District Considered Moving 6th Grade To Middle School This Fall

Superintendent Michael Morris revealed at an Amherst School Committee meeting May 11, that, due to a shortage of space at two of the elementary schools, district leadership had discussed moving sixth graders to the Amherst Regional Middle School this fall. Morris added, however, that he believes such a transition is too complex to be implemented successfully in such a tight timeframe.

In spring 2019, a Grade Span Advisory Board was formed to explore educational models for a potential grade 6-8 middle school, but due to the onset of the pandemic, a final report and public outreach effort was postponed. On May 4, Morris shared a compilation of the advisory board’s work with the Regional School Committee (see here from page 48), seeking agreement to “open the door” to the possibility of having sixth grade move to the middle school, a step that allowed the elementary committees from the four towns in the district to explore it further.

While the educational and social-emotional aspects of the grade configuration change were the primary focus of the advisory board’s work, space limitations in Wildwood and Fort River buildings are now seen as the primary driver. The conversion last summer of the “quad” classrooms into “halfsies” to improve ventilation and provide space for social distancing, resulted in a reduction of 12 classrooms at each school. As a result, when all students return to the buildings in the fall, and for the foreseeable future, dedicated art, music, and cafeteria space will be repurposed for classroom space. Although COVID protocols have students remaining in their classrooms for lunch and most “specials” (art, music, and technology), the use of cafeteria space in particular is considered to be subpar, according to comments made by Morris. However, if sixth graders were to move to the middle school, two or three rooms at both schools would be freed up, relieving some of the space pressures.

“The educational model is important, but we may be one step beyond that,” said Morris. “What’s most important is the space.” 

Morris said the district leadership actively considered making the change for this coming fall, a year sooner than had been proposed previously, but it is complicated by the fact that Amherst has two separate districts with different governance and budgets. Details around the fiscal impacts of having elementary students educated at a regional-owned building, as well as staffing and licensure, would need to be figured out. Describing it as a “polar shift,” Morris said, “it’s hard to imagine being able to pull that off effectively, given the number of complications.” 

In addition, Morris expressed concern about what it would mean for the current fifth grade cohort, who returned to school buildings on April 12 after a year of remote learning. “To tell them you’re not coming back in the fall felt hard to us,” he said.

Another driving factor for the grade change is the elementary school building project. Although the Massachusetts School Building Authority provided two building options: a 320-student K-6 Fort River and a 575-student K-5 to replace Fort River and Wildwood, some School Committee members have expressed a strong preference for the K-5 option, which would require sixth grade be moved to the middle school. A new or renovated elementary school is not expected until fall 2025 at the earliest.

Morris recommended forming a working group to map out a public engagement process, drawing on the advisory board’s recommendations about ways to obtain community feedback. Committee members Kerry Spitzer and Ben Herrington agreed to work with Morris on the proposal, which will be brought back to the School Committee next month.