AMHERST — A year away from opening the 6th Grade Academy inside the Amherst Regional Middle School building, Superintendent E. Xiomara Herman will soon begin unveiling more specific plans for this new school for Amherst’s sixth graders.
Herman told the Amherst School Committee Tuesday that by Sept. 15 she will be communicating school leadership assignments at the three elementary schools that will be in operation in fall 2026: the new K-5 building under construction and anticipated to open next to the current Fort River School, the preK-5 Crocker Farm School, and the 6th Grade Academy.
“We want to make sure the community is walking this process with us,” Herman said.
That announcement, which may coincide with other staffing decisions, will then be followed by in-person sessions with fifth-grade students on Sept. 24 and Sept. 25 at Wildwood, Crocker Farm and Wildwood schools.
“In September, I will be visiting the three elementary schools and doing fifth-grade student sessions,” Herman said, adding that she wants to find out what next year’s sixth graders are excited and worried about, and try to alleviate any concerns the students have with the concept of the 6th Grade Academy.
Listening sessions for families and staff will also be hosted by Herman and her team starting Sept. 25 at 4:30 p.m. and 6 p.m., followed by at least one additional meeting with families and staff in both October and November.
In addition to providing updates on school leadership and staffing in September, information on program design will begin to be unveiled in October, with details about logistics and facilities in November.
Herman told the committee that she is relying on a staffing survey with 117 responses, which shows some comfort from educators in moving to the 6th Grade Academy model, even as more than 80% of those surveyed said they wouldn’t want to teach at that school.
Members of the School Committee are expressing some apprehension as the new three-school model is developed.
Committee member Bridget Hynes said the staffing survey reveals just a small number of educators willing to teach at the 6th Grade Academy.
Beyond that, Hynes said she is also nervous for both the Amherst students and their sixth grade peers in the other regional towns of Pelham, Shutesbury and Leverett, who will continue in their own elementary schools until arriving at the middle school for seventh grade in fall 2027.
“Are there still any options on the table for not having that sixth grade solo?’ Hynes said. “I just don’t like it at all.”
Herman said there are no other options as far as she is aware, acknowledging she hasn’t broached the idea of asking the other three towns to open the regional agreement to allow the middle school to formally expand to be grades 6 to 8.
Even so, Herman said she expects Amherst’s sixth graders to be fine in fall 2026. “Sixth graders to me, developmentally, they’re going to be OK, they are,” Herman said.
And she sees it as her responsibility to make sure the sixth graders from the smaller towns will be assimilated into the middle school; in fall 2027.
As part of getting the 6th Grade Academy underway, a lease has to be voted on by the Regional School Committee and submitted to the state’s Department of Elementary and Secondary Education by Dec. 1.
The leadership team, she said, is eyeing a wing of the middle school that will be best for the school, but this is not yet public.
On a related topic, Herman said she is about 80% of the way through completing the redistricting and boundary work that will determine which of the two schools students from kindergarten through fifth grade will attend. The idea is to make sure that classes are balanced by grade level and, with up to 575 students in the new school and around 300 students at Crocker Farm, with all sixth graders in the academy.
These enrollment zones, or catchment areas, have proven controversial in the past, such as when Mark’s Meadow School closed after the 2010 school year, and are now complicated by who can attend the Caminantes dual language program.
Charwoman Jennifer Shiao said the committee will need a presentation soon and parents need to know where their children are going by the end of 2025.
Herman said she will bring this information forward so it can be examined.
“We know this is a very sensitive topic, boundaries and staffing, is very sensitive for us,” Herman said.
The various specialized programs, in addition to Caminantes, are expected to migrate to the new school building.
Tonya S. McIntyre, director of curriculum, equity and instructional leadership, said she has spent the summer with staff creating a broader vision of equitable access for all students, and ensuring that students have a wonderful opportunity no matter which school they attend.
The model being developed enhances opportunity for all students, she said.
Specific to the 6th Grade Academy, McIntyre said that school will not be lacking.
“Even though the kids will be housed in the middle school, we’re trying to ensure they have the same opportunities for enrichment and interventions,” McIntyre said.
