AMHERST — A lack of classroom space at Fort River School for next fall’s sixth-grade students could prompt a discussion of grade configurations in the building and decisions around enrollment and expansion of Caminantes, the school’s dual-language program.

Less than two years before all sixth graders in the district are supposed to relocate to a stand-alone 6th Grade Academy in fall 2026, expected to be placed inside a section of the Amherst Regional Middle School, Superintendent E. Xiomara Herman told the Amherst School Committee Tuesday that there could be an urgency to speed up the timeline.

“Essentially, the current Fort River can’t house sixth grade next year,” Herman said, observing that this comes following conversations with Fort River Principal Tammy Sullivan-Daley.

Under the most recent plans approved by the School Committee, the separate school for Amherst sixth graders would be necessitated by construction of the 575-student, K-5 elementary school to open in fall 2026 at the current site of Fort River. When that building opens, both Wildwood and Fort River schools will close, while Crocker Farm School will continue to operate as a K-5 school, with an early childhood center.

School Committee Chairwoman Sarah Marshall said the information from Herman about Fort River running out of space next school year is a worry.

“I have to say I’m alarmed to hear that you think Fort River can’t accommodate all its students,” Marshall said.

Marshall said the consolidation of students from three to two elementary schools, and an accompanying redistricting of elementary school students, is already going to be a concern to families, and her preference is to not have redistricting occur twice.

“This committee for much of the year has been concerned about enrollments at the different elementary schools and whether, in fact, students could all fit without having to redistrict,” Marshall said.

During the discussion earlier this year, then Interim Superintendent Douglas Slaughter said that a benefit from an earlier move of sixth graders to the middle school building was the risk of overcrowding at Fort River School during the 2025-2026 school year.

“It will be pretty cozy the last year, but I think we’ll still fit,” Slaughter said at the time, though he had also acknowledged that decisions might have to made around enrollment in the Caminantes program, where some children are taught in both English and Spanish.

Herman said decisions will need to be made around leasing of a building, such as the middle school, for the sixth grade classes. Because the middle school is owned by the regional schools, made up of Amherst, Pelham, Shutesbury and Leverett, an agreement has to be reached with the region for using that space, and approval will also have to come from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

But grade configurations at the elementary schools and enrollment, such as whether the continued expansion of Caminantes is paused, can be done by the Amherst School Committee.

Herman said there is already a conflict in scheduling with Caminantes, which is essentially a separate school being run within Fort River.

Moving programming is a strong possibility, Herman said.

“My goal is to continue to operate great educational programming that makes us competitive and viable, but we need to do it realistically,” Herman said.

School Committee member Jennifer Shiao said that redistricting will need to happen is not widely known yet.

“The fact is is that some families currently at Wildwood and Fort River will not be districted into the new school, just because of the number of students the new school will be able to take,” Shiao said.

On a related topic, Shiao said how bathrooms will be used by Amherst sixth graders, when those students are in the same building with seventh and eighth graders, remains a “fraught issue” that will need to be discussed.

Herman said she is surprised that bathrooms would be a hot topic in Amherst, but would like to see feedback about what is making families nervous.

“Most middle school models nationwide are 6-8,” Herman said. “There are even models that are 5-8.”

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