A Look Back: April 13
Published: 4/13/2022 7:01:26 AM
Modified: 4/13/2022 7:00:17 AM
■Jessie Sargent, wife of Massachusetts Gov. Francis W. Sargent, was in Northampton yesterday to visit the Valley Women’s Center. She has been working with low-income housing projects and was concerned about the housing situation for members of Northampton’s Puerto Rican population.
■A total of 27 noontime supervisors in the Northampton school system who have been fighting a proposed cut for several weeks won their battle Monday when the school board voted they be retained at their present salaries. It had been proposed that they receive a pay cut from $6 to $4 a day.
■Fifty-six Northampton teachers will receive hand-delivered notices today from their principal that their employment will be terminated as of June 30. While administrators hope eventually to hire back just about all these people, they say they fear some will take the “pink slips,” — which are not actually pink — as a signal to look for work elsewhere.
■The former Graves homestead in Williamsburg would be renovated and relocated under a plan intended to honor the memory of the brothers who preserved more than 500 acres for the public and the birds they loved. The plan was detailed yesterday by Massachusetts Audubon Society officials and others after 18 months of reviewing options for the 1860 farmhouse and historic buildings located on the society’s Graves Farm Wildlife Sanctuary.
■The $1.6 million roundabout at Look Park opened in the fall of 2010 and is in need of repairs 18 months later. Severe cracks have formed in a truck apron in the center of the roundabout, forcing additional construction to fix the problem.
■Parents will have their first chance tonight to hear details about proposed changes in the math program at JFK Middle School. Members of the Curriculum Subcommittee will present a plan to eliminate the accelerated math track in Grades 7 and 8. Instead of being assessed for advanced math at the start of sixth grade, JFK students will be assessed at the end of eighth grade.