AMHERST — Sixth graders from Amherst’s three elementary schools will relocate to a stand-alone 6th Grade Academy housed at the Amherst Regional Middle School in fall 2026, at the same time as the new 575-student, K-5 elementary school opens at the current site of Fort River School.

With the district needing to find space for sixth grade students due to the closing of both Wildwood and Fort River schools after the 2025-2026 school year, and changes also being made to the grade configuration at Crocker Farm School, the Amherst School Committee last week appeared favorable to a recommendation from Interim Superintendent Douglas Slaughter to have the 6th Grade Academy’s creation coincide with the opening of the new elementary school.

While the committee took no vote, members used information Slaughter presented, including that there is little appetite from the smaller communities of Pelham, Leverett and Shutesbury to have their sixth graders in a fully regional agreement, to press ahead with the 6th Grade Academy, just for Amherst students.

“I think we’re all on board, we all agree, that our plan should be that the Amherst sixth graders move to a 6th Grade Academy at the middle school in the fall of 2026,” said School Committee Chairwoman Sarah Marshall.

Marshall said the idea is for the central office to keep planning for this over the next 18 months.

School committee member Jennifer Shiao said she is fully on board with doing the 6th Grade Academy in fall 2026, but that officials should get word out now to families and do as much planning in advance as possible.

“I would love to have the plan baked and in place before the fall of ‘25 school year starts, so there’s a whole year to get used to the idea,” Shiao said.

School Committee member Deb Leonard said she needs to understand the educational plan now that sixth graders will not be part of the regional structure and whether it affects how they are integrated into the building where seventh and eighth graders from the four regional towns are educated.

Slaughter said the new school will provide opportunities for shared staff and efficiencies, but there will be challenges related to transportation, food service and other elements of its creation.

“I agree with the idea of moving in fall of ‘26, I just have concern about costs,” said School Committee member Bridget Hynes. She asked about whether $500,000 in American Rescue Plan Act money previously set aside to pay for changes to the middle school building is still available.

Slaughter said he would be speaking to Town Manager Paul Bockelman about the availability of this money or other funds to make the transition.

In February 2023, the committee voted to delay the anticipated September 2023 creation of the 6th Grade Academy and in February asked Slaughter for more details about the plan, including a timeline, and a recommendation on whether to make the move in fall 2025 or fall 2026, and explore full grades 6-12 regionalization.

Creating the 6th Grade Academy in 18 months would mean two years in a row of major changes for staff, Slaughter said, and it would be better to do all reorganization in fall 2026.

“I think there’s more advantage to waiting a little bit than to push ahead early,” Slaughter said.

Slaughter said he also had a conversation with state’s Department of Elementary and Secondary Education about special legislation that would be required to modify the regional agreement to only accommodate Amherst sixth graders, but that state officials wouldn’t be favorable to this arrangement.

“In conversation with them, they would suggest it doesn’t benefit all the students equally — or it advantages some versus others would be another way to say that — so they’d be less inclined to be supportive of any kind of amendment like this,” Slaughter said.

One of the few advantages to an earlier move of sixth graders to the middle school building is the risk of overcrowding at Fort River School during the 2025-2026 school year.

“It will be pretty cozy the last year, but I think we’ll still fit,” Slaughter said, adding that decisions around enrollment in the dual language Caminantes program may have to be made.

Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.