Elementary School Year off to a Good Start, District Considering Tech-less Thursdays 

Report on the Meeting of the Amherst School Committee, September 15, 2026

By Maura Keene

This hybrid meeting was held in Town Hall and was recorded.

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

Staff: Dr. E. Xiomara Herman (Dr. Xi, Superintendent)

Elementary Schools Welcome Students in New Configuration

The new school year saw the closing of Wildwood and Fort River Elementary Schools and the opening of Amethyst Brook School and Chestnut Street Academy. At its Sept. 15 meeting, the Amherst School Committee heard from the leaders of each school and the new directors of the Preschool Program at Crocker Farm.

District Trying to Limit Students’ Time on Tech

In response to parents’ concerns, Superintendent E. Xiomara Herman’s (Dr. Xi) report said the district is trying to limit the time students spend on computers. To this end, the schools are considering initiating “Tech-less Thursdays.” The report states, “Technology remains an important instructional tool, and this initiative is not intended to remove it from our classrooms. Instead, the goal is to be more thoughtful about when technology adds value and when students may benefit more from direct interaction with their teachers and peers.”

Transportation Challenges

Dr. Xi said that, despite a successful start to the school year, transportation remains challenging, with some routes too long and students arriving late. A shortage of school bus drivers has compounded the problem. The administration is reviewing bus routes and seeking to reduce or eliminate pick-ups for students attending a school outside their designated neighborhood and those who live closer than 1.5 miles from school. When students were allowed to remain at their previous school even though they were redistricted to another, the district decided transportation would not be guaranteed. The district is considering centralized walker pick-ups for students living within 1.5 miles of school. This would mean designated pickup spots where students living within 1.5 miles of the school would walk to meet the school bus.

The district plans to apply for Community Preservation Act funds for a new, accessible playground for the lower grades at Crocker Farm School. Funding from the town has been allocated for the design of a new playground for the upper grades.

Dr. Xi requested that the ASC approve hiring an additional teacher for English Language Learners at Crocker Farm and a 0.2 FTE increase in an English Language Arts intervention position at Amethyst Brook. Crocker Farm now has only two teachers for 45 English language learners. These requests will be considered at a subsequent ASC meeting.

Dr. Xi also announced that the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) district review is scheduled for November 16^th. There will be some pre-review meetings. The district will share information with the community.

Enrollment and Staffing 

Amethyst Brook has 551 students, Crocker Farm has 236, and Chestnut Street Academy has 143, for a total of 930 elementary school students. 

Current staffing at Amethyst Brook is: 3 administrators, 5 food service workers, 3 clerical staff, 5 maintenance staff, 58 paraeducators, 71 teachers, and 4 split staff who also spend time at other schools. 

Crocker Farm staff include 2 administrators, 3 food service workers, 2 clerical staff, 4 maintenance staff, 13 paraeducators, 29 teachers, and 11 split staff.

The Early Childhood program at Crocker Farm has 1 administrator, 15 paraeducators, and 6 teachers. Crocker Farm shares maintenance, clerical, and food service staff.

At Chestnut Street Academy, there are 2 administrators, 1 clerical staff, 6 paraeducators, 12 teachers, and 10 shared staff. Food service and maintenance staff are shared with the middle school.

Early Learning Center Adds a Sixth Classroom

New Preschool Administrator Nancy Manske told the ASC that the Early Learning Center now has 57 students, but is actively enrolling more. “I am very excited to talk about the addition of the sixth classroom, which opens up space to welcome more preschool children into our program and give them a strong foundation and prepare them for entering the public schools,” she said. 

There is room for a couple more full-day peer model students (regular education students) and a few half-day students. Individual educational plans (IEPs) for each student need to be fully evaluated to determine what each child needs. Fourteen evaluations are currently in progress. Not all will require preschool enrollment. Some needs, such as occupational therapy or speech and language help, can be met with appointments. However, the school must accept all students with special needs, even if families cannot afford the sliding-scale tuition.

Manske added that she is passionate about working with families. The program has 10 students using augmented communication devices, and staff will work with families to help them feel comfortable using them at home. She is also coordinating with other agencies, such as Head Start and early intervention centers, and said she sees the Amherst community as “very supportive of its children.”

Amethyst Brook Elementary School

Amethyst Brook principal Allison Estes said things have been going quite well at the new school and that students and staff are getting used to the new spaces. One of her main concerns during the first few weeks of school was getting students into and out of the school safely, but the new procedures have worked well. 

Estes added that children are being careful on the staircases, holding onto the handrail so they can catch themselves. Also, unlike Wildwood, where she was previously principal, the school’s layout means classes don’t hear what is happening on the other side of the building.

A highlight has been the playground, which Estes said is the “most accessible playground I’ve ever seen. It’s beautiful and incredibly used.” She also mentioned volunteer support. Big Brothers/Big Sisters is reinstituting their lunch buddy program, and the UMass Moves program will help with recess. Additionally, a UMass sorority has offered some experiences for fifth graders. Estes said she is still working on how to run assemblies and the open house in the new building, and has asked the fire department for guidance.

The Marks Meadow and Capacidad afterschool programs have been up and running since school began. They utilize the cafeteria, gym, library, tech room, art room, and playground. Staff is still figuring out where to hold after-school meetings and is holding them online for now.

About five children in the Caminantes dual-language program do not live in the Amethyst Brook district and arrive and leave by a transfer bus. This means that they miss about 15 minutes at the beginning and end of each day, Estes said.

The sensory rooms (formerly called blue rooms) created for self-regulation have been decorated and are now termed the sun room, the moon room, and the bubble room.

