In his first year, Traverso found that several students had earned enough academic credits to qualify as 10th graders, but were recorded as seniors, or were making the grade in their academics but not in their vocational classes, and were still being passed upward. Making more friends by the day, Traverso and the teachers met with 60 quite upset parents, one on one, and explained that the credits would have to be made up, with the help of the school, or the student in question would have to transfer. But the recommendation was to stay at Putnam, and most students ...

Massachusetts Housing and Economic Development Secretary Greg Bialecki and officials from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative are scheduled to attend Wednesday's monthly meeting of Valley Venture Mentors in Springfield.
bialeckihead.JPGGregory P. Bialecki Republican File Photo  Today's session begins at 5 p.m. at Tower Square, 1500 Main St., in the heart of downtown Springfield.

The city is seeking proposals for the purchase and redevelopment of a five-story apartment building on Maple Street, among five tax-foreclosed properties for sale in the Maple High-Six Corners and Old Hill neighborhoods.  The partially occupied brick building at 169 Maple St. is in the Ridgewood Local Historic District, and has 10 large, three-bedroom apartments, said Tina Quagliato, the city’s deputy director of neighborhood stabilization. The building was constructed in 1920, and has an assessed value of $390,300.

The Advertising Club of Western Massachusetts will celebrate 2014 American Advertising Award competition entrants and winners at the Awards Gala on March 20 from 6 to 10 p.m., at the Community Music School of Springfield's Robyn Newhouse Hall at 127 State St.  Formerly known as the ADDY® Awards competition in which more than 40,000 entries compete at three different levels - local, district and national - the annual program was renamed this year because the competition is a celebration of the best of the best in American advertising at every level.

Headlining the program was Baystate Medical Center Chief Academic Officer Dr. Kevin Hinchey. Hinchey’s lecture challenged the health care professionals in attendance to pursue avenues of integrating IPE into the curriculum to close the gap between health education and practice settings. This would produce a new generation of trained and skilled interprofessional team clinicians.

Moments before she approached bank president John Heaps to tell him herself, Lilly Lombard, executive director of Grow Food Northampton, said, "We are incredibly grateful for the bank's generosity and all the customers who demonstrate their loyalty. Florence Savings Bank is a model for other banks in the community." A total of $75,059 was distributed, including a $500 surprise award received by the Granby Booster Club through a random drawing at the event. Community members who benefit from these awards include school students, seniors and those who access services from area social service agencies. Heaps also announced to ...

Fontaine Bros. Inc. has been the general contractor on a number of large building projects at The Berkshire School in Sheffield, including the $15 million, 48,000-square-foot Bellas/Dixon Math And Science Center which opened this fall, said David Fontaine Jr., vice president of the company and one of the people involved in environmentally minded projects like this one.  The building is LEED, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, gold certified, Fontaine said.  Fontaine said there were about 85 employees on the Sheffield project at any given time. That is compared to the more than 100 at the recently completed ...

Mayhew announced the purchase off Basque Plastics last week. The new Mayhew Basque will continue with about 19 employees in Leominster, a city that serves as a center in the industry with about 120 other plastics companies in town and a wealth of experienced workers, said Bill Lawless, one of the owners of Mayhew Steel.

A year ago, Michael Feld, CEO of VertitechIT, had to be talked into looking at potential office space in Holyoke's Open Square. He'd heard all the knocks on Holyoke. But his company was growing and needed space, inexpensive space but edgy, attractive space that fit with the company's high-tech work as information technology experts for businesses, especially venture capitalists and hospitals eager to cut costs and comply with electronic medical records requirements.

Western New England University student engineers once again proved themselves to be among the nation's elite with inclusion in the Top 10 of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers Innovation Showcase (IShow). The Western New England University team was recognized for designing a practical, portable skate sharpening device. Evaluated for feasibility of idea, inventiveness and technological diversity, the “Agile Edge” was selected from a field of 59 entries submitted to compete in the 2014 ASME Innovation Showcase. The IShow provides a platform for top collegiate teams to compete for seed money to further develop their product inspiring students to ...