Parents Decry Chaotic Classroom at Fort River

School Committee Plans to Name Town’s New Schools

Report on the Meeting of the Amherst School Committee, October 21, 2025

The meeting was held in the Amherst Regional High School Library. It was simulcast on Amherst Media Channel 15 and was recorded. Members of the district administration participated remotely.

Present
Jennifer Shiao (Chair), Bridget Hynes, Deb Leonard, Sarah Marshall, and Irv Rhodes

Participating Remotely
Dr. E. Xiomara Herman (Dr. Xi) (Superintendent), Nyby Douglass (Chief Compliance and Procurement Officer), Megahn Dushko (Assistant to the Superintendent), Tonya S. McIntyre (Director of Curriculum, Equity and Instructional Leadership), Marta Guevara (Director of Student and Family Engagement), Shannon Bernacchia (Finance Director, Amherst Public Schools), Allison Estes (Principal, Wildwood Elementary School), Donna DiNisco (Principal, DiNisco Design), Margaret Wood (Owners Project Manager, Anser Advisory), Kseniya Slavsky (Owners Project Manager, Anser Advisory)

Chaos at Fort River Elementary School
Nine parents offered public comment, with eight seeking intervention in the fifth-grade Explorers classroom at Fort River Elementary School, which they described as “chaotic,” “volatile,” “unsafe,” “unstable,”  and “unsuitable for learning.”

Parents said there are frequent disruptions, altercations, and volatility in the class,  with students threatening teachers and throwing furniture. According to these parents, there were 20 evacuations last year and five so far this year, and that learning is “not possible.” In addition, they said they have been raising these issues, using proper channels, with “no effect,” and that they recently met with School Superintendent E. Xiomara Herman (Dr. Xi) and principal Tammy Sullivan Daley.

The Explorers program is the non-dual language program at the school, and consists of one class per grade. Parents pointed out that it has a large number of students with behavioral or special learning needs. The head teacher in the program recently went on leave, which the parents said further contributes to the unstable environment.

According to parent Rachel Hall, “Our children are not learning and are not safe—the classroom is unstable and [it’s] likely not in compliance with state law.”

Parents asked for two more teachers, one of whom is certified in SPED (special education), an outside consultant, and “a taskforce” to remedy the situation. They also want new district policies that require outside intervention every time there is an evacuation. Parents emphasized that they don’t blame the teachers, who “are suffering, too”and repeatedly said that “what’s being done now isn’t working.” 

Meghan Graham MacLean, whose child is enrolled in the Caminantes dual language program, testified in solidarity with Explorers parents, saying that the inequities between the programs have become obvious, and that she supports the requests for intervention.

Parent Kyle Busacker asked the School Committee to hold the leadership at Fort River accountable.

“Nobody intended for there to be segregation of neuro-atypical students, ” he said,”  but that’s is what we have.”— Evan Naismith, Fort River parent

Parent Evan Naismith said the difficulties in Explorers are in part  a result of adverse sorting, and that  children who need more support end up in Explorers. He also said that the Explorers program has  50% more IEPs (Individual Education Plan students) than Caminantes, and that this results in “a separate and unequal education.” “Nobody intended for there to be segregation of neuro-atypical students, but that’s what we have.”

School Committee and Superintendent Respond
School Committee Chair Jennifer Shiao responded that the interventions that parents seek are outside the purview of the School Committee. “It isn’t within our purview to dictate actions at the school level…but we can be in touch with the Superintendent and express our concern,” she said.

Irv Rhodes disagreed. “The School Committee has broad authority. What’s happening at Explorers isn’t right, and to say we can’t do anything about it is incorrect. I’ve already notified the Superintendent that I intend to visit Fort River. I come out of a background of elementary education and intervention, and this is too much. There are interventions available to us,” he told the parents. “We didn’t get elected to sit here and say, ‘Well, we listened to you, but we can’t do anything.’ I have heard you.”

Shiao asked Rhodes to contact her after the meeting to share his ideas.

Dr. Xi said that there wasn’t much the School Committee could do about the Fort River situation other than to hold the administration accountable — to ask them to come back and make progress reports. She said that her team is assessing the situation and attempting to figure out where the school is, in terms of meeting established educational goals.

“My team and I are working on this,” she said. “We hear the parents telling us that there are things that aren’t working.” However, she cautioned that it would be unfair to make a statement about the class until she gets a complete and full picture. She promised to continue looking into it and meeting with the parents and caregivers.