Estes concluded, “I remind the kids every day, because we have to watch Fort River being demolished, and that’s not easy. We talk about how the spirit of Fort River and Wildwood are getting incorporated into Amethyst Brook, and we have plans for how to do that in a more tangible way.”

Crocker Farm

Tammy Sullivan-Daley came from Fort River School to be the principal of Crocker Farm. The assistant principal is Alicia Lopez-Nieto, who has been at the school for many years. Sullivan-Daley, who had been at Fort River for 22 years, described the Crocker Farm community as a “well-oiled machine” with incredible staff who have been there for a long time. She said school attendance was close to 98% at the beginning of the year.

Crocker Farm has “red carpet Thursdays,” free fist-bump Friday, and the staff do Calm Classroom three times a day during transitions. Mindfulness Mondays will eventually be led by the fifth graders. Most classrooms have sensory spaces. The school also partners with Applewood, where five or six senior citizens come regularly to read to younger children or be interviewed by students in the older grades. A Japanese drumming program is planned for November.

As at Amethyst Brook, UMass Moves mentors are coming to help with recess, and the school has been adopted by Subaru of Hadley, which will hopefully mean more funds for the playground renovation.

Sullivan-Daley concluded that a major focus will be “closing the opportunity gap that we see. Some of the obstacles I’ve noticed is that writing can still be a struggle for a lot of our students. [Also,] we’re seeing some drops in math performance from grade three to grade five. We have an excellent math coach to work collaboratively with the classroom teachers.” She also pointed out that students entering kindergarten are “COVID babies,” some of whom have limited preschool experience or experience with other kids their age, so need extra support. 

Regarding facilities, the HVAC system at Crocker Farm needs to be replaced, and the committee decided to hold off on replacing the gym floor until next summer so the new floor would not be damaged during the HVAC repair.

Chestnut Street Academy

Rich Ferro has joined Middle School Principal Juan Rodriguez as assistant principal of the new Chestnut Street Academy, Amherst’s sixth-grade school located at the Middle School. In addition to integrating students and staff from three elementary schools, Chestnut Street Academy has had to deal with ongoing construction from the middle school roof replacement. This has limited recess space to the soccer field and tennis courts.

On the plus side, all students know some of their classmates, and it’s a brand-new experience for everyone. Ferro and Rodriguez said that they are building a climate and a school culture for the new school. All students and staff try to eat together, and all students have weekly advisory periods. All classes also mix during recess. 

They also feel that both middle-school and Chestnut Street Academy staff are handling the transition well. Middle school classes change at different times than the sixth graders, so there are no problems in the halls.

Aside from the ongoing construction in the gym and adjacent fields, the principals reported that transportation is a problem, with several buses arriving late. However, they said that the situation was improving. They also hope to bring down some playground equipment from Wildwood for use by the sixth graders.

Chestnut Street Academy has eight classrooms. Two are for the Caminantes program. Those two classes have 13 students each, while the other six classes have about 17. Both Rodriguez and Ferro felt that the sixth graders would benefit from having the extra year in the middle school building, by being there for grades six through eight. .

Student Safety

Over the summer, new Student Services Director Tom Simon, Special Education Administrator JoAnn Smith, and staff developed new student safety procedures for physical restraint and seclusion based on ASC priorities and Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) requirements. The new procedures front-load prevention and de-escalation.

Smith reported that 12 staff members completed 12 hours of training in de-escalating student behavior over the summer, and another 35 will complete it by the end of September. Six staff members will attend a program in Chicopee this fall. Also, Clinical Psychologist Dr. Sarah Pfeifer spoke to all staff at the convocation held at the beginning of the year. Pfeifer emphasized family triggers, such as how a note sent home from a teacher is experienced by a family. The district has also developed a mandatory training slide deck on neuro-affirming strategies based on DESE policy and the ASC’s JKAA policy on physical restraint and behavior support.

Finances for FY 26 on Target

School Finance Director Shannon Bernacchia presented the fourth-quarter financial report, which showed the overall balance on track for the fiscal year, with a 70-cent surplus at year’s end. 

Bernacchia reported that staff salaries were on budget, with payments to substitutes under budget. The school system saw a large increase in transportation costs for homeless students and those in foster care, as well as for bus and van monitors for students with special needs. 

An unanticipated out-of-district placement and a workers’ compensation settlement for a staff member increased special education and administrative expenses. Utility costs were also higher than expected.

The cost of translation services for “low incident” languages was $4000 over budget, so the school will seek competitive bids for the service.

Superintendent Will Offer Tours of Amethyst Brook School to the Public

The formal ribbon cutting for Amethyst Brook School will be held at 4 p.m. on October 26. Dr. Xi explained that the late date is because that was the soonest that state representatives and representatives of the MSBA could attend. 

Marshall asked whether the general public will be able to tour the school, even if they do not have children in the school, since the project was financed with taxpayer dollars. Dr. Xi doubted if there would be walkthroughs at the ribbon-cutting ceremony, but said she will arrange an opportunity for interested residents to tour the school.

Dr. Xi encouraged ASC members to accompany the staff on the instructional walkthroughs at each school, because that is where many issues get discussed. 

School Committee’s Goals for the Coming Year

The ASC held a retreat at the North Amherst Library on August 29. This involved a self-evaluation and setting five main goals for the coming school year. The ASC added three additional meetings to the calendar this fall to help shorten meetings.

Marshall and Hynes met with Director of Family Advocacy and Student Well-being Marta Guevara to discuss providing after-school support, especially in math, for sixth-graders at Chestnut Street Academy. Unfortunately, the budget has no funding, but hopefully the district can apply for grants or other funding opportunities.