AMHERST — With Amherst’s sixth-grade classes to be located at the Amherst Regional Middle School next fall, the superintendent will be crafting an amendment to the regional agreement so the space inside the building can be formally leased out.
The Amherst Regional School Committee on Tuesday authorized Superintendent E. Xiomara Herman to work with the school district’s attorneys and the state’s Department of Elementary and Secondary Education on the amendment to the existing regional agreement.
That regional agreement, between the towns of Amherst, Pelham, Leverett and Shutesbury, spells out the terms of how students in grades 7-12 will be educated at the regional schools.
Herman explained that the amendment, which would eventually need to be approved by the committee and then by votes in all four towns, including at Town Meetings next spring, is needed because language in the current regional agreement states that any lease of rooms inside a regional building should not exceed $100 per room per year.
At a minimum, Herman said, this needs to be changed to reflect that any lease agreement is aligned with current market rates.
There are already entities that lease space in regional school buildings, such as Amherst’s Recreation Department, which has its offices in the middle school.
Herman said the specific terms of the lease agreement with the Amherst elementary schools don’t have to be submitted to DESE for approval, but the state agency is requiring a formal write-up about the instructional and space impacts that the so-called 6th Grade Academy will cause to the regional school and its students.
Under the current plan, the 6th Grade Academy for Amherst students would need nine classrooms for regular sixth-grade education, along with additional classrooms for specials. District offices, such as the business office and professional development center, may be converted back into classrooms for specials, and it’s possible that even Herman’s office, located on the first floor, could be affected.
“We haven’t finalized that section yet,” Herman said.
As part of the anticipated changes at the school, Herman said a second dean has been hired due to growing behavioral and other issues among middle school students.
But having sixth graders in the building will not affect core instructional teachers at the middle school. “There is no impact to our core teachers in the region,” Herman said.
Teachers who handle specials and world languages, though, could have added responsibilities, but Herman reminded the committee that sixth-grade students will be separated, since the other three towns are not regionalizing at that level.
“The sixth grade is not joining the region, they are just being housed in the region,” Herman said.
The sixth graders will follow the same start and end times as middle schoolers, but would have a separate lunch period. It is expected they will ride the same buses as Amherst seventh and eighth graders, but not be accompanying high school students on those buses.
Sixth grade students will also not be eligible to play on middle school sports teams.
In addition to the lease details, Herman said other aspects of the regional agreement also need to be updated, though she said there will be time to work on these adjustments at a later time.