In December 2024, news broke that Pittsfield High School Dean of Students Lavante Wiggins was facing federal charges of alleged large-scale cocaine trafficking. Wiggins has since pleaded not guilty. The shocking revelation was followed by an explosion of claims against other employees in Berkshire County’s largest school district, prompting multiple suspensions and the launch of an independent investigation into the matter — a move the city council backed in a special meeting that same month. In March, school committee chair Dr. William Cameron told WAMC the body would not release the full report in an effort to shield the innocent.
“This is on the advice of legal counsel," he explained. "The information that we have based on the one on the first report that we received has unedited comments by people who were interviewed, and I believe that we would- There would be no good purpose served by seeing what people think about other people, or anything of that sort. I think it would be an invitation to further conflict and controversy. So, we are not going to release the reports, but the outcomes, where there is an outcome to be released will, in fact, be made known.”
While Cameron has since committed to providing an executive summary of the investigation, a growing number of residents and stakeholders contend transparency is lacking.
“Things have gone kind of away from what we first discussed when this came up in December, of, it would be a public, there'd be release of information, the public would be aware of everything that went on- That's backtracked for some reason," said Council Vice President and At-large city councilor Earl Persip.
At Tuesday’s meeting, he said he submitted a petition in response to continued public outcry over the situation, especially since the original deadline for the investigation’s conclusion – March 31st – has come and gone.
“There's many ways to put out information without putting out personal information, but to gain the trust back of the community, I think it's important that we release what we can, and I want us as a council together to support that release of the information," Persip continued.
One of the district’s staffers under scrutiny has returned to work at Pittsfield High School after being cleared by an investigation, a move that has itself sparked consternation among the community.
“Most of the community, including myself, was disappointed to hear that information was being withheld and to see that the goal post keeps being moved," said Ward 6 city councilor Dina Lampiasi. “We have a practical problem in that students and parents do not have trust in our school system. We also have a PR problem. Every year [when] we come to budget sessions, we're told that part of our budgetary issue is that families are not choosing Pittsfield from middle school to high school. This is not fixing that. This is not addressing that. So, as much information as we can release publicly is what needs to happen. And I also want to be clear that we on the council haven't received like a secret briefing on what happened. We are being left in the dark too. It's not acceptable. We're all concerned.”
The usually silent James Conant of Ward 4 broke from his regular tranquility to excoriate the school committee.
“I find it's extremely disappointing that the school committee and its chairman have decided to just ignore the city council," he said. "I can see no good reason why we could not go into executive session and read the report. I just don't understand it. I want to public to know that communication from the school committee on this issue to the city council has been a zero, nothing, absolutely nothing. If we handled our issues that come to us with our constituents, we'd be run over with a train.”
Ward 5 Councilor Patrick Kavey said the fact that Persip had to file a petition demanding transparency in the first place is baffling, and noted that the school committee would soon be coming before the city council to make its case for its 2026 budget.
“Hopefully they'll heed our advice and respond to our ask appropriately after this meeting," said Kavey. "And if we don't, we'll just get louder and we'll keep pushing back at them, and we'll have a fun time this June.”
The Pittsfield school committee’s next meeting is set for April 30th.