Elementary School Building Update
Donna DiNisco, lead architect for the new elementary school building, presented a design update  that included photos from the building site. She reported that the building will be weather-tight by the end of November and furniture will be installed by the end of June.

Bridget Hynes observed that while the new building has an official capacity of 575 students with 30 general education classrooms, the district could increase the capacity by increasing class size. She wondered, as she has done at previous meetings, whether the 145 sixth-graders in the district could be accommodated in the new building, obviating the need for a sixth-grade move to the middle school.
DiNisco responded that this would be more than the building could manage, noting that in addition to  classrooms there are specialty rooms, such as the cafeteria, art room, and gym, that are not sufficient to accommodate seven grades (kindergarten through sixth grade).

Naming Two New Schools
The district will adopt a name for the new elementary school as well as the new sixth-grade academy at Amherst Regional Middle School. Both new schools will open next autumn.

To kick off the naming process, Wildwood Elementary School Principal Allison Estes recently conducted an informal survey of caregivers, students, and community members, and received 52 responses. Estes noted that the initiative of seeking community input was designed to ensure that the naming of the schools reflect community values, local history, and the educational mission of the Amherst Public Schools. Several suggestions sought to pay homage to the two elementary schools that are being combined (Wildwood and Fort River), resulting in “Wild River” and “Fort Wild” and “Fort Wood,” with “Wild River Elementary” being the top choice. Others suggested naming the school after former educators in the system, such as Roger Wallace or Judy and Barry Brooks, and a few suggested other historical figures of local significance, such as Emily Dickinson. As for the Sixth Grade Academy,  the most common choice was Amherst Sixth Grade Academy, but there is a question of whether the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) will allow a school name to include the word “academy.” See a complete list of suggestions here and a tally of the votes here.

Dr. Xi indicated that the naming needs to be decided by spring—ideally, by the end of December—in order to file required paperwork with DESE so that the schools can open in the fall.

Shiao said, “This is a big decision. We want a name that lasts. We want input from the community but this also has long-term impacts so we don’t want to be beholden simply to the name that gets the most votes.” She suggested creating a committee to undertake outreach, look into proposals, and come up with a short list of names to put to the public for feedback.  She suggested that the committee do systematic outreach to the community, and moved to create a committee of two School Committee members, one administrator, and two caregivers to narrow the list of possible names to be presented to the school committee in November or December.

Deb Leonard expressed discomfort with the motion saying, “It feels wrong to be creating a new committee for this and not be addressing the concerns that were raised in public comment tonight.”

Bridget Hyness suggested that given the prominence of Caminantes at the Fort River school, “We should think about how the name of the new school could resonate with Spanish speakers.”

The motion for a committee to create a list of possible names was adopted by a vote of 3-1-1 with Leonard voting no and Rhodes abstaining.

The School Committee did not define the process for choosing the final names.

Dr. Xi said that a discussion about the legal obligations of the town to provide an adequate education to the community’s students is needed.

Sixth Grade Restructuring and Redistricting
Dr. Xi and Tonya McIntyre (Director of Curriculum, Equity, and Instructional Leadership) presented updates on the sixth grade move to the Middle School (see also here) and for redistricting to accommodate the new elementary school.

Regarding redistricting, Dr. Xi reported on requests from parents for “grandparenting-in” of students, allowing students currently enrolled in a school to remain there. She said that the school district is moving toward retaining those students in their current schools: “We’re going to establish a process, once the boundaries are established, for students being able to opt in to remain. And once the boundaries are established, we’ll also look into siblings, perhaps considering them on a case-by-case basis, based on space availability.”

Regarding the sixth-grade educational plan, she noted that there are numerous misconceptions about continuation of services that students are currently receiving, and asked McIntyre to provide an update. McIntyre reported that sixth-grade students will have two teachers, one for math and science and one for English and social studies, mirroring the current sixth grade arrangement, and three special ed teachers. . The curriculum will be the same. 

McIntyre offered two possible building plans showing the location of sixth-grade classrooms relative to those of middle school students, as well as a sample schedule for sixth graders. She and Dr. Xi clarified that DESE has deferred to the district’s request to set the minimum number of instructional hours at 900 rather than the 990 that it had previously demanded.

A special meeting of the School Committee to receive a report from the redistricting consultant was scheduled for Friday, October 24 at 5 p.m. in the Amherst Regional High School Library.

Budget
Dr. Xi said that a discussion about the legal obligations of the town to provide an adequate education to the community’s students is needed.