AMHERST — Fort River and Wildwood elementary schools are no longer good learning environments for teachers and children, the at-large candidates for Amherst’s first Town Council agreed.
But at a forum Tuesday at the Amherst Regional Middle School, sponsored by the Amherst Education Foundation, the six residents running for three slots at the Nov. 6 election differed in how they would go about moving a new project forward after Town Meeting twice defeated plans for a $66.37 million twin school at the Wildwood site on Strong Street, supported with $34 million from the Massachusetts School Building Authority.
Mandi Jo Hanneke, who previously served as vice chairwoman of the Charter Commission, said the new Town Council should work with the School Committee and other town boards to develop a financially responsible plan.
“I am for replacing those schools, not renovating them,” Hanneke said, observing that teachers complained about rodents in the classrooms at the beginning of the school year.
Select Board member Alisa Brewer said a new elementary building should be a priority.
“We have to admit the days of two neighborhood schools, which used to serve over 600 students each, is long gone, and figure out how to serve today’s children,” Brewer said.
“The last plan was good enough,” Brewer added. “Simple repairs will not do it.”
While he understands there is pain over the rejection of the school building plans, former Select Board member Rob Kusner said he still believes the town can do better.
“I think the Fort River site would be a better site if we had to have a single school because of its centralized location,” Kusner said.
Kusner said the best option should be found, whether it means a new school or renovated buildings. “The cost may be higher, but it may be one we are happier with if it is more educationally suitable for our schools,” Kusner said.
Jim Pistrang, who for the past six years has been the town moderator, said as a councilor he would reach out to segments of community not normally heard from, going to apartment complexes and get buy-in on any school plans.
“There’s no doubt in my find that both Wildwood and Fort River need to either be renovated or replaced,” Pistrang said.
Select Board member Andy Steinberg said the open classroom model was outdated when both schools opened in the 1970s, and each building has physically deteriorated since opening. But the town will need help from the state to get a new or renovated school.
Steinberg said that the process needs full participation of the community, which didn’t happen last time. “There were a lot of public meetings; they were not well attended,” Steinberg said.
Robert Greeney, a professor at Holyoke Community College, said he is encouraged by the current process that began after the last vote.
“I think the failure has been in the early stages of planning, whether it be zoning issues or planning for a new school or deciding what to do with Wildwood and Fort River,” Greeney said.
Greeney said he would support a school project even without state funding, so long as it gets done.
“It seems like we all support renovated or new schools,” Greeney said.
The new school, though, is just one of several projects the town may be pursuing in the coming years, with a fire station in South Amherst, a new Department of Public Works headquarters and a renovated and expanded Jones Library also in various stages of planning.
Steinberg said all the projects need to be done, but town officials will have to determine how to pay for them, with hopes that state funding can be accessed.
Greeney said though he is a fan of investing more money in roads and sidewalks, a school project has to be the top priority.
Kusner said he, too, would prioritize schools, followed by a new fire station, while any work on the main branch of the Jones Library should take a back seat.
Pistrang said a new fire station should be on equal footing with improving school buildings because of the dangers posed by how far ambulances have to go to respond to the southern part of town.
Brewer said Amherst needs revenue to pay for the various projects and not overburden taxpayers, which is why new development in town is important for the tax base.
Hanneke said each project is “hugely important” for the town and that as long as state grants are used wisely, all can be done in a reasonable time frame.
All six candidates said that having public education remain at the heart of the community is important. Both Steinberg and Greeney observed their children went through the town’s schools.
The public schools can continue to serve as a potential draw to those families affiliated with the University of Massachusetts, Brewer said.
Since the flagship UMass campus is in Amherst, Hanneke said the community’s hallmark should remain investing in public education.
Though he came to work as a faculty member at UMass, Amherst also drew him because of the excellent education, Kusner said.
“Strong schools are what attracted my family to Amherst 30 years ago,” Pistrang said.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com
