PELHAM — For the first time this fall, nonresident school choice students attending the Pelham, Leverett and Shutesbury elementary schools, as well as the elementary schools in Amherst, will not be automatically enrolled at the Amherst Regional Middle School upon sixth-grade graduation.
The Pelham School Committee on April 7 was informed by district administrators about how this change in practice is being implemented.
Superintendent E. Xiomara Herman said that those families whose children are at Pelham Elementary via school choice, and who don’t also live in one of the regional member towns, are being advised about the guidance from the state’s Department of Elementary and Secondary Education that was developed in 2019.
Seven years ago, the state agency adjusted its interpretation of the school choice statute, clarifying that there was no longer an automatic right for elementary school choice students to progress to a separate regional school district for the upper grades. Those who had already been admitted or were already attending such schools, though, were assured of the guaranteed admission to the regional schools. That so-called grandfathering has now ended.
Herman said that work is underway with the middle and high schools to identify how many school choice seats will be available for school choice sixth graders. The district has also taken suggestions from DESE on how to prioritize enrollment, though there is no preference given to siblings should school choice slots not be available.
“There is no automatic enrollment, there is a priority process, but you can’t be automatcally enrolled into the regional district,” Herman said.
Marta Guevera, executive director of Family Advocacy and Student Wellbeing, did outreach with individual letters on Feb. 5 and has been having similar conversations with school principals.
She said the amount of students affected is somewhat limited.
“There are not that many,” Guevara said. There are four to five at Pelham Elementary and less than 10 combined between Leverett and Shutesbury
For committee members, there is concern about how this will impact enrollment going forward, as the school has depended on school choice. Over the winter, when budget problems were identified and the school was at risk of possible closure, 66 of the 127 students were school choice.
Historically, Pelham Elementary has benefited from its arrangement with Amherst, Guevara said, observing that some families who have expressed interest in an Amherst elementary school have instead been guided to Pelham as an alternative.
To keep the school choice robust, Guevara said the schools do social media posts and newspaper advertisements, but haven’t had to do specific outreach to meet the numbers.
“I think historically we’ve had more interest than not in the slots that are available,” Guevara said
Micki Darling, the school principal, will also have an hourlong school choice open house at the school on the morning of April 18, a traditional way to acquaint prospective families and students with what the school offers. That runs from 10 to 11 a.m.
Darling said she’s not sure what beyond the open house that she would be asked to do to get more school choice students.
With concerns over how spending will be done, the school committee voted 4-1 to approve a $2.88 million budget for fiscal year 2027 that includes a $10,000 allocation to support an employee who will handle student registration and outreach.
While the committee members would like to see as many school choice students as possible, Herman is cautious about making sure seats are available, and not to max out the classrooms and risk insufficient space for a student living in town who might enroll. Herman said the school infrastructure is not that big to over enroll classes.
Committee member William Sherr said this is a year where opening up more school choice seats than in the past may be necessary.
That school could also open the application window earlier than May 1, though it’s uncertain how much that helps.
The Pelham school budget is up $231,280, or 8.7%, over the current year’s $2.65 million budget. Next year’s budget would require town taxpayers to support $1.83 million in local spending, a $22,551, or 1.25% increase, above this year’s $1.8 million.
While the budget depends on adding $132,445 in school choice money beyond the $500,000 already allocated to the operating budget, Kenney said she doesn’t want any conversation at annual Town Meeting in May that would mean reduced support.
“Pelham school is fantastic, and I don’t want there to be, I will speak for myself, any confusion that we should do anything other than having our fantastic little school,” Kenney said.
Sherr said he supported a budget with a 1.25% increase from taxpayers, but also wanted the town to pick up the $70,922 increase associated with charter school payments. “I think the townspeople would vote for that,” Sherr said, explaining why he was voting against the budget.
