Schools beat the drums for healthy eating

By Owen Boss

Staff Writer

As students prepared to sample a piece of a fresh Mutsu apple at Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School last week, the worried looks they exchanged suggested they had never had one before.

At a lunch encouraging students to make a conscious effort to eat healthier last week, they were asked to choose their favorite among Mutsu, Blush Gold, Rome, Jonna Gold, Spencer, Winesap and Spartan apples plucked from trees at Bashista Orchards in Southampton.

"Some of these are apples that I've never even heard of and it's always good to let them try new things," said Heather Bouley, the high school's food service director. "The students really seem to enjoy it."

Using a grant from the state's Department of Public Health, Bouley said the effort will promote physical and nutritional health with a series of programs.

"I've been using a portion of that to buy fresh fruits and vegetables for tastings like these," Bouley said as students worked together to decide which apple they thought was the tastiest.

Other healthy foods, including Waldorf salads, zucchinis, and carrots will be among those sampled at school-wide taste-tests this year, Bouley said.

"Caesar salad was such a hit last year among students that we made it a menu item that we now serve once a week," Bouley said. She noted that school staff prepare about 70 percent of the food they serve from scratch.

"This is just our way of reminding students to think about eating healthier and to get them thinking about the fruits and vegetables they can eat."

Tom Bashista, who provided the apples for the taste test, said he grows 42 different apple varieties at his East Street farm and hand-picked the kinds that he thought local students may have never had before.

The results, Bouley said, showed that 32 percent of students ranked Mutsu apple slices as their favorite, easily beating the Blush Gold variety which drew support from 16 percent of students.

Rodriguez honored

Superintendent Isabelina Rodriguez was recently selected by the National Association of Professional Women as one of 100 women to receive this year's Woman of the Year award.

Rodriguez said she was notified late last month that she had won the award and attributed the honor to the staff and faculty she has worked with during her tenure in Northampton.

"As your Superintendent, I am thrilled that this honor is also extended to the Northampton Public Schools as well and a big thank you goes out to my staff, administrators, School Committee members and families for continuing to support me and the district," Rodriguez said. "I am proud of all that I have accomplished during my time in Northampton and look forward to continuing that work in the coming weeks and months."

This year will mark the last for Rodriguez as the city's superintendent. Previously, she was director of pupil services for the city, and held a host of other positions in her 25 year career in public schools.

Ward 3 deadline

Candidates for the vacant Ward 3 School Committee post have until today by 5 p.m. to file nomination papers with the Registrar of Voters office in City Hall. To get on the ballot, candidates need to get the signatures of 50 registered voters from the ward.

The position earns a $2,500 a year stipend. It opened up when Timothy Fisher resigned recently because he moved to Holyoke.

The special election is set for Jan. 7, but if more than two people qualify for the ballot, a preliminary election would be held Dec. 7. The last day to register to vote in the preliminary election is Nov. 17; the last day to register for the special election is Dec. 22.

Easthampton board OKs April 2013 move-in for EHS

By Owen Boss

Staff Writer

EASTHAMPTON - After months of discussion, school officials unanimously approved moving students into the city's new high school in the spring of 2013 after deciding the switch won't interfere with their schoolwork and will allow workers ample time to demolish the current building.

At a meeting at White Brook Middle School Tuesday night, School Committee members met with project manager Mel Overmeyer and Michael W. Buehrle Sr., chairman of the city's High School Building Committee, to discuss the pros and cons of making the move during a one-week spring break vacation.

"We talked about this move a lot and we found that it won't disrupt the learning and if we pushed it back longer it would end up costing us more money," Buehrle said. "We had to go and get permission from the School Committee to do this because they are responsible for the kids' education."

The committee's primary concern, Superintendent Nancy Follansbee said, was that moving students into the 110,000-square-foot building in the middle of the school year would be too disruptive.

