Regional School Committee Adopts New Meeting Format. MARS Report on Budget Postponed

By Kiera McLaughlin

These meetings were held in the library of the Amherst Regional High School, and simulcast over Amherst Media Channel 15, and were recorded. 

Present
Regional School Committee: Sarahbess Kenney (Chair, Pelham), Anna Heard (Shutesbury), Bridget Hynes (Amherst), Deb Leonard (Amherst), Sarah Marshall (Amherst), Irv Rhodes (Amherst), Jennifer Shiao (Amherst), William Scherr (Pelham), Tim Shores (Leverett)

Staff: E. Xiomara Herman (Dr. Xi, Superintendent of Schools), Michael Gallo O’Connell (Director of Operations), and Shannon Bernacchia (Director of Finance)

Each town school committee joined the Regional School Committee (RSC) to discuss the findings by the Massachusetts Association of Regional Schools’ (MARS) municipal report on the regional school budget (See reports for Amherst, Shutesbury, Leverett, and Pelham) but due to unforeseen circumstances, representatives from MARS were unable to join the meeting. Superintendent E. Xiomara Herman (Dr. Xi) had requested the MARS report in June, as a starting point for the regional school budget discussion. 

While MARS could not attend, Sarahbess Kenney, Chair of the Regional School Committee (RSC), wanted to leave the floor open for broad questions and discussion in preparation for the rescheduled meeting on Thursday, Sept. 25 at 5 p.m.

After the joint meeting, the Regional School Committee convened as usual. The bulk of the night was focused on the scheduling and efficiency of meetings, but also addressed the new roof for Amherst Regional Middle School and reviewed the fourth quarter fiscal year of 2025.

MARS Report Discussion
Before discussion began, Kenney clarified that she and  Dr. Xi  received about 16 pages of questions from committee members and the community. The goal of the report was to bring in a neutral party to provide statistics about each of the four town’s population and fiscal sustainability. 

“From there, we would determine what our next steps are to engage with the towns, as well as the committees around having a deeper conversation around funding,” Dr. Xi said.’

Tim Shores wondered whether the MARS report ought to be considered neutral. There were lots of questions from other RSC members about the reliability of the report and contradicting statistics with other reports. The committee members plan to address these questions at the September 25 meeting.

Regional School Committee Meeting
For the start of the 2025 school year, the committee introduced a new format to their meeting organization, focused on improving communication and organization. 

On August 20, all members participated in a workshop retreat (see here and here) led by Tracy Novick from the Massachusetts Association of School Committees to address the productivity of the Amherst School Committee meetings and  the Regional Committee meetings.

One of the biggest changes replaces the biweekly Superintendent update during meetings with a formal letter from Dr. Xi sent on the alternate Tuesday, a week before the scheduled meeting. The letter will address key issues,  and questions pertaining to the schools and posed by committee and community members. (Here is the first letter sent on Sept. 2)

Another change is the implementation of a consent agenda, which  groups routine, non-controversial items into a single agenda item that can be approved with a single motion and vote and without discussion, rather than requiring separate votes and deliberation for each item. The Amherst Town Councll currently uses a consent agenda. 

Public Comment
A member of the Special Education Parent Advisory Council  (SEPAC) left a voice message for the committee addressing the proposal to make the time of school committee meetings earlier, and how this has restricted access for working parents to attend meetings in person. The parent advisory council advocated to maintain the start time at 6:30 p.m. This meeting started at 6 p.m and the joint meeting started at 5 p.m.

“We know our school committees are committed to encouraging participation from parents and caregivers. The ability to participate is particularly key for us as parents and caregivers of students with special needs,” said a letter by the parent advisory council. 

By the end of the night, the RSC decided to keep their meetings at 6:30 p.m. for now with a promise to be more productive, so they don’t run so late.

“We have made a commitment together tonight to be more efficient and effective in our communication and in our meeting times,” Kenney said.

Fiscal Year 2025 Fourth Quarter Update
Shannon Bernacchia, Director of Finance, gave a quick overview of the FY2025 fourth quarter and delivered the positive news that the district’s budget is within target.

For this quarter, the school was less dependent on contracting positions than this time last year and were able to use resources within the district, so even though the Special Education expenses were 138% above budgetl, this is an improvement over previous years

“I think that’s a positive sign for special education, that we were able to fill some positions and that we didn’t have to contract out,” Bernacchia said.

Amherst Regional Middle School Roof

As of now, the school is waiting to hear back from the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) about the funding for replacing the roof (see also here and here). Bernacchia said that the middle school was in good position to receive the grant to cover 62% of the project cost. The roof over the auditorium will not be covered by the grant, because it is too early to be replaced. 

The next MSBA meeting takes place on October 29, and the town will have 90 days from then to have the school committees and each of the four towns approve the project to secure funding. (Here is the budget). If the town receives the MSBA grant, the cost to the region will be about $3.9 million. The region allocated $3 million in 2019, but the full project was never done, only periodic emergency patching.