AMHERST — A reduction of more than 10 staff positions at Amherst’s elementary schools, as part of a proposed consolidation before the next school year, is causing alarm for some families, school employees and members of the Amherst School Committee.
With Amherst slated to open the new K-5 Amethyst Brook School, create the Chestnut Street Academy for sixth graders in part of the Amherst Regional Middle School and reconfigure Crocker Farm School into a K-5 building with an Early Childhood Education Program, Superintendent E. Xiomara Herman and her central office team are proposing the three sites operate with almost 11 fewer staff.
A chart presented to the Amherst School Committee at its Feb. 24 meeting shows 172.03 full-time equivalents next school year, a reduction of 10.75 full-time equivalents from the number employed this year.
This consolidation plan will yield $797,258 in savings, part of bringing a budget proposal for fiscal year 2027 to $29.6 million, or a $1.29 million, 4.5% increase over this year’s budget, though still $573,744 over the $29.03 million, 2.5% increase target.
The 943 students in grades K-6 will be in 29 classrooms at Amethyst Brook, 15 at Crocker Farm and eight at Chestnut Street. Of these, only the five, fourth grade sections and the four, fifth-grade sections at Amethyst Brook are currently projected to have a ratio of more than 20 students for each teacher.
Even with 2.3 principals instead of three principals and classroom teachers declining from 55 to 52, the bulk of the cuts are landing on special education and specialists, with the number of co-teachers down from 18 to 14, specialists dropping from 15 to 10.5, and reading and math interventionists declining from 11.1 to 8.6.
Counting the preschool program, there are 1,043 students in the schools, 27% of whom are special education students, 10% English learners and 6% are 504s, or students with disabilities.
Public feedback
Angelica Bernal, a spokeswoman for the steering committee of the Special Education Parent Advisory Council, said losing four special education teachers is a concern, reflecting a continued sharp decline in compliance and quality of the program since 2022.
“Once again, the majority of the cuts will affect special education,” Bernal said.
The loss of the interventionists is another worry. “Research shows that when we lose interventionists, the number of kids who need special education referrals increase,” Bernal said.
The fewer special education teachers for grades K-6 is offset by an increase in special education staff at the preschool, where there will be an increase of 5.6 full-time equivalents.
Still, when these youngest children get to kindergarten, they may not have sufficient support. “We won’t have enough staff to cover their needs,” said Ruth Killough-Hill, school adjustment counselor at Fort River.
Killough-Hill said having more special education teachers benefits all students, as they work in ways to meet the general education population, as well.
Molly Cooksy, who teachers kindergarten in the Caminantes dual-language program at Fort River, said special education teachers, interventionists and board certfied behavioral analysts are important.
“They make such a huge difference,” Cooksy said, reflecting on a student who is a newcomer to the United States who has come up to grade level in math through targeted instruction. “That progress isn’t going to happen without those interventionists and specialists.”
Others spoke to the need for art, music, gym and technology teachers and librarians.
Laura Evonne Steinman, who teaches art at Wildwood School, is concerned that adapted specials will not happen in the current proposal with specialist positions being cut 30%.
“To me, it feels a lot like you’re creating some sort of student factory, instead of creating a space of belonging, where children can learn critical thinking skills, where children can be creative, and to create a place of self worth,” Steinman said.
As a parent, Elizabeth Pretel, who works at Wildwood, said she has seen first hand how art, music and creative spaces create well rounded adults and how interventionists create a small group environment for students to improve in math and reading.
Rationale for changes
Jo Ann Smith, student services administrator, said when administrators looked at data for caseload size, special education teachers are still able to work with seven to eight students, and there was an indicator last year there was room for a reduction based on the caseload.
“What we’re seeing is there is a continuation of that this year, as well as with the consolidation,” Smith said.
The district is still providing a strong ratio and quality services in support for students, Smith said, with the number of paraeducators around 83.
“That’s a fairly substantive number that I think really reflects the commitment of the district, the community and the town that we’re not going to compromise on student needs,” Smith said
Herman said a math coach will provide services across multiple buildings.
Tamera Sullivan-Daley, who will be moving from being principal at Fort River to Crocker Farm in the fall, said she is confident that Amethyst Brook and Crocker Farm will
have sufficient staff to address concerns.
“We have a really strong reading program that really looks at how students are making progress or not, and how to address that,” Sullivan-Daley said.
Derek Shea, who is retiring as Crocker Farm’s principal, said specialist teachers will be at Amethyst Brook throughout the day for the 550 or so students, and others will split time between Crocker Farm and Chestnut Street. Shea said the goal is to do things in as strong a way as possible.
“Our specialist teachers will continue to be important, excellent members of our community,” Shea said.
Wildwood Principal Allison Estes, who will be leading Amethyst Brook, said the changes are designed to not overwhelm people in the transition and make sure special education teachers have an appropriate caseload, with intervention teachers working with three to five students.
School Committee member Laura Jane Hunter said she is concerned about operating from this model because it doesn’t fully meet needs for everyone, with insufficient specialized teachers at Amehtyst Brook, the travel time between the schools for some employees and lack of paraeducators across the district. Hunter calls this a recipe for burnout.
“It feels to me like this plan was put together with two different purposes, and I don’t think plans work that way,” Hunter said.
Herman said if there is no travel between buildings, this would increase the budget and might compromise the availability of a program like instrumental music.
“None of us here want to make cuts at all, but there are things we really have to take into consideration,” Herman said.