"The other proposal that was put out there by School Committee members and some members of the High School Building Committee was to wait and move students in September so it would be less disruptive to their school schedules," Follansbee said. "But after our meeting, we felt comfortable with the project manager's view that we could easily make the move during that one week in April."

The earlier move, Overmeyer said, could end up saving the city as much as $200,000 compared with the cost of waiting for the start of the following school year.

"The primary problem with waiting is that it elongates the construction period and pushes the finishing of all the site work into the fall of 2013, which would end up making it much more expensive," Overmeyer said. "That $200,000 isn't a figure that has been calculated, but one of the school committee members asked me to give a wild guess and that was it."

Follansbee said she has heard from some current high school students who want their class to be the first to receive their diplomas in the new building.

"We had also gotten a lot of feedback from the community about the desire among our high school students to graduate from the new high school," Follansbee said.

In May, city residents approved an $18.1 million debt exclusion override by a nearly 3-1 margin. The vote means that the city will raise property taxes over a 20-year period to build, equip and furnish the new high school on the same 8-acre parcel where the current 49-year-old high school currently sits.

Tuesday's decision means the current plan is as follows: The design development phase of the project, which began in July of this year, will last until February 2011, when the project will go to bid through the end of April.

After preparing the site over the summer, construction of the new building will begin in fall, 2011, and, according to Overmeyer, is expected to last until February 2013. Professional movers will move classroom equipment over spring break, which will allow for the demolition of the existing structure and completion of all site work by August 2013. In total, the project is expected to cost $43.7 million.

Owen Boss can be reached at oboss@gazettenet.com

For the kids, Easthampton family goes all out

By Owen Boss

Staff Writer

EASTHAMPTON - Some families go all out on their Christmas decorations, others do it up big on cookouts and patriotic displays on the Fourth of July - but for the Ringer family, Halloween is the best night of the year. This time around, they've spend a solid month preparing, each week adding a little more to their elaborate display.

Trick-or-treaters in Easthampton Sunday will be invited to take a stroll through a foggy graveyard and visit a morgue run by a mad scientist at the family's 46 Mount Tom Ave. home.

Continuing what has become a spooky Ringer family tradition, Robert Ringer Sr., 59, Robert Ringer Jr., 35, and Joseph Ringer, 31, have worked together over the past month to install creative displays and carve more than 50 pumpkins for their display.

"Our letter carrier has been coming in every day to look and see what we've added and then he goes back to the post office and tells everyone what's new," said Robert Ringer Sr.

Robert Ringer Jr. noted that visitors come from as far away as Springfield to trick or treat in their quiet Easthampton neighborhood, drawn by their display.

"Last year we had people coming from Westhampton, Holyoke and as far away as Springfield to come and see the house," he said. "It just keeps getting bigger every year."

It's all part of the fun for him.

"For me doing this is all about the kids," he said as he set up earlier this month. "There's nothing better than seeing kids having fun on Halloween, whether they get scared or just love walking around and wondering what our different things are."

In a dimly lit morgue next to the pale white three-story house, Joseph Ringer will assume the role of a mad scientist, hungry for the fake eyeballs, fingers, legs and arms of a decapitated corpse within.

Above the house, among cobwebs and bats, hangs an assortment of spooky masks and characters, meant to delight, and delightfully scare, trick-or-treaters.

As word of the setup has spread, Robert Ringer Sr. said the family's yearly display has become increasingly elaborate, this year including fog machines and a hand-crafted hearse driven by a skeleton.

"We get bigger and bigger because we figure we can expect to see more people showing up this Halloween than last year," he said.

In years past, family members have hidden in a pile of leaves dressed as a pumpkin or scarecrow, waiting to jump out at trick-or-treaters distracted by the cobwebs, floating skeletons and scary masks adorning the house.

The family has enlisted help from extended family and friends at a pumpkin-carving party Saturday.

"We get about 50 good-sized pumpkins and we have people come over for a cook-out to help carve them and get them ready for Halloween night," Robert Ringer Jr. said.

