Amherst School Committee will vote on this new proposal on November 3
After an hour of public comment by 17 parents and teachers, many of whom asked the School Committee to slow down and better engage with the general public on this important decision, and then another hour of formal presentation by Assistant Superintendent Mike Morris the BIG decision was, finally, unveiled.
Close down Fort River and Wildwood Elementary Schools and replace them with one large new elementary school (grades 2-6) that will essentially be two schools under one roof. And turn Crocker Farm, currently preK-6, to PreK-1.
Public Forum on this decision will be held October 26th
A large crowd attended tonight's SC meeting
Projected cost for 750 student mega-school $20-$22 Million
Renovating or rebuilding Wildwood alone (K-6 Model) would leave Fort River, which was described as "decrepit" and not ADA compliant, as the black sheep of the public school system.
New mega-school demographics (click to enlarge)
34 comments:
Look at the face on Fort River Principal Ms. Finocchio. Says it all.
Rick, it seems the implementation is already decided. I don't see an option (as you implied) to look into whether the 2-6 grades could fit into the Middle School. What is left to decide? Please elaborate...unless "new" school just means a "different" school and not new as in newly built.
I thought this wasn't going to be voted on until Nov 3.
Can someone explain the timeline in terms of when in this process might the town vote for an override? And if the override does not pass, then the entire project comes to a halt, right? We are stuck with our 3 K-6 schools then, unless the SC/Admin decide to reconfigure the schools anyways, perhaps using the middle school as a way to hold some of the grades?
If it comes to an override, roughly how much does a, say, $10 million dollar override translate into increased taxes per $100,000 of assessed property value?
The proposed Debt Exclusion Override presented last night was for between $20 and $22 million, and would increase taxes on the Median Amherst Home by $200 per year for the life of the exclusion (which is either 20 or 30 years).
With this recommendation, as well as its proposed MS-HS consolidation, the school district is looking at removing students from 3 buildings within a few years building one new big one. If the MS is good enough for GCC and LSSE, why can't it be considered for elementary students? What will happen to the other buildings? & is it really more "green" & environmental-friendly to tear down existing buildings & construct a new one.
Also, will this mega-school be able to get enough votes from Town Meeting & from townwide voters via an tax override to be approved? I do wonder.
Plus, in terms of K-6 regionalization, I would expect that many Leverett, Shutesbury, & Pelham residents would be pretty leery of their elementary schools, which all currently have @ 150-160 students or less joining a K-5 district with a 750-800 student school. If K-6 regionalization wasn't dead before now, this will surely be a nail in its coffin.
would any of these plans be affected in any way if Amherst regionalized its elementary schools with the others (however, unlikely).. Was that brought up at all?
The middle school building cannot be used to house ES students because it is not owned by the Town of Amherst. It is owned by the Region.
I hope that "savings" won't be used as a ruse to persuade the community. There might be other good rationale to support the plan, but I very much doubt significant *savings* is one of them. It is hard to see any savings from the reconfiguration, unless in the current 3 elementary schools there are a large number of small classes (due to current logistics). I don't see a reduction in admin or staff (principles+assistant principles, nurses, etc) or teachers, paraprofessionals, janitors, etc. Marks Meadow closed for very different reasons and savings were realized. Even if a small amount of savings was identified, it would be dwarfed by the enormous debt payments needed. I suspect the override will become a "vote of no confidence" in our current leadership.
And Amherst is 80% of the Region.
This decision was made before the Wildwood Committee was established. That committee consisted of mostly district employees. Here we have a meeting for public input by parents just recently notified that their K-6 schools may end and minutes later a "decision" just made after hearing this comments. Does anyone believe this?
This is just another sad chapter in the district's refusal to work with and inform parents.
This administration can't talk to parents, can't deliever a quality education to students at a reasonable price and can't solve any real problems. They cover over the facts that the "structural deficit" is created by families leaving Amherst schools for other schools we have to pay for, by high salaries and too many adminstrators.
The worst part is that it hurts the education of Amherst students in our schools.
If regionalization happens, Leverett, Shutesbury and Pelham will keep their small K-6 elementary schools while Amherst taxpayers pay extra $ to support them.
The SC has been talking about this project for over a year. I know because I listen to SC meetings. If your kids are in the public schools and you want to know what's going on you need to take responsibility and listen to SC meetings.
Is it just me or is Mr. Hood a complete ****? Who voted for this guy?
He apparently thinks he's heard nothing new in a year of parent commentary and doesn't need to hear any more. Perhaps he's heard nothing new because the meetings have been so poorly publicized and most people thought this was a Wildwood only project (name only changed on Oct 8). This might be a good time to remind him of one of his campaign running points:
"What I really have a passion for is good communication. I feel that too often people inside the school system think everyone else knows what's going on just because they do. I want to foster a culture inside ARPS where people are always asking "what do we know that folks out there need to know" and also help figure out better methods of communication."
I wonder. Seems there are a few parents who don't like the plan put forward. Does anyone have a different plan? What would that plan be?
It's too bad the MSBA can't simply give the town the money it would spend on the Wildwood mega school and allow the town to divide that money between Wildwood and Fort River. The MSBA would be spending the same amount, but the town would be able to keep the neighborhood schools while only raising taxes slightly. I find it pretty ridiculous and bureaucratic that that can't happen.
Not all students in Amherst go to neighborhood schools. That is a myth. Many kids are bussed across town to their school.
