Update on the Sixth Grade Move to the Middle School

Report on the Meeting of the Amherst School Committee, March 24, 2026

This was a hybrid meeting held in the High School Cafeteria and was recorded.

Present
Bridget Hynes (acting Chair), Deb Leonard, Laura Jane Hunter, Sarah Marshall, and Andrew Hart.

Staff: E. Xiomara Herman (Dr. Xi, Superintendent of Schools), Meghan Dushko (Executive Assistant to the Superintendent) and Tonya McIntyre (Executive Director of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment)

Next school year, the Amherst sixth-graders will be in an administratively separate school from Amherst Regional Middle School (ARMS) called Chestnut Street Academy, which will be located at the middle school. Chestnut Street Academy will have its own principal, but will share some staff and facilities with ARMS.

 The administrative team showed a map of where the sixth-grade classrooms will be located in the middle school next year. The seven sixth-grade classrooms will be located along the “Dark Green Hallway.” 

This drew strenuous objections from Amherst School Committee (ASC) member Laura Jane Hunter who felt it was unfair that the sixth graders had their own boys’ and girls’ bathrooms, while the seventh and eighth graders had only one boys’ and one girls’ bathroom for the two grades. She submitted an alternative map, but other committee members thought the decision about the location of classrooms was one that should be made by school administrators and staff and not the Amherst School Committee. Deb Leonard thought that since the building belonged to the regional school district, the region should decide how the rooms were used. 

Assistant to the Superintendent Meghan Dushko said that the district has begun decluttering the classrooms in the middle school to make room for the sixth graders. The administration is considering repainting the Chestnut Street Academy classrooms to differentiate the sixth grade from the seventh and eighth grades.

The Amherst School District will pay one-third of the salaries of Special Education and World Language teachers who will teach sixth, seventh, and eighth graders. The sixth graders at Chestnut Street Academy will have all of the specials offered to the Amherst elementary students at Crocker Farm and Amethyst Brook Elementary Schools, but will also have an opportunity to take a world language. Some specials teachers (art, music, PE, tech, and library) and specialists will be shared between Crocker Farm and Chestnut Street Academy, but the main academic teachers will be based at one school.

Superintendent E. Xiomara Herman (Dr. Xi) said that the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) requires that the district demonstrate that the addition of the sixth grade to the middle school does not negatively impact the seventh and eighth graders. She noted that the middle school at one time had 800 students, and the projected enrollment for next year is under 600, so the building should easily accommodate the 145 sixth graders.   

The administration is continuing to work on establishing the sixth-grade academy, receiving input from staff from both elementary schools and the middle school. The implementation planning team holds listening sessions every month. There will be a listening session for fifth graders on April 6. 

Human Resources is continuing to finalize staff placement based on feedback, preferences, and student needs for next year. Teachers and staff are working on student placement based on data collected from the surveys and communications from each school.

Mental Health and Behavioral Services Administrator Hired
Colleen Bogonovich began working as the Administrator of Mental Health and Behavioral Services for the regional schools and the Amherst school district on March 15. She brings over two decades of experience across behavioral health, education, public safety, and policy leadership, and has served as a clinical social worker, educator, and policy leader. She will also serve as the primary facilitator of the Bullying Prevention and Intervention Group, which consists of three administrators, two school staff members, six caregivers, a community representative from SPIFFY (Strategic Planning Initiative for Families and Youth), and a member of the Amherst Police Department. 

The school system is taking applications for a Director of Student Services and is in the process of forming a hiring committee. 

School Population Continues to Decline
ASC member Bridget Hynes noted that 14 students have left the district in the past two months and wondered what the reasons were. Dr. Xi stated that we are a public school district and enrollment typically fluctuates through the year. Crocker Farm Principal Derek Shea said that the school is losing a family next week, because they cannot afford to live in Amherst.