When all the pumpkins are ready, they are lined up in rows and illuminated with candles to be displayed along the roadway.

"We've had trick or treaters go running back to their Mom or Dad after stopping by," he said with a laugh. "And for us that's what its all about - seeing the kids get into the spirit of Halloween."

Owen Boss can be reached at oboss@gazettenet.com.

Cars don spooky costumes for kids' Halloween event in Easthampton

By Owen Boss

Staff Writer

EASTHAMPTON - Graves, candles, a headless butler and fog machines will transform a city parking lot into a scene right out of a horror movie Thursday, thanks to a handful of area residents who "spook up" their vehicles during the Northeast Center for Youth and Families' annual Trunk-or-Treat celebration.

The event's Halloween-themed cars, trucks and minivans also dished out goose bumps and candy to trick-or-treaters last year, said organizer Brenda Fondakowski, a staffer at the center.

"We all had a great time with this, not only while the Trunk-or-Treat event was taking place, but also through the preparation for it," Fondakowski said. "It was a lot of fun preparing and coming up with ideas to spook up the truck with things we thought the kids would enjoy."

Based in Easthampton, the Northeast Center for Youth and Families provides foster care, residential programs, in-home therapy, expressive arts therapy and after-school programming to more than 600 special needs children and teens every year.

Although last year's Trunk or Treat drew far more residents than she expected, Fondakowski said she expects even more this year because it is the first time the celebration will be open to the public.

"The agency is providing a safe way to bring the community together and it is really all about the kids having fun," Fondakowski said. "I hope this year's turnout is as good as last year's."

Residents interested in participating are invited to park in the center's East Street parking lot from 4 to 5:30 p.m. Admission is a bag of candy per child.

Kelly Beaulieu, who tricked out her sedan for last year's event, said the Trunk-or-Treat experience was just as fun her as it was for the trick-or-treaters.

"I hid behind my back seat last year and jumped out and screamed at them when they came for the candy," Beaulieu said.

"There was one woman who opened up her back seat so the kids could crawl through it, and most of us played spooky music in our cars. We just wanted to find a way to make Halloween fun for local kids and do something for the community that's a little fun and different."

Another NCYF employee who is spreading the word of last year's success is Kathleen Mahoney, who awarded trick-or-treaters with candy if they were brave enough to crawl through the back seat of her Buick.

"One of our managers decorated her trunk to look like a giant monster with its jaws hanging open, the maintenance guys built a miniature graveyard in the back of their pickup truck and our IT guys rigged together some electronics to have a ghoulish, moving, smoke-filled display," Mahoney said.

Part of the reason last year's celebration was so successful, Mahoney said, is that parents compete to outdo each other.

"Many of the kids in our residential program won't be able to go trick-or-treating on Halloween, so this is a chance for them to dress in costume and put on their most sincere faces while we dole out candy by the bagful," Mahoney said.

"It is really wonderful to see how engaging it is for the kids, to see how excited they are about the effort people put into their vehicles, and to see all of us grown-ups dressed up as silly as they are."

Owen Boss can be reached at oboss@gazettenet.com.

Learning to defuse bullying must start young, at home, writer says

By Owen Boss

Staff Writer

SOUTH HADLEY - Conflict is inevitable, violence is not. Children have to be taught to hate, they aren't born bullies. Most bullies develop as a direct result of how they see conflicts handled at home.

These were among the talking points Tuesday evening at an educational lecture by anti-bullying expert and best-selling author Barbara Coloroso, who broke down what bullying is and isn't, and how it can be prevented, for an audience of more than 150 at Town Hall.

This wasn't Coloroso's first trip to South Hadley. In 2009 she was hired by school officials to educate staff members on bullying, just four months before Phoebe Prince, a 15-year-old South Hadley High School student, hanged herself after allegedly being relentlessly bullied by a handful of her schoolmates.

