School Start Times Unchanged for Next Year
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Report of the Meeting of the Amherst School Committee, May 19, 2026
This hybrid meeting was held in Town Hall and was recorded.
Present: Deb Leonard (Chair), Andrew Hart, Bridget Hynes, Laura Jane Hunter, and Sarah Marshall
Staff: E. Xiomara Herman (Superintendent), Shannon Bernacchia (School Finance Director), and Tonya MacIntyre (Executive Director of Student Academic Success)
No Change in School Start Times Next Year
Superintendent E. Xiomara Herman, known as Dr. Xi, announced that school start times would remain the same for the next school year. Much remains to be worked out regarding new bus routes to Amethyst Brook Elementary School, where there will likely be only one entrance and exit for parents and school buses until January due to ongoing construction at the site. The Fort River School will be demolished in the fall, and new playgrounds will be created on the north part of the site.
Limited on-site parking at the new school during construction will also require some staff members to park remotely and walk several minutes to the building.
All bus routes and schedules must be coordinated with regional schedules, since many buses are shared between the elementary and regional schools. The number of students for each route will not be known until June. With so many factors unresolved, Dr. Xi decided to keep start times for all schools the same in 2026-27 as in the 2025-26 school year.
Dr. Xi has engaged Tim Ammon — the district’s redistricting consultant — to advise on transportation routes for the coming year.
No Consensus on “Reflection Rooms”
After the Amherst School Committee passed several motions regarding “time-out” and “reflection rooms” on May 7, some design changes have been made to the reflection rooms at the Amethyst Brook School. The doors have been removed and the ceilings lowered to make the rooms less intimidating. Dr. Xi is obtaining a legal opinion on whether cameras can be installed in the rooms under the terms of staff contracts.
Leonard explained that the reflection rooms were designed after the public process for the new school was completed, so the Special Education Parent Advisory Committee had no input into them.
At the April meeting, committee members approved an initiative to reduce use of the reflection rooms to nearly zero, as has been done in other school systems.
Decision on Relinquishing Wildwood Building Postponed
The district will no longer need the Wildwood School building after Amethyst Brook opens in the fall. Because Wildwood will be used for summer school in 2026, the administration suggested that the district retain the building for the first two months of fiscal year 2027 and relinquish it to the town in September 2026.
Sarah Marshall said she was uncomfortable giving up the Wildwood building before the sixth grade was successfully installed in the middle school, or at least until the district had agreed on a lease to use space at the middle school.
Bridget Hynes and Laura Jane Hunter asked about stipulating what the building could be used for, but Dr. Xi said that once the district transferred the property to the town, it would no longer have any influence over its use. The committee resolved to seek more information from the town before deciding when to relinquish the building.
Schools Will Continue to Accept School Choice Students
By a vote of 3-2, with Leonard and Hynes voting no, the committee decided to again participate in the School Choice program for the 2026-27 school year. The district receives $5,000 for every student from outside the district who chooses to attend Amherst schools, and the town covers the assessment for Amherst students who elect to attend other districts. Additional costs for School Choice students who require special services are billed to their home district.
This school year, 78 students enrolled in Amherst elementary schools through School Choice. In fiscal year 2025, 96 students enrolled through the program and 65 opted out. It is anticipated that 69 students will enroll through School Choice next year.
Leonard argued that, given the consolidation of the elementary schools with the opening of Amethyst Brook and the move of sixth graders to Chestnut Street Academy, the district should forgo participation in the School Choice program for the coming year. Hynes wanted to preserve space for Amherst students, in case declining enrollment would allow sixth graders to return to elementary school buildings in the future.
School Finance Director Shannon Bernacchia noted that the extra revenue from the program helps defray school operating expenses. Dr. Xi said she was confident her administrative team would not overenroll classes with School Choice students in ways that would require opening additional classrooms. She noted that Amherst schools experience significant flux in September and October, when families associated with UMass Amherst move in and out of the area, and assured the committee that the administration would take this into account before admitting School Choice students.
Hunter said she wanted Amherst to be a “destination” school system — one that offers a robust educational program that attracts students from other districts. Marshall said that declining to participate in the program would be a “bad look,” making Amherst seem like a gated community and raising equity concerns.
Draft Schedule for Chestnut Street Academy
Tonya MacIntyre, Executive Director of Student Academic Success, told the committee that the team of educators for Chestnut Street Academy has been selected, and a draft weekly schedule has been proposed. Staff will work to finalize the schedule over the coming weeks.
The draft schedule was developed with input from families and students. Under the proposal, specials — music, art, physical education, and technology — would be held in the mornings, allowing specials teachers to travel to Crocker Farm in the afternoons. Lunch is scheduled for 11:05 a.m.
MacIntyre said that 120 of the 142 incoming sixth graders participate in the instrumental music program. Ensemble rehearsal is scheduled for Wednesdays. The 22 students not in the instrumental program will have two community connections classes per week; students in the instrumental program will have one.
Sixth graders will be divided into seven class cohorts. One group will be the Spanish dual-language class. The other six groups will take world languages, including rotations in French, Spanish, Latin, and Chinese, taught by high school instructors.
Hunter expressed concern about scheduling all core academic classes after lunch, when she felt students’ concentration might be flagging. MacIntyre acknowledged the trade-offs involved, noting that the schedule must accommodate staff shared with Crocker Farm and the middle and high schools.