Turmoil In Public Education?

Merging Middle School into High School does not seem to be going well

The public schools can't seem to do anything right these days.

The "Hurricane Revisioning Summit" on Saturday unconvered overwhelming opposition to merging the Middle School into the High School for budgetary reasons and the Amherst School Committee recently backed away from voting on the administrations request for an expensive shiny new mega school. At least until January.

And the Regionalization expansion from grades 7-12 all the way down to kindergarten seems more and more unlikely -- especially since it only takes one town of the four to vote no.   Something Shutesbury seems destined to do.

On Halloween, appropriately enough, I published an exchange between Amherst Regional Middle School Principal Mendonsa and former teacher now parent of a child in the system Alfie Alschuler.  Since over 5,000 read the exchange I figured you would be interested in his follow up.

Let the conversation continue ...

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Showing Up

Town Meeting takes a ten minute standing vote

If as Woody Allen asserts, "80% of success is showing up" this past session of Amherst Town Meeting was almost a success as 78% of members showed up for both nights, with 53 of 240 not showing up at all, or 22%.  Another 43 missed one of the two session.

The Amherst School Committee -- all of them ex officio voting members of Town Meeting -- manged to be just the opposit of Woody's assertion as four-out-of-five (80%) did not make either session.  And the public schools do consume the lion's share of Amherst $80+ million budget.

Yes, the school budget is voted in the spring but there was an important school related capital item on this warrant: $240,000 for a new ADA compliant playground at Crocker Farm Elementary School.

One of the many nice things about a professional full-time Mayor/Council form of government is it's a lot easier to keep an eye on attendence and how they vote on the important issues of the day.

The Amherst For All Charter change enthusiasts are now at the half-way point (1,600 of 3,200) for signatures needed to get the ditch-Town-Meeting question on the ballot for next spring.

This coming weekend they will be hosting "Signature Saturday," with the ambitious goal of 500 signatures.

Something worth showing up for.

Renewing North Amherst

Pine Street yesterday looking east

Pine Street looking west

With the road rebuilding at Cowls Road and Pine Street all but done, the town will turn its attention to the somewhat trickier task of reworking the main North Amherst intersection of five roads within the blast range of a hand grenade:  North Pleasant, Meadow, Pine, Sunderland Road and Montague Road.

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North Amherst center.  Upper Y intersect of Sunderland & Montague Roads main concern

The Planning Board, Select Board (who has the ultimate authority), and Public Works Committee will host a public forum at the Bangs Community Center on December 8th to discuss the redesign of the Montague and Sunderland Roads intersection.

Even my drone was confused

 Cowls Road connects Montague and Sunderland Roads up from the funky intersection

W.D. Cowls will install sidewalk on their property to complete connection to Montague Road

The Sidewalk ended up on the south side of Cowls Road on W.D. Cowls private property to protect the two stately Norway Spruce trees at 150 Montague Road

Sprucing Up The Town's Living Room

Jones Library:  "The town's living room"

Downtown anchor and all around gem in the bag of treasured municipal buildings, the Jones Library is a destination spot that attracts thousands of customers of all ages and socioeconomic standings.

One of the many attractions is the comfortable interior that allows one to settle in for concentrated study of important historical documents, the latest non-fiction best seller, or just a casual reading of the local newspapers (all two of them).

Like The Case Of The Purloined Letter, a real treasure lurks in the background that quietly contributes to the Jones overall ambiance: paintings, statues and rugs.

 Cindy Harbeson (far left) waiting to present to Jones Library Trustees Thursday morning

Recently hired Special Collection Director Cindy Harbeson updated the Board of Trustees on her department which included the public relations outreach, increased security for priceless collection materials and a current appraisal for all the furnishings scattered about the entire Library:

The Library will be unveiling a half-dozen paintings that were recently restored via $10,000 in Community Preservation Act monies Town Meeting approved in 2011, on Sunday, November 22nd.

I can't think of a better way of bringing brightness to an otherwise sad anniversary.

Teen Angst

Wednesday, 1: 45 PM

Turns out the female "driver" of the black SUV that barreled into the Miss Saigon Restaurant Wednesday afternoon is only 14 years old.  Yikes! 