And if we were to renovate two schools how would that help with the over crowding at Crocker Farm? Perhaps re-districting will result in more Crocker Farm kids being bussed out of their neighborhood to either Wildwood or Fort River. Of course the Wildwood parents would be ecstatic that their kids could continue to walk to their gem. The hell with everyone else.
If there's a megaschool most kids who currently walk to Wildwood would continue to do so (all students except those in the lowest grades), so it's not even close to accurate to say that Wildwood students would be the only ones to benefit from keeping the neighborhood model. In fact, Wildwood has the least to lose with the megaschool, because most of their students would be staying exactly where they are now. And of course kids are bussed to all three schools--nobody is suggesting that every kid in town walks to school. But it's a fact that many more would be bussed under the megaschool model. As for overcrowding at Crocker , if that's a problem, redistricting would solve it. Some who are now at Crocker live as close or almost as close to Wildwood, so that would be a no-brainer, I would think.
You should wonder Mr. Hood and if you and the administration took the time and actually ask parents, we know you have a "passion for good communication", you might find you are wrong.
All we heard last night was Wildwood parents bemoaning the loss of their neighborhood school. I agree with you that the new school will most likely be close to Wildwood. So what are these parents complaining about? This plan is going to benefit all ES kids in Amherst. What am I missing here?
I'm not Mr Hood but this post is a total non sequitur.
Someone asked for ideas and the response is to say Mr Hood is wrong?
Mr Hood, you are missing so many things. There were many WW parents last night yes, but there were also many Crocker Farm parents who spoke and only one Fort River parent who spoke for the project. Why are you so focused (and against) walking. I didn't hear anyone mention walking last night. A community school is not about walking it's about community. A small school where everyone knows your child and parents are involved. Many studies have shown this to drop in larger schools. We are also talking about switching 7 year olds to a Mega-School. Is that really such a good thing?
Which elementary school did your kids go to? I bet it was FR or WW where they enjoyed an "education infused with something special" (from your campaign). Glad they managed that in such an awful school building.
I am not Mr Hood. The new school will be broken up into two small schools similar in size to the current schools. Did you miss that detail? Those schools will build community. A community is made up of people. What makes you think the staff won't know the kids? What makes you think parents won't be involved? You have nothing to base these statements on. What do you think the schools should do? Maintain status quo? Replace Wildwood and be done with it? I think there are currently 3 options to choose from? Which do you think we should choose?
I think anon11:55 is saying that Mr. Hood might be wrong about "Seems there are few parents who don't like the plan put forward". He may well be right that this is the best plan for the town but that is certainly not the consensus at the moment. Many folks would like to see the renovate option explored further, and not just by architects with $$ signs on their mind.
-DS
Which school would you renovate?
The decision was NOT made before the committee was established.
I heard that the new school could be broken up into 2 wings. Still a big school and Crocker Farm becomes a big school also. Studies have shown grade size might be best if kept under 100 students and it is grade size that can determine how bid a school feels. Further, they did not mention the site. There is no room on either WW or FR sites to build a school with 2 wings unless it is 2 or 3 stories (kind of looses the small school theme) unless the current school gets knocked down first.
As for staff and kids. The staff won't know the kids for as long. A child at age 5 goes to a school for 2 years, gets comfortable, moves to a new school at age 7, has to acclimate all over again and get to know the teachers.
If parents have kids at 2 or even 3 schools, how will they be as involved? I certainly won't have the time. There are many studies to base these statements on (particularly the benefits to low income students), please do a quick Google search on the benefits of small elementary schools. The grade re-configuration option may well be the appropriate one, however don't you think the residents should have more of a say? You might find many preferring to keep their current (renovated) school rather than having their children go to a new Mega-School that costs the tax payers millions more than renovating. And yes I know renovating doesn't fix all the problems but you have to find out what is more important to people rather than pushing through what 25 people, mainly administrators, think is best.
Both, perhaps fixing all the major environmental problems in 2 buildings would cost less than the town's $20million+ portion of the $50M+ Mega-School option. Of course, this might not fix the big mice problem.
This would make charter schools and school choice into the Hilltown schools all the more appealing to Amherst parents.
It's outrageous how often the school administration foists major plans on the community with little or no community input, discussion, and/or preparation. And this one will cost homeowners a bundle, and affect many students and families. I would like to see real costs of renovation/fixing problems, rather than just rebuilding or combining schools.
Can someone please explain to me that if the building environment has so much of an affect on the education of our K-6 students and if the WW and FR buildings are so bad, then why on Grateschools.org does WW rate 8, FR rate 7 and CF rate 6? I don't see one bad comment about the school environment.
Sure you could renovate Wildwood instead of building a new school. That would save money. But then what about Fort River? MSBA will only pay for Wildwood.
Anon 10/21 10:26 am, you wrote: "The middle school building cannot be used to house ES students because it is not owned by the Town of Amherst. It is owned by the Region."
Couldn't the MS building could be used for elementary students if the towns in the region agreed to it? The regional towns are letting LSSE, GCC, & others use the building.
I'm a current arhs student who went to Crocker farm from preschool to sixth grade. I have two sisters in the elementary schools who will be greatly affected by these changes if they go through. I have many problems with these plans. Going across town on busses from north Amherst to crocker farm or vice versa is a big no no for five year olds. Also doing this is completely getting rid of community and a sense of it being your school. Having to transition from schools every couple of years will be hard to do for young kids. I believe that even if it's a lot more money they should still renovate the other schools not combine them. Combining the middle school and high school is already enough.
Above is right.
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