AMHERST — Better processes to ensure bullying reports are being investigated and detailed data on possible incidents is collected at the Amherst, Amherst-Pelham Regional and Pelham schools are among the aims for an update to the district’s Bullying Prevention and Intervention Plan.
Colleen Bogonovich, the district’s administrator of mental health and behavioral services, is in the midst of updating the school committees on her work, which began when she started in the position about six weeks ago.
Last week, she presented an overview to the Pelham School Committee, following an earlier meeting with the Regional School Committee.
With the biennial update of the plan, or BPIP, to be done by the end of the school year. Bogonovich showed there were 187 bullying reports filed districtwide in 2025 and 46 so far in 2026, with about 20% confirmed as bullying. This indicates, she said, that people are using the BRIM anti-bullying software system and know how to access it, with students and families bringing concerns forward.
But in a majority of cases the investigator field was left blank, meaning documentation wasn’t there, and that there’s a gap in the data collection.
“If we’re not producing consistent documentation, we can’t really expect to produce consistent outcomes,” Bogonowich said.
From Feb. 1 through March 31, there were 36 bullying reports filed across the seven schools, with five confirmed bullying cases, nine still in progress and eight closed as unfounded. But 72% of these cases had no named investigator recorded, causing what Bogonovich said is a “documentation gap.”
This means the central office is unable to determine why there are different outcomes across the buildings.
Of the 36 reports, 16 were made at the Amherst Regional Middle School, seven at the high school, six at Fort River Elementary and four at Pelham Elementary, with one each at Wildwood Elementary, Crocker Farm Elementary and Summit Academy. Just over half of the reports, or 19, were due to something happening in the classroom.
As part of the update of the plan, Bogonovich is assisted by a working group made up of families, staff, mental health professionals and others. They have identified five areas of concern with the current plan, such as trust and safety being barriers, inconsistency across buildings, unclear processes for reporting back to families, equity gaps for students and inconsistent communication in the follow-up with students and caregivers.
Bogonovich is also working to have the investigation protocol corrected to align with state law, which requires investigation of all reports, not just ones that end up being bullying, and for the investigations to be done promptly.
A phased implementation is underway, with distribution and staff notice this month, BRIM training and protocol rollout.
“This happens before school ends this year to make sure everyone is in alignment,” Bogonovich said.
Bogonovich said there will be consistent reporting to all committees going forward and parallel work is an emphasis on connecting this to the work on social emotional learning.
When the updated plan is adopted, it will be posted on the schools’ website.
Superintendent E. Xiomara Herman said the schools have found people to build a dashboard and have had deep conversations with BRIM about having adequate data.
“As a district, I think we’re moving in a strong and right direction to address these things,” Herman said.
Marta Guevara, executive director of Family Advocacy and Student Wellbeing, said she appreciates that in the time Bogonovich has been in the role, she has already engaged at the elementary schools and met with families at the Amherst Family Center.
“She’s hit the ground running and just wanted to share how excited we are,”
Guevara said.
While the Pelham School Committee was presented data showing that both recent reports were quickly investigated, with one confirmed and the other not, the Regional School Committee focused more on how parents and students are being left in limbo and this needs to be addressed.
“This is the work we’ve been waiting for since passing the policy in August of ’24,” said Amherst representative Bridget Hynes.
That new system supplements a revised bullying plan and policy put in place and prompted in part by the reports of mistreatment of LGBTQ+ students by counselors that roiled the district, in particular at the middle school, in 2023.
Shutesbury representative Anna Heard said the community has concerns that the term “promptly” can mean months or never, and the district needs to stick to certain timelines.
“The community just doesn’t trust us to do it promptly, or to know what promptly is,” Heard said.
Pelham representative William Sherr said there is a lack of trust in the buildings, not in the central office.
“We have not had implementation because, in my opinion, administrators for the district were not necessarily able to oversee what each building did,” Sherr said. “So who’s going to hold the buildings accountable if they are not all in align with all three districts?”
Sherr said the policy timeline states to contact caregivers within three days and a 10-day limit for completing an investigation, and if this can’t be done caregivers need to be contacted weekly.
Both Sherr and Leverett representative Tim Shores said they are worried that the schools are not tracking harassment.
“This is a good opportunity to build that in from the beginning,” Shores said.
Shores said there should be timelines for best outcomes, and regular reports to school committees will help a lot in understanding how well current practices align with these timelines. If there is deviation from the pace of investigation, Shores said the committees can explore why that is happening.
