CHILDREN RETURN TO SPOTLESS CLASSROOMS AND SPRUCED UP SCHOOL GROUNDS THANKS TO COMMUNITY SERVICE EFFORTS

Community service crews in five counties throughout the state spruced up and prepared classrooms, school grounds, and playgrounds just in time for the opening bell.

Probationers on community service crews in Berkshire, Essex, Franklin, Hampden and Suffolk counties completed more than 600 hours of work.

In Berkshire County, more than 90 offenders were dispatched to the Hoosic Valley High School where they picked up trash and performed landscaping on the school grounds and athletic field, reported Assistant Statewide Supervisor Michael LeCours, who oversees the western and central regions of the state for the Trial Court Community Service Program. The workers also spruced up the grounds of the Morning Side School in Pittsfield. They extended this cleaning to a scrub down of the classrooms at both schools. The offenders, who worked a total of 312 hours on both projects, were on crews from Pittsfield Community Correction Center, North Adams District Court, and Pittsfield District Court.

Offenders spent two days at the Sanders Street School in Franklin County where they raked, swept, weeded the grounds and picked up trash. They extended this clean-up to the River Bend School in Athol, where they also painted the classrooms and cleared the grounds.

In Hampden County, community service crews were sent to the Chapin Street School in Ludlow where they cut brush, mowed the lawn, weeded and cleaned the parking lot area. The offenders from Hampden County Community Correction Center spent five days at the school putting in 240 hours of work getting the school in tip top shape.

At Ludlow High School, the 40 crew members participated in a beautification effort to improve the appearance of the school grounds where they trimmed hedges and spread new mulch in the flower beds.

Another 10 crew members were sent to the West Springfield Teen Center where they spent several days patching holes, spackling and painting rooms at the facility.

Veteran's Park Elementary School was also the benefactor of community service. A dozen offenders from the Hampden County added 12 yards of new mulch to the playground area of the school. They also weeded around the school grounds and swept the parking lot area.

Suffolk County high school football players can now start their season with a cleaned up and newly painted field, according to Acting Assistant Statewide Supervisor Chris Cannata. Offenders from Suffolk County Community Correction Center painted the walls and 20 and 30 yard markers at White Stadium near Franklin Park Zoo in Boston, the site of autumn high school football games. The offenders also removed graffiti from the walls of English High School.

A Suffolk County community service crew also left classrooms at West Roxbury High School and St. Mary's School in East Boston sparkling after a thorough cleaning. The offenders also scraped and re-painted the classrooms and cleaned the carpeting and buffed the floors at the schools, said Court Service Coordinator Tim Callahan.