AMHERST — Amherst Recreation Department’s offices will relocate from the Amherst Regional Middle School to Wildwood School at the end of June as part of plans to create a new sixth-grade school.
With an overhaul of space within the middle school necessary to accommodate the Chestnut Street Academy in the fall, Amherst Recreation will move from its space, located on the northern end of the building below the gymnasium, to two rooms at Wildwood, the soon-to-be-closed elementary school.
Superintendent E. Xiomara Herman said that the plans for the Chestnut Street Academy include shifting the central administration offices from the southern end of the building, allowing that space to be used as classrooms in the upcoming school year.
The sixth graders from Amherst will join the seventh and eighth graders from Amherst, Leverett, Pelham and Shutesbury at the regional building.
The town and regional schools entered a 10-year deal for Amherst Recreation to use the middle school space that began on April 1, 2016, with a $10,218 annual contract to cover heat, lighting and maintenance. That deal expires June 30.
Town Manager Paul Bockelman thanked the schools for identifying the new space for Amherst Recreation, which runs various programs throughout the year.
“The schools were good enoguh to give us space in Wildwood, at least for the summer,” Bockelman said.
Wildwood will be put to other use in July and August, as well, hosting the district’s summer school programs, but is not expected to be needed for public education once the new K-5, Amethyst Brook School opens. The other 1970s-era elementary school, Fort River, will be closed at the end of this school year.
Where Amherst Receration will go permanently is uncertain. Wildwood School is expected to be turned over to the town at some point and the capital budget includes money for the process of visioning for the future uses of that Strong Street site, as well as what might become of the Hampshire College campus.
If Amherst Recreation’s stay at Wildwood is only for a short duration, there are limited options. One is the former North Amherst School, a building that has been used by the Head Start program and formerly the Amherst Survival Center. Another could be using portions of the Bangs Community Center, where Amherst Recreation, at the time known as Leisure Services and Supplemental Education, was located before vacating to make way for the Musante Health Center.
Bockelman said other offices have been relocated within the Bangs as part of the overhaul of that building’s mechanical systems, with Community Responders for Equity, Safety and Service going to the basement level’s Pole Room where the Civil War plaques had been displayed.
