The new School Committee has its work cut out for it with a school safety study, staffing and sub shortages, the coronavirus and a new budget season. 

The Pittsfield schools superintendent told families that a closure at this point would likely be caused by increasing cases among staff members that could "interfere with our ability to safely supervise students."

While life in the classroom will continue as before the holiday break, the district is implementing new state guidelines around isolation and quarantining to Pittsfield schools' coronavirus safety policies and offering staff testing kits to use to check for the virus before returning to work on Monday.

Pittsfield Public Schools and the city's Board of Health are partnering on a series of youth vaccination events as student coronavirus continue to rise in through the public school community.

The city's Homelessness Advisory Committee says that a severe deficit of affordable housing, shortage of support services and lack of understanding within the community have exacerbated the number of people who are experiencing homelessness in Pittsfield. That picture of the city came as school officials delivered a report saying this could be a high year for homeless students in the district.

In an attempt to contextualize recent fights at Taconic High School, Superintendent Joseph Curtis presented data on physical altercations within the district's secondary schools. But the data shows that Taconic does have an elevated rate of fights when compared with similar schools across the states. 

A Park Square rally in Pittsfield seeks to bring a message to passing motorists about school safety, and the role that police officers play in that.

The absence of a school resource officer at a recent fight in Taconic High School has led to further questions about the role, responsibilities and usefulness of officers in schools. Here is a breakdown on the ins and outs of the school policing program.