Workshops On New Elementary School

Source: amherstma.gov

Two workshops have been scheduled in January as part of the process of envisioning a new elementary school building for Amherst.  The public is encouraged to participate and to share their ideas. The workshops will be conducted over Zoom on January 13, from 8:30-11:30 a.m. and Wednesday, January 26, from 6:00-9:00 p.m. and are designed to be highly participatory, engaging, and informative. The educational and architectural goals set during these workshops will have a direct and tangible impact on the design approach and features of the new school facility.  The Educational Program for the 575-student K-5 school (to be built on either the Fort River or Wildwood site, with anticipated opening in 2026) is currently being developed and will be wrapped up in early February. These workshops offer a timely opportunity to provide input on curriculum and educational priorities that will drive the design of the school. The two meetings will cover the same content and aim to maximize public participation.  Either can be joined using the Zoom link below. The meetings will be recorded and posted to the Elementary School Building Committee (ESBC) website at https://www.amherst-school-project.com/ where the public can also provide input and feedback at your convenience.

Zoom Link For Visioning Workshops:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86385133436

Meeting ID: 863 8513 3436

The workshops will be run by New Vista Design and DiNisco Design. Each workshop will be a collaborative virtual session designed to inform the elementary school feasibility study that has been awarded to the town of Amherst by the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA). Participants will be led through a step-by-step visioning process aimed at capturing their best thinking about Amherst elementary schools’ current and future educational goals and priorities, building on previous visioning work done by the district, and exploring best practices and possibilities in innovative school facility design.

Focus Areas will include:

• Priorities for the renovated and/or new facility 
• 21^st Century Learning Goals that have been prioritized by ARPS
• Strengths, Challenges, Opportunities, and Goals (SCOG Analysis) associated with this project and ARPS elementary schools’ current academic programming as well as the district’s vision for its future
• 21^st Century Design Patterns that innovative elementary schools throughout Massachusetts and the U.S. have put into practice to make their forward-thinking learning goals come alive on the level of facility design
• Blue Sky Ideas that participants would like to see in new school program and facility

Net Zero Building Committee
There will be a meeting of the Net-Zero Building Committee on Thursday January 13, from 2:00-3:30 p.m. over Zoom.  That meeting can be joined using the link below.

Zoom link for Net Zero Building Committee: https://amherstma.zoom.us/j/85631737674

For more information contact Cathy Schoen, ESBC Chair, at schoenc@amherstma.gov 

ESBC Visioning Sessions Informational Flyer