AMHERST — An interim director of finance for the Amherst, Regional and Pelham public schools is to be appointed during a joint school meeting Friday.
The virtual meeting of the Amherst-Pelham Regional School Committee and Union 26 Committee, to convene at 5 p.m., has on the agenda the appointment of Shannon Bernacchia, the district’s assistant finance director, to take on the interim role again.
The director of finance position has been held by Douglas Slaughter for almost five years. Slaughter served two separate stints as temporary superintendent, both in spring 2023 and again from late summer 2023 through June 30, 2024. During some of his time in the leadership role, Bernacchia was the interim finance director.
Slaughter was appointed to the finance position in late 2019, after having served as a school Information Systems employee, including database analyst and assistant director, for many years, and later became licensed as a school business administrator. Slaughter also brought experience from handling payrolls and serving on the town’s Finance Committee.
The agenda for Friday’s meeting also includes a method for making requests to the town of Amherst, Leverett, Pelham and Shutesbury for appropriations from any surplus money they may have, before the committees go into executive session to conduct strategy sessions in preparation for negotiations with nonunion personnel, Superintendent E. Xiomara Herman.
— SCOTT MERZBACH