New England Public Radio

Mohawk Trail Marks 100th Anniversary

The Mohawk Trail — the scenic stretch of Route 2 between Williamstown and Athol Massachusetts — is marking its 100th anniversary this weekend with a miles-long display.

What had been a foot path for Mohawk Indians gradually turned into a dirt path for carriages and early motor vehicles. In 1914, the Massachusetts legislature designated the 63-mile stretch an official tourist route. Within a few decades, shops and restaurants started to pop up along the two-lane byway. Jennifer Civello is executive director of the Williamstown Chamber of Commerce.

“If you look back even sixty years ago, you would find bumper to bumper traffic on the trail, particularly during tourism seasons, peak foliage seasons, things like that,” Civello says, “and unfortunately, the byways have been neglected a little bit now that we have the Mass Pike and other major highways that can get us to and fro.”

So to bring more drivers — and dollars — to the Mohawk Trail, residents and businesses have been making scarecrows to place along the road. Civello says at least 120 scarecrows will be out this weekend — a novelty, she hopes, that will remind New Englanders of the upside of a slower drive.

Mohawk Trail Schools Still Considering Move To Four Day Week

A rural Massachusetts school committee could decide on Wednesday whether to move toward a four day school week.

Mohawk Regional School Committee members could ask a local state legislator to introduce a bill that would allow for the move. That bill is already in the works. District Superintendent Michael Buoniconti is studying the issue, and he’ll present part of that study to the committee. He’s looked at 38 districts in Colorado who recently moved to four day weeks. His findings?

“There’s no statistically significant affect on academic achievement or student growth,” says Buoniconti.

Buoniconti says he still plans to study the financial impact of the change. The goal of a four day week for Mohawk Trail would be to cut costs, particularly for transporting students across the 250 square mile district. But Buoniconti says because of a contract with bus drivers, any major schedule change wouldn’t occur for some time.

“If the committee decides to go down this road, I think you’re probably talking more along the lines of four to five years out,” Buoniconti says.

The chair of the school committee cautions that consideration of a four day week is still in the very early stages.

Mass. Regional Schools Could See Transportation 90% State Funded

Regional school districts could get a major boost in the Massachusetts budget passed by the legislature earlier this week. The budget would fund 90-percent of the cost of transporting students across districts with small populations, but large areas. Michael Buoniconti is the superintendent of the Mohawk Trail Regional School District in Franklin County. He says the money isn’t guaranteed, because the state reimburses the district at the beginning and end of each school year.

“We’ve had cuts to regional transportation during school years past. Significant cuts,” says Buoniconti. “So what may be signed on July 1st, we may not actually receive. So we have to wait to see what actually happens the following June.”

Buonicanti says the district would receive about $625,000, if Governor Deval Patrick approves the current state budget.