Crossing The Educational Rubicon?

Superintendent Maria Geryk gets into testy exchange with a parent

The reorganization of the entire Amherst elementary public education program for at least the next 50 years drew a limited audience yesterday afternoon, at most a dozen-and-a-half concerned parents.

Maybe because, as school officials seem to think, busy parents are not paying attention; or maybe because they feel their input is only so much blah, blah, blah that allows school officials to check off a box in their search for state reimbursement.

For instance in response to my question about what happens if the School Committee votes "No" to the administration's wish for a new Mega-School to replace both Wildwood and Fort River, Assistant Superintendent Mike Morris said he would lock himself in his office the next day to come up with another plan.

Which of course means that going into the November 3rd School Committee meeting school administrators do not have a Plan B.

Another parent poninted out that no  figures have been presented to  show what it would cost simply to renovate or replace Wildwood. After all the endeavor is called, "Wildwood School Building Project".

Thus the School Committee is voting on the prefered option without facts and figures related to any of the other options. In other words a stacked deck.

If you're a betting person and want a really safe bet ... put your money on the Amherst School Committee voting yes to the "Education Plan" that requires a $20 million Debt Exclusion Override, or a $200/year increase in taxes on a median Amherst home for thirty years.

Whether the taxpayers of this town pass that Override question at the ballot box, however, is not nearly so certain.

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 Lead architect has good taste in musicals at least

The Merriest Maple Of All?

Huge Norway Maple is located dead center on historic North Common

Citizens may want to bring their sunglasses to this year's Merry Maple tree lighting ceremony on December 4th -- the 40th anniversary of the happy wholesome family event.

Because for the first time in memory the holiday tree chosen for illumination is the original BIG tree in the middle of our historic North Common. 

Since the creation of the Business Improvement District the lighting of the Merry Maple did improve somewhat with the addition of lights, and the town has also improved the electricity on the town common somewhat to avoid short outs that would suddenly darken the tree.

But nothing that compared to the original Merry Maple of the bygone days when town center had a hardware store, grocery store and a locally owned drug store.

Or maybe that's just my selective memory.

 Merry Maple appeared for six seconds in movie "Silent Night, Lonely Night"

Of course I do also remember when the Merry Maple was lit up in the spring of 1968 for the filming of  "Silent night, lonely night", which strikes me as a little longer than 40 years ago.

Party House(s) of the Weekend

 

265 North East Street

This weekend set a new a record for Party House incidents so far this semester.  Two.  Yes, nothing compared to the bad old not so long ago when four or five Party Houses resulting in arrests disturbed the peace quiet of numerous neighborhoods all over town.

But still enough to make me worry about this upcoming Halloween weekend -- especially considering the presence of a top ingredient for potential explosiveness:  good weather.

The winner out of the two Party Houses would have to be 265 North East Street, from sheer size alone.  And of course all the things that go along with a crowd that large in a house zoned for a  dozen.

Both APD and AFD were tied up dealing with the party crowd thus leaving the rest of the town less protected.

Click to enlarge/read

ETOH = dangerously drunk

AFD responding back to 265 North East Street (Party House) for another intoxicated, passed out college age male.

— Larry Kelley (@amherstac) October 24, 2015

In Eastern Hampshire District Court on Monday all four defendants had their criminal cases converted to civil with payment of a $300 fine for Town By Law "Noise" violation,  the unlicensed keg charge was "placed on file" until 5/15/16 and the "Nuisance" charge they were found "not responsible."

Dylan Estes, age 21, arraigned before Judge John Payne

Dylan Naples, age 21

William Nadai, age 20

Greg Gagnon, age 22

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 233 Strong Street

Jake McDermott, Ryan Grady and Daniel Legmann stand before Judge John Payne with their private attorney

APD arrests three at Party House on Strong Street.  Warned in July, August and September.  4 strikes, you're arrested.

— Larry Kelley (@amherstac) October 24, 2015

Hurry Up & Wait

108,000 square foot, Wildwood Elementary School, built 1970, enrollment 412

For many parents with children in the Amherst public schools the "Wildwood School Study" only appeared on their radar recently.  Mainly because the name implies only the Wildwood Elementary School would be impacted and a lack of effective outreach from school officials.

But now of course everybody is aware that the "Reconfiguration" model is the preferred plan by administrators which means the new construction of a Mega-School that is really two schools in one.  Thus ailing Fort River is also impacted in the most major way possible.

As is Crocker Farm, which will go from preK-6 to only preK & 1st grade while the new Mega-School will handle all students grades 2-6.

The reason the administration wants to maximize the number of students in the new Mega-School is funding, as the state MSBA program will cover 58% of the cost (even though many people thought it would be as high as 68%).

 Assistant Superintendent Mike Morris (rt) presenting to Wildwood Building Committee 10/15

At the most recent 10/15 Wildwood School Building Committee meeting Assistant Superintendent Mike Morris went through pretty much the same Powerpoint presentation he gave to the School Committee on 10/20.

