AMHERST — A commitment to having some instruction in school buildings in Amherst and Pelham beginning in February is the focus of ongoing discussions between elected representatives and the union for teachers and paraprofessionals.
A joint statement issued Wednesday night by Amherst-Pelham Regional School Committee Chairwoman Allison McDonald and the Amherst Pelham Education Association indicates a commitment by both sides to providing opportunities for in-person learning.
“We support collaborative efforts to accomplish this, and we also stress our intent to honor and respect the decisions of individual staff regarding remote or in-person instruction,” the statement reads.
It comes after committee members directed Superintendent Michael Morris earlier in January to develop a plan in which teachers and other staff would voluntarily return to teaching classes at the schools.
Aside from a brief period in October when the youngest students in the district and special populations were back in buildings, almost all students have been in entirely remote instruction since March 2020.
As the dialogue continues, the school district and the union will be overseeing a joint survey of staff to get an understanding of members’ ability and capacity to return to in-person instruction. The sides will also collaborate on a similar survey of families and “a process for defining in-person learning opportunities and ‘matching’ students and staff.”
Both the school committee and union remain committed to health protocols outlined in a memorandum of agreement, which includes COVID-19 metrics.
The statement comes as parents and guardians will get an opportunity to speak directly to school officials at what is known as an Open Meeting of the Residents, a procedure allowed under the Amherst town charter after a petition was received from 240 residents. That meeting will take place at 6 p.m. Feb. 4, and people will be able to participate via Zoom or watch the broadcast on Amherst Media.
As outlined in the petition, the topics will include discussions about whether remote learning is hurting children, how the school district will take appropriate safety measures to keep children and faculty safe when in-person learning is underway, the appropriateness of the health metrics that trigger schools returning to in-person learning, the appropriateness of the phased and cascading system for returning to in-person learning, and what the budget impacts might be from those who have opted to pull their children from the public schools.
