Talk:Berkshire School

This entry is far too self-congratulatory. The admissions brochure is available in the office and online. This is a Wikipedia article -- supposed to be warts and all

Wiffer 00:15, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

A link to the Paul Christopher controversy is completely within the bounds of propriety in a Wikipedia article and is not vandalism. It may be an uncomfortable truth, but it is a significant event in the last 10 years of the school.

If PR boosters take the link down, I will put it back up immediately and let visitors to the entry judge for themselves. This is not Berkshire's own website, which has obliterated any mention of Christopher.

Wiffer 00:15, 3 February 2007 (UTC)

Maybe I'm just showing my age and am ignorant of the new SAT. But how can you score 1,700? Isn't 1,600 the highest score possible?

Wiffer 17:47, 18 February 2007 (UTC)

Copyright problem removed
Prior content in this article duplicated one or more previously published sources. The material was copied from: http://www.berkshireschool.org/page.cfm?p=358. Infringing material has been rewritten or removed and must not be restored, unless it is duly released under a compatible license. (For more information, please see "using copyrighted works from others" if you are not the copyright holder of this material, or "donating copyrighted materials" if you are.) For legal reasons, we cannot accept copyrighted text or images borrowed from other web sites or published material; such additions will be deleted. Contributors may use copyrighted publications as a source of information, but not as a source of sentences or phrases. Accordingly, the material may be rewritten, but only if it does not infringe on the copyright of the original or plagiarize from that source. Please see our guideline on non-free text for how to properly implement limited quotations of copyrighted text. Wikipedia takes copyright violations very seriously, and persistent violators will be blocked from editing. While we appreciate contributions, we must require all contributors to understand and comply with these policies. Thank you. Moonriddengirl (talk) 20:15, 4 March 2012 (UTC)

Parking uncited fluff
Accomplishments In the fall of 2012, the Boys Varsity Soccer Team won the New England Class A Championship beating Phillips-Exeter 2-0 to finish the season with a record of 19-0-1.

In the spring of 2012, the Girls Varsity Lacrosse Team clinched the Western New England Class B Title.

In the spring of 2012, the Boys Track & Field Team were runners up at the DII Track and Field Championships at Governors Academy

In the winter of 2012, the Boys Alpine Skiing team won the Class B New England championship at Berkshire East for the second year in a row.

In the winter of 2012, the Boys Alpine Skiing (Varsity and JV) teams went undefeated for the second year in a row. This was also the first year that Berkshire School had an All-Girls team compete separate from the Boys. They were one of the most dominant all girls teams in New England.

In the fall of 2011, the Berkshire Varsity Cross Country team co-captain Chris Bowman was undefeated in all meets and races.

In the winter of 2011, the Boys Varsity Basketball Team were runners up in the Class B New England Tournament. They lost to Kingswood Oxford 76-67 in Overtime at Worcester Academy.

In the winter of 2011, the Boys Alpine Skiing team won the Class B New England championship at Berkshire East.

In the spring of 2010, the Softball team won the Class B Western New England tournament.

In the winter of 2006, Berkshire's Girls Ice Hockey Team won the Division One New England Championship.

WestportWiki (talk) 21:15, 15 March 2013 (UTC)

Parking due to lack of quality citation

 * First secondary school in the nation to receive the Energy Star Award from the Environmental Protection Agency for its dormitories.
 * In 2011, Berkshire finished construction on an eight acre solar field, the first of its kind in western Massachusetts.
 * In 2009, student conservation efforts were recognized with a grant from DoSomething.org's Increase Your Green Competition.


 * In 2008, Berkshire placed first in the "Innovative and Experimental Solutions" category of the National Wildlife Federation's Chill Out: Campus Solutions to Global Warming Competition.
 * In 2006, the National Wildlife Federation granted the school Campus Ecology Recognition in Environmental Literacy and Management Systems.
 * In 2005, the National Wildlife Federation granted the school Campus Ecology Recognition for its Waste Reduction Efforts.
 * NAIS (National Association of Independent Schools) recognized Berkshire for its Climate Action Plan.

Review of recent edits
Review of recent edits to Berkshire School

The content below was recently removed by User_talk:129.170.194.148 and I'd like to discuss it so that it might be reinserted. Any comments from other editors?WestportWiki (talk) 13:11, 15 April 2013 (UTC)

Content Removed
Relating to the recent content removed -- the below content that was removed references accurately stories from the Boston Globe and New York Times relating to drugs and accusations of sexual harassment at the school.

Whilst neither of these periods are fortunate both are material and were deemed worthwhile news to report to the public by the New York Times and Boston Globe. Both non the less are part of the school's history. Even more so given that both stories focus on the single defining issue of the time that came to define each headmaster's tenure as head of the school according to the sources and furthermore resulted in the resignation of both headmasters for the respective periods.WestportWiki (talk) 13:11, 15 April 2013 (UTC)

Drugs - Original Text WestportWiki (talk) 13:17, 15 April 2013 (UTC)
In 1991 Richard Unsworth became headmaster at a Berkshire School that the New York Times reported as having at the time "a reputation for being lax about drugs."

