PELHAM — Between a likelihood that the town won’t provide a budget increase next year or support a five-year capital improvement plan for the building, the survival of Pelham Elementary School is in question as a deepening fiscal crisis has forced district administrators to start discussions on a process that could lead to shuttering the building.
While no decisions were made at a special meeting of the Pelham School Committee Thursday, Superintendent E. Xiomara Herman and Shannon Bernacchia, executive director of finance and operations, laid out various options for the ongoing budget challenges, including the possibility that Pelham’s fifth graders attend Amherst’s new sixth-grade academy, through a tuition-in arrangement, as soon as this fall.
The meeting came in the wake of the Pelham Finance Committee informing all town departments, including the schools, that they are being level funded, and that the town also would not be committing to any aspects of the $6.5 million capital improvement plan, which includes small projects such as painting and cafeteria stage renovations.
With concerns swirling among both families and staff in the hours leading up to the meeting, and more concerns raised by the 90-minute meeting, Herman sent a message out Friday morning making it clear that only conversations are happening.
“In alignment with how budget updates are routinely presented, recommendations were shared as possible options for the School Committee to consider as part of responsible planning,” Herman wrote. “I recognize that hearing this information for the first time in a public meeting may have been unsettling for some families.”
“It is important to clarify that this meeting was a public governance discussion to ensure the school committee is informed early enough to engage in careful review, verification of information and thoughtful planning for FY27 with recommended next steps. No decisions were made, no actions were taken and no directives were issued at this meeting.”
Even as changes are contemplated, Herman was clear at the meeting that there is no imminent closure, and there will be a Pelham Elementary School for the 2026-2027 school year.
Still, the challenges are real. With a level-funded budget, that means the elementary school is facing a $186,071 deficit. A 2.5% increase would have brought the budget from $1.8 million to $1.85 million, still more than $140,000 below what is needed to maintain existing services, according to Bernacchia.
This K-6 deficit is also coupled with uncertainty about the regional assessment the town pays to Amherst-Pelham Regional schools, with additional deficits of between $287,916 and $399,568 possible.
Finance Committee Chairman John Trickey confirmed that all municipal departments will be level funded as the town sets aside the $135,000 in new revenue to spend on health insurance and retiree benefits. Pelham has another $115,000 in excess capacity, but this is considered emergency money. A Proposition 2½ tax-cap override is being discussed for the fiscal year 2028 budget.
Trickey said the committee’s proposal is to take money from the school choice reserve, money the school collected from those students who come to Pelham Elementary from other towns, to cover the regional assessment.
Less than half of the 127 students enrolled at the school art living in Pelham. Of those, 61 are town residents, while 66 are enrolled through school choice.
“We’re asking a town to support a school that has more of other towns residents than their own, but we’re also asking the town to support public education, which I stand behind,” Herman said.
One option is to use additional school choice money, which would mean 22% to 26% of budget would be supported by this, adding $146,947 to $258,599, while the superintendent agrees to the $140,000 or so in cuts.
“That’s not a very good long-term sustainable option,” Bernacchia said.
Herman said already more than $500,000 in school choice funding has been applied to the budget.
School Committee member William Sherr said he wants to make the budget work for the next school year, and then spend months and summer to find long-term solutions.
“We do have the funds for a Band-Aid solution for at least the next year,” Sherr said.
Sherr said “fifth-grade families are freaking out” that they’re being told sixth graders may go to Amherst. “It is cause for being scared,” Sherr said.
School Committee member Rachel Figurasmith, who said her children would be affected, said there was no advance warning for families about any of the plans, describing the discussion as not fair to those families “who are shocked and outraged” and having the rug pulled out from under them.
“I do not think this is a reasonable proposal for this next school year,” Figurasmith said.
Another option is streamlining by having a kindergarten and first-grade class, with a combined 17 students, and not accepting school choice students into that class.
Principal Micki Darling cautioned the committee to keep in mind that what is being discussed affects both students and staff and that changes would mean a different school. With people putting their hearts and souls into their jobs, Darling said there were people crying in the hallways as they tried to understand how it will affect them professionally, and their students.
“This is really serious for a lot of people in Pelham, the staff, and I just to make sure we hold that,” Darling said.
School Committee Chairwoman Margaret Stancer said there has been no intent to blindside anyone with the discussion. Herman said a strategic plan is needed to pivot both fiscally and programmatically.
Following the meeting, though, Matteo Pangallo of Shutesbury, wrote a letter to the superintendent, school committee and Pelham Finance Committee expressing outrage. Accompanying this was a complaint that there was a violation of the Open Meeting Law by not having on the agenda the possible move of fifth graders, which could be a”bait and switch.”
“That’s a radical transition for which families need to prepare,” Pangallo wrote. “And yet no notice at all was given to fifth-grade families that this discussion was going to happen at tonight’s meeting.”
As a family choicing in, Pangallo noted that there was no awareness of discussions that came at Pelham Town Meeting about the struggles for the school funding.
“There was no communication about this meeting — adequate, respectful or
otherwise,” Pangallo wrote. “The fifth-grade families who will be impacted most by this abrupt decision received no notice that this was going to be under discussion.”