All except the most important slide with the recommendation for the new Mega-School rather than simply renovating or replacing Wildwood at 40% less cost.

Since the construction of a Mega-School is  twice as tricky as constructing a regular sized school to replace Wildwood (or renovate it) I'm surprised the Wildwood Building Committee was not given a heads up at that 10/15 meeting.

Since it was less than a week away from the School Committee presentation obviously school administrators had by then made their major decision.

In other words, why not put the Mega-School plan on the table and let the Wildwood Building Committee vote on it before presentation to the School Committee?

Timeline for Mega School

According to the Timeline the School Building Committee does have to vote on the plan prior to submission to MSBA but now the die is cast in favor of a Mega-School.

Which is of course a LOT more expensive than simply replacing/renovating Wildwood alone at $12 million vs $20 million.  School officials have certainly failed to learn from history.

The original 6/14/94 Debt Exclusion Override to renovate the Amherst Regional High School passed Town Meeting and Select Board muster with ease, but failed at the ballot box by 73 votes the first time around, 1979 to 1907.

Less than six months later, after extensive public outreach, Town & School officials brought the Debt Exclusion Override back and it passed 2,786 to 2,161.

Interestingly we are still paying for the $26 million ARHS renovation from all those years ago as well as the $4 million Crocker Farm school renovations.

And the town is facing three other major building projects in the very near future: new South Fire Station & DPW building and the Jones Library expansion.

 

Current Town Debt

At the most recent Finance Committee meeting Sandy Pooler, Finance Director, said the new DPW building may come before Town Meeting this spring while the Mega-School will not be ready for a Town Meeting vote for a full year (fall 2016).

Thus there's an advantage for a project to come first, before sticker shock can set in. The problem comes for the project that goes 4th after the other three have been approved and town officials do the math on how much that's going to cost.

My biggest fear is the desperately needed new South Fire Station goes dead last.

Uh-Oh

July 2015

 

This morning (Click to enlarge)

Having run a small business for 28 years I appreciate just how demanding a mistress she can be (or "mister" for you daring female entrepreneurs).

The vast majority of start-ups fail to celebrate their 5th anniversary, and if you calculate the average pay an owner takes over that short lifetime it probably works out to far below minimum wage for all the hours invested.

Yes downtown rents are a tad expensive.  But like most things in life, you get what you pay for.

With the right product, a strong business plan and a little luck of the Irish a small business can do more than just survive in our downtown.  They can downright thrive.

Pine Street Speeding To Finish (Finally)

Pine Street is east/west connector to North Amherst center and Cushman Village

Thanksgiving will be especially thankful this year for those of you who live in North Amherst and the many of you who travel through there routinely:  Pine Street, the expensive forever project, may now be completed this year rather than next spring. 

Pedestrian crosswalk with lights may be completed this year

The sidewalk and crosswalk contiguous with Simple Gifts Farms and pretty much dead center in the busy roadway was going to be delayed due to crops in the field. 

But this week the project rolled ahead and DPW Chief Guilford Mooring reports, "a rush of activity to be done with Pine Street so the sidewalk at the farm will probably be paved next week, as long as the rain holds off."

Click to enlarge photos

Sidewalk switches sides due to utility poles in the way (too expensive to move)

Fab Friday Over Amherst

 Always colorful downtown Amherst

Not nearly as much going on this weekend vs Homecoming last weekend, but the weather is certainly hospitable other than a little wind.

This is of course the weekend before Halloween which this year falls on a Saturday and coincides with daylight savings end.   One more hour to party or for us old fogies an extra hour of sleep.

This weekend will act a little like the canary in the coalmine as an indicator of how bad things could get over Halloween.

So far the the past two months have been extraordinarily quieter than the past three or four years for the same comparative time period.

Let's hope it stays that way.

Puffer's Pond still showing color although today's wind may loosen lots of leaves

Cowls Road in North Amherst finally getting repaved at a cost of $172,000

Hampshire College R.W. Kern Center (middle left)

Hampshire College recently hosted a tour to show off their new to the South Amherst skyline R.W. Kern Center "Living Building".  Which of course costs more than your average bear, projected at around $11 million.

Thus if Stephen Kulik's legislative bill to allow municipalities to tax private education institutes at 25% of their assessed value, this building alone would generate $55,000 annually.  ($20.54/$1,000 times one-quarter of $11 million assessment)

Currently Hampshire College, who requires Amherst Fire Department services about as often as Amherst College, pays the town nothing in Payment In Lieu Of Taxes.  Amherst College, on the other hand, paid the town $130,000 this year.

Hampshire College will also be hosting next weekend their traditional but decidedly offbeat  Hampshire Halloween (with a tagline of "Trip or Treat") that always seems to require extra AFD medical coverage.