” — Jonathon Larson,...
Search for Amherst-Pelham school chief postponed until fall
AMHERST — To get the best possible candidates and not rush a process that was already on a tight schedule, the Amherst-Pelham Regional and Union 26 school committees are postponing the search for a new superintendent to the fall. Committee members last week put the...
Money to help explore school regionalization
ORANGE, MA — The Orange Elementary, Ralph C. Mahar Regional and Petersham Center school districts will be able to examine regionalization with the help of $53,000 from the state. They will be among the eight school districts and 38 municipalities in Massachusetts...
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