May 27, 2025 Berkshire Eagle by Clarence Fanto
LENOX — As the academic year winds down, the School Committee has awarded Superintendent William Collins high honors for year two of his tenure as the district's leader.
Committee members also cited their chairman, Oren Cass, for his key role negotiating an extension of Collins' contract through June 2029 and reaching contracts with faculty at Morris Elementary School and Lenox Memorial Middle and High School.
Discussing Colllins' annual report card, Cass said the overall evaluation was “exemplary,” the state’s top category, with a strong impact on student learning.
“Student-centered, inclusiveness, consistency and steadiness of the leadership” were among the accolades Cass offered during the final committee meeting of the school year, available on demand at CTSB TV Channel 1302 .
The evaluation also praised Collins for “seeking input and with humility always willing to hear different perspectives, acknowledge and address mistakes.”
Pointing out Collins’ constant presence at school events, Cass also listed “integrity, dedication, adaptability, collaboration and wisdom” as standout qualities.
“It would be difficult to imagine a superintendent attaining a higher favorability rating than you probably have with staff, parents, students, throughout the community,” Cass said. “It’s a difficult job that lends itself to all sorts of conflicts, dissatisfaction and problems, but somehow you’re addressing them and resolving them in a way that leaves everybody proud of our schools.”
As committee member Veronica Fenton put it, “It really is a team effort with respect, trust and care.”
“Your approachability is to be commended,” committee member Kim Graham told Collins. “You’re always very, very open. You talk to other people, gather information and make thoughtful decisions, and that’s really important. When you own it, you own it, but the due diligence is there before any decisions are made.”
Collins described his administration colleagues as “the A team.”
“We can have incredibly difficult conversations,” he said. “We’ve reached the point where we can challenge each other, and that’s where the real breakthroughs start to happen.”
Presenting his own end-of-year achievement report, Collins said his priorities include ensuring physical and emotional safety for students and staff while promoting a culture of inclusion and well-being, and launching a faculty-leadership mentoring program for new teachers to strengthen early-career development and faculty retention.
Collins is also looking forward to phasing in Morris Elementary Principal Brenda Kelley's new role as director of curriculum, instruction and assessment for PreK-8, expanding to PreK-12 in September 2026, a year ahead of schedule; and adding a middle school literacy interventionist to address gaps in reading and writing skills.
NEW FACULTY CONTRACT
Cass also presented the new teachers contract, which the committee unanimously approved. It includes salary increases over the next three years of 3, 3.25 and 3 percent for the senior teachers in the top half of the staff by years of service. For newer teachers, the starting salary will increase from $51,000 to $63,000 by the end of the contract, nearly a 25 percent increase. Newer teachers will also receive full reimbursement for pursuing a master’s degree.
Collins described aspects of the contract as reflecting “out of the box creative thinking” by Cass, “making it better to be able to attract and retain employees and at the end of the day, better for students.”
Teacher Tom Fielding, representing the Lenox Education Association’s union negotiating committee, described the contract talks as “a safe place where we were able to do some very valuable work for the district.”
“I think we ended up with a contract that is fair and that we’re all very proud of,” Cass said.
Committee member Michael DuPont nominated Cass, who was re-elected to a two-year term on the School Committee at the annual town election on May 5, for another year as committee chairman through May 2026. The vote was unanimous, as were votes electing DuPont committee vice-chair and Graham secretary.