Berkshire Hills School Committee Approves Bahamas Shark Research Trip for 14 Students

LENOX — June 18, 2026 — Berkshire Hills school committee unanimously approves student shark research trip to the Bahamas. The board voted 7-0 at its June 18 meeting to authorize a proposed April expedition in which 14 high school students would travel to a remote shark research station on an isolated island in the Bahamas, at a cost of approximately $2,500 per student, with fundraising support available. Biology teachers Elsa and Lucas Kissel presented the proposal, explaining that the lab — rarely visited by high schools, with fewer than five in the country having done so — offers students daily fieldwork alongside research scientists studying lemon and hammerhead sharks, coral reefs, and mangroves. The board also unanimously accepted Superintendent Peter Dillon's annual evaluation, which described the passage of the high school building project as "a generational achievement in community leadership" while noting ongoing challenges with absenteeism and MCAS scores at the high school level. In a housekeeping item, the committee voted unanimously to rename its finance subcommittee the Budget Planning Working Group, after committee member Rich DeHoney acknowledged the original name had persistently confused residents who conflated it with elected municipal finance committees.