School Committee Seeks Input on Names for the New Elementary School and the 6th Grade Academy

Jennifer Shiao’s School Committee Blog

Editor’s note: . Jennifer Shiao is a member of the Amherst School Committee. Her original posts can be found here.  An archive of her blog posts in The Indy can be found here.

With the start of the 2026-27 school year, the Amherst Elementary School District will look quite different from what it looks like today. Two significant changes will be implemented:

All 6th grade students in Amherst will attend school at the Amherst Regional Middle School (ARMS). It’s important to note that these students will not be enrolled at ARMS; rather, they will be Amherst Elementary students who will attend school in the ARMS building.

The Wildwood and Fort River school buildings will be closed, and in their place a new school building will open on the Fort River site, which will hold students in grades K through 5. The Crocker Farm school will remain in operation, also as a K through 5 school (plus the Early Education Center preschool).

Both the 6th grade school and the new school need school names! The Amherst School Committee plans to decide on the names for these two schools at our meeting on December 16. A Naming Subcommittee has recommended five finalist names for each school. The school community (parents/caregivers, staff, students, and community members) is invited to give input on the finalist names. While the final decision on the names rests with the Amherst School Committee, we would like to get input from the school community before making our decisions.

Please use this form (https://forms.gle/psnrvpAgmr4PzniG9) to give your input on the finalist names for the two schools. The form will be open until 11:59 PM on Thursday, December 11.