Coloroso's return was arranged by Stand Up for a Change, a local anti-bullying group created by parents Darby O'Brien, Luke Gelinas and Eileen Moore, Phoebe Prince's aunt.

Before Coloroso addressed the crowd, Abigail Williams, who also helped organize the meeting and has represented a number of bullying-related cases through her Worcester law firm, Abigail Williams & Associates, said Tuesday's meeting was not about pointing fingers.

"I'm not here to say that this is anyone's fault, I'm here because this is a community-wide issue," Williams said. "As parents and as a community we need to stop saying bullying is OK, because it isn't, and the consequences have to start at home because the last place bullying should be addressed is at the police station and in the courtroom."

In a lively and often humorous hour-and-a-half presentation, Coloroso challenged those in attendance to put themselves back in middle school and touched on a variety of lessons outlined in her book "The Bully, the Bullied and the Bystander: Breaking the Cycle of Violence."

Using her own children's struggles with bullying as examples and citing suicides similar to Prince's that have occurred in every corner of the United States, Coloroso explained that bullying isn't unique to South Hadley, and the best way to prevent it is to give children the tools they need to stand up for each other at a young age.

"Most targeted kids are ashamed, afraid and don't think anyone can do anything to help them," Coloroso said. "If a school implements the policy that 'if teachers don't see it they can't punish anyone' they are only empowering the bully, because the majority of bullying occurs under the radar and when their back is turned."

At a television interview Tuesday afternoon, Coloroso said she bumped into Gov. Deval Patrick and had a bone to pick with him about the way bullying was defined in a recently passed anti-bullying bill that made Massachusetts the first state in the country to enact bullying-related legislation.

"The way it is written now, bullying is defined as an attack that must be continuous and repeated. Bullying is oftentimes repeated, but we have to insist that the first time it happens it must be treated as a bullying situation," Coloroso said.

A better definition of bullying, Coloroso said, is "a conscious, willful, deliberate activity intended to harm where the perpetrator(s) get pleasure from the targeted child's pain or misery." Bullying, she said, can fall into three categories, verbal, physical and relational.

"If we can stop it at verbal bullying, it rarely progresses to the other two," Coloroso said. "We have to be willing to stand up early and often and say this just can't happen."

Another myth Coloroso was out to dismiss was the notion that targeted students should avoid the bullies that torment them, one that she said is regularly recommended to children by their parents and teachers.

"Why is it the target's responsibility to avoid the bully or pick a new route home from school? That is just sending them the completely wrong message," Coloroso said.

Coloroso also set out to explain the difference between anger and contempt. The latter, she said, is much more powerful emotion and enables bullies to dehumanize their targets.

"You have to understand that bullies aren't mad at their targets. For one reason or another they have utter contempt for them," Coloroso said. "Once you have contempt for someone, you can go ahead and do anything to them without feeling compassion or shame."

The solution to bullying, Coloroso said, starts at home with parents closely monitoring what their children are exposed to on the Internet, on television and in social networking sites. Coloroso encouraged parents to join social networking sites, learn to text message and do whatever they can to "be one step ahead of them instead of two steps behind."

"We need to stop looking for a good reason for bullying, because there isn't one. The only thing that all targets have in common is that someone is targeting them," Coloroso said.

In the end, the best way to prevent tragedies like Prince's from reoccurring, Coloroso said, is for parents to instill in young children the courage necessary to stand up for kids who are the target of bullying.

"By educating your kids at a young age, you're giving them the tools to stand up and speak out, which are lifelong skills. You have to let them make choices and mistakes and let them learn from the consequences that come from their actions."

For more information about Coloroso's books or learning materials from her lectures, residents are encouraged to visit her website: http://www.kidsareworthit.com.

Owen Boss can be reached at oboss@gazettenet.com.

