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Date: 11/3/2021
AMHERST – The Amherst-Pelham Regional School Committee voted 7-1-1 to approve sixth grade students to attend the Amherst Regional Middle School on their Oct. 26 meeting. The decision comes following an Oct. 12 meeting where the committee delayed a decision to move Grade 6 curriculum and classes into the Amherst Regional Middle School (ARMS).
Because each elementary school has their own school committee in the region, Amherst’s decision to move their sixth graders into the middle school has no impact on the other towns’ decisions. With this official vote, Grade 6 will be taught and hosted at ARMS for Amherst students starting in fall 2023.
Leverett, Pelham, and Shutesbury will make decisions on this matter in the coming months.
None of the surrounding towns have decided what they want to do with their Grade 6 students, and how they would change their K-6 elementary structure.
Reluctance from the other towns comes from a few factors including the integration of students from the surrounding towns into ARMS and curriculum changes across the different towns and how they line up with one another.
The move from Amherst’s perspective comes with the plan of building a new elementary school building and combining the students from Fort River Elementary and Wildwood Elementary into the new school. With the proposed plans, this move requires sixth graders who are typically ending their elementary school careers to begin middle school in a 6-8 grade structure to fit the model of the new proposed elementary school. A 6-8 middle school grade structure is the most common across the commonwealth and the country.
“The community did support this idea of trying to address both buildings in one project, we didn’t want to leave one building behind, then ask that group of families and students to accept sub optimal facilities for their learning. We can’t accept a building project that does not provide needs for all students,” Amherst School Committee Chair Alison McDonald said in early October.