AMHERST — Furniture thrown. Tables flipped. Physical altercations erupting regularly.
The following descriptions may evoke images of TV wrestling, but a small group of parents allege it can also apply to a fifth-grade classroom at Fort River School and are calling on officials to take corrective actions.
“The single section of fifth-grade Explorers have experienced disruption and chaos and lost crucial years of education,” said parent Becca Watkins.
In both oral and written comments to the Amherst School Committee Tuesday, following a meeting they had with Superintendent E. Xiomara Herman, Principal Tammy Sullivan Daley and others in school leadership, the families are issuing several demands, including having two full-time dedicated classroom teachers, one of which is a full-time special education teacher; an independent outside consultant to assess the classroom and recommend interventions; and a task force to stabilize the class.
“We need immediate action and to give this class structure and consistency,” said Watkins.
Seven students, she said, have left the class via school choice, and those families who remain are “hopeless and pretty desperate” due to constant disruptions and uncertainty over the status of the classroom teacher.
Rachel Hall, speaking on behalf of fifth-grade families about the crisis in the classroom, said the class has been evacuated several times this fall. Hall suggested that a districtwide policy be enacted requiring intervention when a threshold of evacuations is reached.
The classroom has been marked by instability and volatility and children are suffering and not physically and emotionally safe, Hall said.
“This is unacceptable. Our children cannot wait. Please help us,” Hall said.
Herman responded by noting this is a “systemic issue” that needs to be addressed and cautioned that it would be unfair to make any direct statements about what is occurring in the classroom until she gets a complete and full picture. Herman promised to continue to look into the matter with her team and meet with families.
School Committee members showed frustration, this being the second month in a row the issue has been brought up. Deb Leonard said the topic of the naming of the new elementary school under construction is frivolous when compared to making sure the learning environment is good for students.
“It breaks my heart that these kids are in this situation,” said committee member Irv Rhodes.
He said it’s extraordinary that the situation has continued to exist when professional interventions are available, and that he intends to visit the school to see things first hand.
“Continuation of this cannot and should not happen,” Rhodes said.
Chairwoman Jennifer Shiao said the day-to-day instruction is not in the committee’s purview, though members can ask Herman to communicate about progress and ensure accountability as plans are put in place.
“We didn’t get elected to sit here and say ‘well, we listened to you, but we can’t do anything,'” Rhodes said.
A few other parents also spoke, with Kyle Busacker citing unsafe conditions making learning nearly impossible, and children deserving a classroom that functions well. Already, he said, promises haven’t been met and the situation is getting worse.
“What’s being done right now is simply not working,” Busacker said.
Evan Naismith said “adverse sorting” is caused by the dual-language Caminantes program, with children who receive more support at home tending to be funneled into the program where they are learning both English and Spanish language skills, and those who need more help being put in the other classrooms. This is backed up by those leaving through school choice, with much higher numbers departing from the conventional program.
This is leading, he said, to led to “separate and unequal” education and exposing children to violence.
While Caminantes has been called a “school within a school” a parent whose children are in that program, Meghan Graham MacLean, told the committee she supports the appeals from other parents for the problems to be corrected.
The School Committee also received written correspondence, with parent Charissa Melnik writing that she had pulled one child from Fort River and also didn’t allow another to attend the Caminantes program.
“We ultimately decided that we could not entrust our children’s education to a school environment that we found to be so unstable and unsupported,” Melnik wrote. “It saddens me to hear that the classroom conditions at Fort River continue to be chaotic and that meaningful support has still not been provided.”