After consulting with the Board of Health, Nurse Lydia, Berkshire East, and others, Superintendent Franzoni and I have agreed that we will not be doing a Rowe School ski program this year. There is no mask mandate for Charlemont, and that although there is a federal vaccination mandate for businesses with over 100 employees, of which Berkshire East is one, that issue will be tied up in the courts, possibly for months. We don't see how we can ski and protect our community. There is no place at Berkshire East to have our students, staff, and chaperones rest and/or eat in the lodge, or to a lesser extent use the rental shop, without encountering numerous, possibly unmasked and unvaxed, people. With all the effort we are going to at the school, and outside the school, to stay safe and keep our groups separate, it feels unwise to put our community at risk right now, as local cases increase. There will be some that will not share this viewpoint, and some families will be skiing on their own, but our responsibility is to the community at large, and this feels like the appropriate choice right now.
We are discussing different activities we could do with students on the days we would have been skiing, more to come on that. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. Please be in touch if you have questions or thoughts.
Bill