10/1 Regional School Committee meeting started with moment of silence for John Musante
Only you overly dialed in folks probably know about the Amherst Regional Public School sponsored forum tomorrow night (6:30 PM) at the High School Library.
With all that is going on in the schools -- merging the Middle School into the High School, renovating or replacing Wildwood Elementary -- it's hard to keep track of major issues.
This forum is regarding regionalizing the entire four town District from the current 7-12 all the way down to kindergarten through 6th grade.
The move requires ALL FOUR TOWNS to vote yes to reopening the Regional Agreement, but then a town could still vote no to actually joining the expanded Region.
One of the biggest mistakes school officials have made over the past FOUR YEARS on this particular subject is not embracing transparency and outreach on this important topic.
The Regional School Committee heard a report at their October 1 meeting from a hastily appointed sub-committee on the Public Relations efforts used to promote the forums, which will be held in all four towns: Amherst goes first tomorrow, Leverett on October 21, Shutesbury on November 18. Pelham has yet to schedule theirs.
The presentation will, naturally, rely on a Powerpoint presentation. Superintendent Maria Geryk said the goal is "to make the presentations as short as possible and spend as much time as possible answering questions."
Regional School Committee members will also be on hand to answer questions as well, although a quorum is not necessary.
Interestingly presenters will include Sandy Pooler the town's Finance Director, not Sean Mangano the School District's top finance guy; and Select Board Chair Alisa Brewer (the town's highest elected official), who was formerly a School Committee member. And Town Meeting moderator Jim Pistrang will moderate.
Lets hope all the town/school officials don't outnumber the audience.