Regional School Committee Adopts Bullying Reporting Requirements

Report on the Meeting of Amherst-Pelham Regional School Committee, October 29, 2025

This meeting was held in the library of the Amherst Regional High School and simulcast over Amherst Media Channel 15, and was recorded. 

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

Staff: E. Xiomara Herman (Dr. Xi, Superintendent of Schools), Shannon Bernacchia (Director of Finance, Amherst Public Schools), Tonya S. McIntyre (Director of Curriculum, Equity and Instructional Leadership), Diane Chamberlain (Principal of Summit Academy), Juan Rodriguez (Principal of Amherst Regional Middle School) and Talib Sadiq (Principal of Amherst-Pelham Regional High School)

Late into the night, committee members voted for more immediate action in bullying prevention. 

With an update on the Bullying Prevention and Intervention Plan (BPIP) implementation from Superintendent Dr E. Xiomara Herman (Dr. Xi) on the schedule, William Scherr came ready to present two motions. The first was to hold the district and the superintendent responsible for the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) findings and proposed corrective actions from October 2025, and the second was a motion to stop any further  investigations or audits, as  Dr. Xi has proposed. Only the first motion was addressed in the meeting.

While the committee members had questions and amendments to the original motion, the overwhelming majority of the group considered the motion to be a public demonstration of their commitment to end  ongoing bullying in the schools. Dr. Xi, on the other hand, appeared to be offended by the suggestion that she was not following DESE’s timeline and recommendations. 

Before this contentious discussion, Dr Xi was joined by the principals of each regional school to present their respective school system annual reports (Summit Academy Report, Amherst Regional Middle School Report and Amherst-Pelham Regional High School Report) and the State of the Schools Report.

Bullying Prevention Intervention Plan Presentation 
The presentation started late into the meeting with only 30 minutes left in  the scheduled session. Dr. Xi presented updates on the Bullying Prevention Intervention Plan and the Welcoming Schools Training taking place in the district. 

Dr Xi shared that on October 22 all administrators participated in mandatory training focused on creating “inclusive, identity-affirming learning environments,” Staff will be trained on November 4 and February 25, before the DESE deadlines. 

Influence training for the Central office staff, principals, assistant principals and deans will take place on November 25. Influence training teaches skills to persuade, motivate, and build consensus with others, both with and without formal authority.

Dr. Xi will work with the Regional School Committee’s policy subcommittee to plan an external audit or to present findings on bullying and recommendations for bullying prevention from the elementary school to high school level. This will provide more up-to-date information on the current bullying situation, which can be shared with DESE to plan further policy updates.

Motion for Student Safety
Once the presentation was over, Scherr passed out two motions to the committee members, saying “DESE has already conducted the investigation, they have provided us with the findings, the corrective actions, and the requirements for the plans. I do not believe that we need additional outside investigations or expensive audits that simply repeat what DESE has already told us,” Scherr said.

“What we need now is implementation,” he added.

The first motion asked for a district-wide corrective action plan requiring a unified protocol, public monthly updates on a dashboard, and incorporation of these expectations into the superintendent evaluation. The second motion prohibited “unnecessary” outside investigations unless required by law or approved by the Regional School Committee. Only the first motion was discussed during the meeting.

“We owe it to our students in our community to make the system work now,” Scherr said.

In response, Dr Xi said she was offended by what she termed the accusatory tone of these motions.

“My complaint is, with it being seen that you’re directing me to do something that I am already doing, it’s making it seem like I am not doing my job,” she said.

Dr. Xi further explained that all dates for training and requirements have followed the DESE standards, and she has been transparent through her presentations to the committee, like the one during this meeting. She also pointed out the audit will be for a broader understanding of bullying in the schools, compared to the DESE findings based on individual experiences that happened before her time as superintendent.

“I have taken this, my team has taken this, very seriously…I really don’t want that to be the narrative that is out there. I have taken the steps as superintendent that I think are going to give us a clear picture to meet what DESE has required us to do,” she said.

The majority of the committee supported the motions with amendments to provide clarity for future expectations. 

Bridget Hynes shared her experience on the Title IX subcommittee during the height of the bullying problems in 2023.  

“This is an issue that’s really dear to so many people’s hearts, and to be honest, there are many of us sitting here on the school committee who wouldn’t be here right now, except for the fact that this was happening in the community,” Hynes said. 

While Hynes made  it clear that she believes Dr. Xi has been working diligently to combat bullying in the district, she said, “I don’t know if this is the exact wording or not, but whatever’s in our power to make sure that we’re not landing back…not even necessarily to do with Dr. Xi, but to communicate from the system’s perspective that we’re taking these issues seriously and intend to follow through with them.” 

The motion passed 7-0, with  Kenney, Heard, Hynes, Leonard, Marshall, Scherr and Shores voting to approve,  Jennifer Shiao abstaining, and Irv Rhodes absent. 

Incorporating  a couple of amendments during the discussion, the final motion states, “The Amherst-Pelham Regional School Committee will adopt the following directive, that the superintendent is directed to report to the RSC on the implementation of the corrective actions identified in the DESE PRS (Problem Resolution System) letter finding of October 2025, and insure full compliance with policy JICFB and MGL 71370. The superintendent shall submit the following: the final bullying investigation protocol by December 15, monthly public compliance dashboard including number of reports, BRIM (anti-bullying software) entry within 24 hours, caregiver contact within three days, investigations completed with ten days, determinations issues, safety plans created, follow-up monitoring, instances of noncompliance and corrective action, an annual district-wide training plan and a year-end compliance certification. The superintendent shall present the dashboard monthly to the Regional School Committee. These corrective action plans shall be included in the superintendent’s 25-26 evaluation goals.” 

State of Schools Report
Before tensions rose with the motion by Scherr, Dr Xi shared a presentation reporting current student enrollment at around 1,191 with 382 middle-school students and 809 high-schoolers. She made note of the 28-30 Summit Academy students currently enrolled as well. The attendance rate of 94.6%  is also above the state average. 

A big focus for the committee was this year’s pilot program to expand access to algebra in the eighth grade to be more racially and economically equitable.

After completion of the pilot program, Tonya S. McIntyre, Director of Curriculum, Equity and Instructional Leadership, will use the data from the classroom and discussions with students, families, and teachers to develop a more formal plan going forward. 

“I think it is worth all the efforts to give kids an opportunity. It does not harm them or hold them in the class, if they tried and attempted and didn’t do well, because they still can get to algebra in high school, still get to calculus, still get to AP calculus,” McIntyre said.

Shannon Bernacchia, Director of Finance for the Amherst Public Schools, shared positive news about grants awarded to the district schools, including the FY26  English Learner Support Grant to support the academic needs of multilingual students and the FY26  Innovation Career Pathways Implementation and Support Grant to fund an Innovative Career Pathways Coordinator Position.

Each principal also presented their updates based on academic data, operations, bullying prevention, attendance and student opportunities for the committee to review.