Unsworth, whose previous experience included being the headmaster at Northfield Mount Hermon School, incorporated as a solution a drug-awareness and counseling programs.

Five years later the New York Times reported that as many as 200 doses of the "the illegal hallucinogen" LSD were smuggled into the school by two students shattering the school's tranquility and "infusing a Saturday night with disorientation and panic" involving up to 100 students. Unsworth expelled the two students for selling drugs. Unsworth step down as headmaster that same year.

With drugs now an public embarrassment for the school again the board of trustees turned to Paul Christopher as their next headmaster was an ethicist and previous head of philosophy at West Point, New York.

Drugs - Revised Text
Like many other boarding schools, however, Berkshire had, at the time, "a reputation for being lax about drugs." Unsworth, whose previous experience included being the headmaster at Northfield Mount Hermon School, incorporated as a solution a drug-awareness and counseling programs. Nonetheless, a series of drug-related incidents led Unsworth to resign his post.

Drugs - Review of revised text

 * The revised text removes unfaltering though actual historical reality reported by the New York Times. My recommendation is to add the content back into the section to avoid confusion and vagueness that the new text may create. For example it is unclear how serious an event the incidents were with the new text though not with the original text.  Further the line Like many other boarding schools in the revised text reads straight out of a PR 101 crisis management book and is clearly a misdirect that should be removed.WestportWiki (talk) 13:23, 15 April 2013 (UTC)

Sexual Harassment - Original Text WestportWiki (talk) 13:23, 15 April 2013 (UTC)
With drugs now an public embarrassment for the school again the board of trustees turned to Paul Christopher as their next headmaster was an ethicist and previous head of philosophy at West Point, New York.

Under Paul Christopher's time as headmaster drug use "declined dramatically. So has alcohol consumption."

Between 2000-2001, Berkshire School's Headmaster Paul Christopher was under investigation for alleged sexual harassment. In June 2002 Christopher resigned as headmaster "amidst sexual harassment allegations."

Sexual Harassment - Revised Text
He was soon replaced by Paul Christopher (1996 - 2002), an ethicist and philosophy scholar from West Point. During his tenure, drug use "declined dramatically." . Though the school increased its endowment and application intake, Christopher himself was forced to resign in the wake of an alleged sexual harassment scandal.

Sexual Harassment - Review of revised text

 * My recommendation is to expand the section to provide clarity and the basics pertaining to the case and the impact on the school using quality reliable sources.WestportWiki (talk) 13:23, 15 April 2013 (UTC)

Drugs/Sexual harassment
The problems referred to above seem to me to be significant parts of the school's history, not least when they led to a change of headmaster. I am doubtful that they merit sections of their own, the existence of which would tend to suggest that such problems had been long-term or even that they were continuing. These matters deserve to be summarized in the appropriate "History" sub-section, with citations from reliable sources, but too much detail could seem to give them more weight than they deserve, bearing in mind that most schools have such problems to some degree. Moonraker (talk) 23:32, 28 April 2013 (UTC)


 * Thank you Moonraker for sharing your thinking on this. How does this read as a summary that tweaks paragraphs one through three of the dilema section into two paragraphs and includes the reliable sources whilst not including too much detail that could create weight issues? PARAGRAPH ONE: In 1991, Richard Unsworth whose previous experience included being the headmaster at Northfield Mount Hermon School became headmaster. During Unsworth headmastership the school introduced co-curricular programs in Chinese and outdoor education though the school's "reputation for being lax about drugs" renamed an issue.  PARAGRAPH TWO: Whilst Unsworth incorporated drug-awareness and counseling programs after a series of drug-related incidents he resigned his post. The board of trustees turned to Paul Christopher (1996 - 2002), an ethicist and previous head of philosophy at West Point, New York, as the next headmaster to address the renewed public embarrassment around drugs. Drug and alcohol use "declined dramatically" under Christopher. Begining 2000 through 2001 Christopher was under investigation for alleged sexual harassment. In June 2002 Christopher resigned as headmaster "amidst sexual harassment allegations." WestportWiki (talk) 14:38, 30 April 2013 (UTC)
 * I would suggest leaving out "Begining 2000 through 2001 Christopher was under investigation for alleged sexual harassment", as it really says no more than the next sentence. I assume "West Point, New York" refers to West Point, so we might as well link that? Also, "renamed" should be "remained". Moonraker (talk) 01:02, 2 May 2013 (UTC)
 * thank you for all you thoughtful advice and time. I've made these changes that all are helpful. WestportWiki (talk) 10:55, 2 May 2013 (UTC)

=References=

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