She has been cited by APD for "Unlicensed Operation of a Motor Vehicle, Operating To Endanger, and Wanton Destruction of Property over $250."

The Amherst Regional Middle School has "early release" on Wednesday that floods the town with teens.

This is the way it's supposed to be done

Too Clever By Half

Attorney Tom Reidy leans in to his Hail Mary presentation to ZBA last night

While probably good for increasing his billable hours the formal appeal of the Building Commissioner -- hand delivered to the Town Clerk at the last minute -- came back to bite his client, Clifford Laraway, in the butt at the Zoning Board of Appeals Special Permit hearing last night.

Chair Mark Parent immediately told attorney Tom Reidy, "You put us in an awkward position here because of the appeal you filed.  We need to act on it by December 3rd but now we can't address those circumstances here tonight."

To which attorney Reidy responded, "What happened in the past is the past.  The appeal may be withdrawn on December 3rd.  We wish to move forward."

Of course what attorney Reidy was angling for is having the ZBA issue the Special Permit declaring the structure a two family unit (8 maximum tenants) which would then be used as evidence at the December 3rd hearing to overturn the Building Commissioner's declaration that the house has too many tenants.

   382 N Pleasant Appeal Violation

Another major mistake made by the petitioners was not appeasing Amherst Fire Department, who also found the building to be more than a simple two family house, deeming it a "rooming house" and as a result requires sprinklers.

But ZBA member Tom Ehrgood said he was "impressed at the changes" he saw on their site visit the previous day and did not see why the regular Special Permit hearing "could not continue".

Planning Department senior planner Jeff Bagg responded "Deciding on a Special Permit tonight would be premature.  So many elements relate to the appeal."

Building Commissioner Rob Morra agreed, "At the last hearing the board gave the petitioner clear directives to figure out the occupancy issue.  You need to address the appeal first."  And Mr Morra reminded the board of the Fire Department's clearly stated requirement for a sprinkler system.

Neighbor Joan Burgess told the board during public comment that she "Appreciated the changes, however the management plan required should be updated to show specifically what they are doing for better management.  It has to be quantifiable."

The board gave the petitioners a directive to bring back a parking and management plan that convinces them no more than eight tenants will occupy the building and to work out an agreement with Amherst Fire Department.

 382 North Pleasant Street

 Facebook post UMass Alpha Epsilon PiPhi chapter fraternity

Note similarity with mailbox on right

The Special Permit hearing was continued to December 3rd at 7:00 PM while the appeal of the Building Commissioner's ruling will be heard at 6:30 PM.

Previous coverage

Hampshire College Bright Idea

Land located north side West Bay Road between Eric Carle Museum and Rt 116

Last night Amherst Town Meeting gave interim Town Manager Dave Ziomek the authority to engage in discussions with potential owners of large solar arrays for a Payment In Lieu Of Taxes.

Interestingly enough that authority covers not just the deal on the town owned landfills but also extends to private landowners like Amherst and Hampshire Colleges, both in the top three for land ownership in town.

After a year of planning, Hampshire College is poised to start construction on a 2.5 megawatt array on the old Ives property off West Bay Road, directly opposite Atkins Country Market, who also installed a solar array three years ago to satisfy their energy needs.

The deal on the table with Hampshire College would generate $560,000 over the life of the 20 year project, or $28,000 per year.

Currently Hampshire College pays the town nothing for AFD services while Amherst College pays us $130,000 and UMass/Amherst about $455,000.

Vince O'Connor, in one of his more lucid moments, asked from the floor of Town Meeting if the authority of the Town Manager would extend to UMass/Amherst our #2 property owner in town.

 Solar array will save UMass $40,000 per year

And he pointed out the new 300 kilowatt solar canopy over the parking lot at the Robsham Visitor's Center as an example.

Finance Director Sandy Pooler shrugged his shoulders saying, "It's complicated."

UMass recently stopped paying the town's local option hotel tax on the Campus Center Hotel and they are holding hostage the $200,000 collected and put in escrow trying to coerce the town into signing a three year overdue "Strategic Partnership Agreement."