AMHERST — Welcoming Schools, a bias-based bullying prevention program aimed at supporting LGTBQ+ students and families, is being recommended for adoption at the Amherst Regional schools.

More than a year after reports surfaced of mistreatment and offensive behavior by school employees at the middle school toward transgender students, which led to Title IX and other investigations regarding gender-based bullying and harassment, the Amherst Regional School Committee last month unanimously supported a recommendation from its Title IX Investigations Subcommittee to adopt Welcoming Schools. The program, developed by the national nonprofit Human Rights Campaign, aims to ensure LGBTQ+ students and families can thrive.

Pelham representative William Sherr, who chairs the subcommittee, said the recommendation is about bringing best practices to the schools that will help protect students, especially those who have been or could be subjected to transphobic behavior.

“This is something we feel very strongly about that could make a huge difference in our district and would make amends to the community and show them how we would get in front of this, and we’re determined to make our school a welcoming school,” Sherr said.

The committee’s vote is a nonbinding recommendation to adopt the program and pursue its seal of excellence. The advisory will go to new Superintendent E. Xiomara Herman, though outgoing interim Superintendent Douglas Slaughter told committee members it’s uncertain how soon it could be implemented, if pursued.

Sherr said Welcoming Schools has been used for Crocker Farm Elementary’s preschool program, known as Amherst Early Childhood Education, over the past three years.

“We’re essentially recommending that the middle school and high school implement this program,” Sherr said.

It would be a three-year commitment with one or two professional development modules per year, focused on such topics as support for transgender and nonbinary students, creating gender inclusive schools, and creating LGBTQ+ inclusive schools.

Sherr added that it’s an anti-bullying program overall, but could address the challenges for LGBTQ+ students. “I think it’s really a program our district could benefit from,” Sherr said. “It’s a really in-depth program.”

Following last spring reports of transphobic behavior, an in-depth Title IX investigation and other related reviews were completed by Edward Mitnick, CEO of Just Training Solutions in Springfield, whose reports showed that school leaders failed to adequately protect LGBTQ+ students from bullying and harassment by classmates and staff members and allowed offensive conduct by at least one employee to continue despite multiple complaints.

The district has already taken a series of steps to address the issues, with trainings focused on improving staff knowledge of gender identity and sexual orientation, including a full day of professional development with presentations and workshops, to improve the school climate and support for LGBTQIA+ youth. The district is also working with the Safe Schools Program for LGBTQ Students, a program developed with the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and the Massachusetts Commission on LGBTQ Youth, and a partnership with the Stonewall Center at the University of Massachusetts.

Amherst representative Bridget Hynes, who also is on the Title IX subcommittee, said the intersectional approach is powerful and she appreciates the evidence-based approach around the issue of suicide.

“How we move forward in a positive way, this really felt like it checked those boxes, having a professional structure, facilitators who can engage in age-appropriate curriculum, to help our educators create the environment that we all know we value,” said Amherst representative Deb Leonard.

Welcoming Schools would have a $20,000 to $30,000 cost, and training for staff would need the support of the superintendent. Hynes said if cost is a barrier to bringing the program to the schools, there may be fundraising opportunities.

The vote came after concerns from members about whether the advisory would be interfering in curriculum decisions that should be left to Herman and Mary Kiely, the curriculum administrator.

Amherst representative Sarah Marshall said it might be too heavy-handed to demand that the program be in place, though she supported bringing it to the attention of administrators.

In a similar concern, Leverett representative Tilman Wolf said he worried about the slippery slope about the School Committee advising, rather than just suggesting, a program for consideration.

Shutesbury representative Anna Heard, though, said the committee was not asking Herman and Kiely to accept a new curriculum, but recommending that they pursue the seal of being a welcoming school. That is something the district is interested in doing and would be beneficial, Heard said.

Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.