AMHERST — School district officials are confident that they have an appropriate plan for moving Amherst’s sixth graders into a section of the Amherst Regional Middle School that will minimize any impact on seventh- and eighth-grade education.
Superintendent E. Xiomara Herman told the Regional School Committee at its May 12 meeting that the placement this fall of the Chestnut Street Academy within the building, in classrooms on the upper level, is not expected to compromise the learning environment for the secondary students who come from the four member towns.
Observing that the integration of the new school has been a lengthy, iterative process, Herman said the 145 students who will be part of Chestnut Street, coming from this year’s fifth-grade classes at Wildwood, Fort River and Crocker Farm schools, “can adequately fit within the ARMS learning space without impacting the available space for students.”
“For me, this plan of action, where the Amherst region voted to accept them, there had to be an analysis of space, there had to be an analysis of what would actually work best for individuals in terms of flows, and what would be the most minimal impact,” Herman said.
Because the topic of the new sixth-grade school was being discussed at the regional meeting, the focus of the meeting was mostly on how seventh and eighth graders would absorb having the elementary school students in the same building for the first time.
“There’s nothing changing in the academic model for ARMS, for me I don’t see impact in their experience as to how instruction takes place,” Herman said.
Herman said disruption is minimized as much as possible, with little overlap in the schedules, though all students will be riding the same buses.
Tonya McIntyre, executive director of Student Academic Success, said the Chesnutt Street Academy schedule is being designed around world languages rotation and district leaders also took into consideration the shared spaces in the cafeteria, gym, auditorium and library and space for instrumental music.
Middle school principal Juan Rodriguez said also taken into consideration were room for specializied programs like Academic Inclusive Mainstream Support, or AIMS, the Intensive Learning Center and Building Blocks.
Rodriguez said there will be some continuity of spaces where teachers are in the same rooms, with others moving, but this will mean establishing a new culture at the middle school and at the sixth-grade academy.
But even though Herman has been meeting and responding to questions, including with current seventh graders, committee member Laura Jane Hunter, an Amherst representative, said she understands students felt “defeated and discouraged” following that session.
“That is the first time I’m hearing that, I actually did not get that sense,” Herman said.
She explained that the conversation focused on topics like sixth graders access to Chromebooks and participating in the school dance.
Hunter said she also worries about the morale of staff and students, asking Rodriguez if that is a problem. Herman said she felt that was a “loaded question” and suggested he not answer it.
Rodriguez said the long-term goal is to only have teachers change their classrooms once and stay in them for at least a two-year looping cycle, while honoring the model of team teaching at the school.
Rich Ferro, who will be the assistant principal overseeing Chestnut Street, said fitting in so many students is no problem, though there are a lot of things about the move that aren’t ideal.
“But I think that’s been our situation in this building for a long time, and I do not see the Chestnut Street Academy coming in impacting the teaching that goes on in the classrooms and the great things going on in the seventh and eighth grade,” Ferro said.
Leverett representative Tim Shores said it seems like a thorough process and thought has been put into the plan, but he expects problems will be uncovered once the school year starts. He appreciated that the presentation defined impacts as low, moderate and high.
“It feels to me the area of moderate impact are the things I should pay more attention to,” Shores said.
He also wants to see how it will impact the schedule, even if minimal. “But I think we’re going to see some surprises,” Shores said.
Amherst representative Sarah Marshall said the educational experience doesn’t appear to be diminished or impaired by inclusion of Chestnut Street Academy and she is confident that academic supports and time on learning are not changing.
Though it can be a pain for some teachers to move, the magic happens in the teaching, not in specific spaces. “I’m sure they’ll rise to the occasion, it’ll be fine,” Marshall said.
Chairwoman Sarahbess Kenney of Pelham said “thoughtful placement” of the sixth-grade space has been achieved.
Hunter said teachers are feeling beat down and not heard as they are told to move their classrooms.
She is worried about asking all educators to move spaces instead of using existing surplus space, and that what is happening may not be in compliance with directives from the state’s Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
“That feels against the spirit of collaboration and also against the spirit of DESE’s guidance,” Hunter said.
Herman, though, said there was no place on the second floor for classrooms where no teachers would have to move.