Look Park gets $1 million bequest from Smith professor

By Owen Boss

Staff Writer

NORTHAMPTON - Before her death in 1973, Kathleen Doland and her husband, DJ, cherished their long strolls together in Look Memorial Park. In the years that followed, until his death in September 2009 at the age of 88, friends said, DJ Doland often visited the park and enjoyed walking the grounds.

At a memorial service Saturday held in honor of the longtime Northampton resident, park officials announced that the former Smith College professor had helped ensure the park he loved would remain beautiful for generations by boosting its endowment fund with a $1 million gift.

Doland's gift, officials said, was the largest contribution since Fannie Burr Look's initial gift in 1928, which created the park as a memorial to her husband, Frank Newhall Look.

"DJ was a longtime friend of the park. We are grateful for this very generous bequest, which will impact the lives of Look Park users for generations to come," said Edward Etheredge, chairman of the park's board of trustees.

Officials said they plan to use the interest generated by the legacy every year to support capital improvements at the park. The initial income will be used to resurface the park's water spray facility, which cools off thousands of children and families every summer.

"We are currently in the process of replacing all of the valves that control the water and what we have out there right now is blacktop, which can get pretty slippery when it gets wet," said the park's executive director, Ray Ellerbrook. "So this money will be used to research and put in a new surface that is less slippery and more forgiving."

Although he didn't say whether park officials had any other immediate plans for how to use the money to better the park, Ellerbrook said there is "always something on the drawing board."

"There always seems to be something new we want to do that we can't get to, and this money will certainly make taking care of those kinds of things much easier on us," Ellerbrook said.

Doland retired as chairman of the psychology department at Smith College after 30 years spent teaching. During World War II, Doland was a chief pharmacist's mate in the U.S. Navy. He enjoyed world travel, reading, walking, music, theater and doing research on family history, according to his obituary.

Residents are invited to a public hearing today at 6 p.m. at the Garden House in the park on proposals to create two new athletic fields and to dredge Willow Lake at the park.

Owen Boss can be reached at oboss@gazettenet.com.

Northampton Ford dealership changes hands, name

By Owen Boss

Staff Writer

NORTHAMPTON - After 24 years of being locally owned and operated, Northampton Ford was sold Monday to the Sarat family, owners of a similar car dealership in Agawam for more than 80 years.

Jack Sarat Jr. purchased both the dealership and all existing inventory from Roger Jourdain, and announced that the transaction wouldn't result in any layoffs. He also said Jourdain would continue to work at the Damon Road dealer.

"Roger is a great guy and he has a lot of customers who will continue coming here to do business with him," Sarat said. "I think he is going to make a great addition to our team."

Sarat, who also owns Family Ford in Enfield, Conn., said he and Jourdain had agreed to a deal in May, but it took several months to work out all the paperwork that went along with the purchase. The dealership, he said, will be changing its name from Northampton Ford to Ford of Northampton.

Sarat said owning two other dealerships would allow him and his three sons, Jeff, Chris and Scott, to offer a much larger selection to local car buyers than was previously available.

"There will be a much better selection than what they've had here over the last couple of years," Sarat said. "Owning two other Ford dealerships will allow us to increase our inventory by about 500 vehicles."

Unlike his Agawam dealership, Sarat said, there are no plans to add a body shop to the dealership, but he does hope to increase sales by offering rentals.

"We are planning on having a car rental department out there for short-term rentals, meaning passenger vehicles, pickup trucks, 15-passenger people movers and cargo vans," Sarat said.

He said the main thing that attracted him to Northampton was the location.

"Northampton has a fantastic market and it is a great community," Sarat said. "I think the consumer today knows that Ford is a top-value product and I think being right in a college town will be a real opportunity for us."

Jourdain, who also declined to reveal the sale price of the dealership, said he was glad to know the Sarats would keep all his current employees.

"All of our staff is staying with us," Jourdain said. "Several of the people here have been here since the beginning. We'll be adding people because we had some folks choose to retire, but no one lost their position."

Owen Boss can be reached at oboss@gazettenet.com