AMHERST — A revised schedule for fall 2026 that would have secondary students at Amherst’s regional schools begin their academic days 30 minutes earlier is being proposed by high school officials.
With the high school no longer allowed to end each day with what was called Flex Block, a result of a complaint brought to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, a plan is being developed to ensure students are getting the academic support they need, while also having opportunities to participate in after-school clubs.
Under the proposal, presented to the regional school committee Tuesday, the 9 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. schedule in place since fall 2021, when students were still returning to in-person classes after the disruption of the pandemic, would be replaced with an 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. schedule, with extra academic help and clubs offered from 3 to 3:40 p.m., and sports to start at 3:45 p.m.
Superintendent E. Xiomara Herman had to shift the schedule this year due to findings from the state’s Problem Resolution System Office that the school fell nearly 100 hours short of the required 990 hours of structured learning time, mainly due to the Flex Block. Flex Block classes had been designed to support student needs through enrichment, intervention and advisory activities, and almost all had included direct teacher support, directed studies, capstone projects, ensemble rehearsals, maker space sessions and university classes or career preparation.
Herman said the hope is a vote on the schedule change could be taken at a joint meeting of the regional, Amherst and Pelham committees in January.
High School Assistant Principal Samantha Camera, who leads the Teaching and Learning Committee made up of department heads and faculty leaders, developed the new master schedule without the Flex Block, which had been designed to create professional learning groups and was aimed to address other problems.
“Ideally, it was to help individual students with their academic needs as well as their social-emotional needs,” Camera said.
What it did, she said, was reduced the time students were missing in class and created co-curricular clubs, like the Invent Team that got a patent for a smart search shirt, the computer science club that built a weather station and the SAGA group that brought in health advocacy presenters.
But state officials wanted students to be rostered, meaning they had to be accounted in a classroom throughout the day.
This fall, without the Flex Block, students are experiencing more stress and reduced academic confidence, as there are only 10 minutes after school to get extra help, meaning less time to build relationships with teachers, Camera said.
“The loss of Flex Block has really reduced our after-school time, and it really means it’s no longer meeting the academic and social-emotional, as well as our community needs,” Camera said.
Now, students are being pulled from extended class blocks to get more interventions and also missing instructional time when they have to leave for athletics. The Flex Block had made that all simpler, she said, while allowing students to choose focus on extra support, or being part of a club. The consequence has also been a decline in enrollment in after-school clubs.
The hope is the new schedule would revive student-driven learning, Camera said.
Camera observed that the original schedule wasn’t a flip, noting that elementary schools didn’t begin their days at 7:45 p.m. and end at 2:20 p.m., as high schoolers had.
Should the plan be enacted, Herman said there will be a late bus for the smaller communities three days a week.
Principal Talib Sadiq said many more students stayed after school when they had late buses Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays.
No matter what happens, Sadiq said some problems get solved and others created.
“The main reason why we’re proposing the earlier start time is to give back a lot of the extra help time that teachers can give students,” Sadiq said.
School Committee members had many questions about this, offering some support for the idea.
Chairman Sarahbess Kenney said this would give more time for academics and additional help and check ins for athletes.
“I like the idea of moving up a little bit, I think it would be really beneficial for a lot of kids,” Kenney said.
Leverett representative Tim Shores said he worries about the direction of change, though, with teenagers having to start earlier than they’ve been accustomed to.
“I think this is a really big decision, and I appreciate the enormity of the problem you’ve been trying to figure out since the loss of Flex Block,” Shores said.
Pelham representative William Sherr said he would need to hear from students, while Amherst representative Jennifer Shiao said input from the Amherst Pelham Education Association is needed. Committee members also worried about the impact on the middle school and its schedule.
Another consideration may be cost, with Shutesbury representative Anna Heard wondering if the district’s transportation budget would “blow up” if there is a commitment to running the late buses regularly to the smaller towns.