Area schools are closed leaving kids without structure and without an opportunity to socialize in traditional ways — potentially for months. Psychiatrist Jessica Griffin, who is an associate professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, speaks about potential impacts of social distancing on children and how those impacts can be mitigated.

As coronavirus cases continue to climb in Albany County and vital services are shut down in response, children and seniors in the Hilltowns are vulnerable not only to the virus, but to hunger. To remedy this, the Berne Youth Council, Berne Library, and Berne-Knox-Westerlo School District are working together to deliver meals and groceries to these at-risk populations.

On Friday, March 13, Acting Supreme Court Justice Denise A. Hartman ruled in favor of Berne farmer Emily Vincent, who had been illegally removed as a full member of the planning board on Jan. 1 and challenged the town’s action in court.

A reconstruction of Knox-Cave Road will begin this summer, renovating a 3.5-mile stretch between county routes 156 and 157A, according to Albany County Legislator Jeff Perlee.

(This event has been cancelled due to public health concerns.)

The Enterprise sat in on a rehearsal for the Berne-Knox-Westerlo Theatre Troupe’s “Flapper!,” which director Penny Shaw-Bartley described as a mad-cap tribute to the Roaring Twenties. Three performances will be held in the high school auditorium over the weekend of March 27.

In what police say turned out to be a man with a cellphone, a student at Berne-Knox-Westerlo reported Friday that she saw a man with a knife or a large gun as kids were leaving for the day, prompting a lockout at the school and a mass-alert sent to emergency notification subscribers. 

Acting Supreme Court Justice Denise A. Hartman heard oral arguments today concerning Berne resident Emily Vincent, who was removed from her post as full member of the town planning board before the end of her term and made an alternate. She has filed an Article 78 against the town, requesting that the decision be nullified. 

By splitting the role of school business manager between its superintendent and an accountant, Berne-Knox-Westerlo is hoping to attract superintendent candidates of a higher caliber when Timothy Mundell retires from the position within the next five years. 

The second phase of Berne-Knox-Westerlo’s $15.8 million project has been completed, and Superintendent Timothy Mundell reports that, now halfway through, the project is on schedule and slightly under budget. 

Although its absentee rate is roughly half that of the state average, Berne-Knox-Westerlo’s school board is considering ways to further cut the rate of chronic absenteeism, which is when a student misses 10-percent of classes in a school year. Chronic absenteeism is one of three critical metrics for Harvard’s National Center for Rural Education Research Networks, of which BKW is a part.