AMHERST — School district officials are proposing revisions to the schedules at both the Amherst Regional High School and Middle School to ensure students are receiving at least 990 hours of structured learning time, as required by the state’s Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
While the specific changes under consideration aren’t yet public, Superintendent E. Xiomara Herman said late last month that a corrective action plan was submitted to the state agency.
Herman said the district is awaiting a response as to whether the proposal will pass muster and bring the district into compliance after the agency determined high school students this past school year fell nearly 100 hours short of the required 990 hours of structured learning time.
An investigation recently completed by DESE’s Problem Resolution System Office was prompted by a complaint filed in May. The office’s letter of finding states the so-called “Flex Block” period is not structured learning as defined by state code. That finding means that students at the high school, who come from Amherst, Pelham, Leverett and Shutesbury, fell 94.5 hours short of the mandated academic engagement. The name of the complainant was redacted from documents reviewed by the Gazette.
“The department calculated that students at the high school received 895.50 hours of structured learning time for the 2024-2025 school year, which is fewer than the required 990 hours of structured learning time.”
The primary concern centered on how the Flex Block was implemented and whether it consistently met the state’s criteria for structured academic engagement. The state concluded that it didn’t because it didn’t qualify as “regularly scheduled instruction, learning activities, or learning assessments within the curriculum for study.”
A spokeswoman for the state office said no additional information is available at this time about the district’s response.
“We are unable to comment until the complaint is closed,” said Alexandra Smith, media and communications specialist for the state department.
According to a draft of the district proposal obtained by the Gazette, four academic blocks, each 75 to 80 minutes, would take place each day. On four days a week, excepting Wednesdays, students would have an additional 40-minute instructional period focused on planned instruction, academic review and enrichment aligned with the curriculum. On Wednesdays, a newly required course based on the My Career and Academic Plan framework, endorsed by DESE, would be held, addressing college, career, and civic readiness.
For the final 40-minute block, attendance would be mandatory and tracked in PowerSchool and monitored by the school administration.
Even though the middle school wasn’t cited, changes there would be having early dismissals still allowing a four-hour instructional framework; a revised six-day rotating schedule; guided study periods replaced by a daily advisory; and creation of a special education meeting time.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
