From Other Sources: News for and About Amherst:  This Week, Catching Up

There were a lot of events worth following in Amherst during the two weeks that the Indy was on vacation.  Below, we offer links to reporting on some of the most important stories that arose during our absence.  In the coming weeks, folks at the Indy will endeavor to take a deeper dive into some of these stories, offering insights and alternative takes that might be missing from conventional reporting. Stay tuned.

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William Strickland, a Long-time Activist, Scholar, and Friend of Malcolm X has Died by Michael Casey (4/24/24). William Strickland, a longtime civil rights activist and supporter of the Black Power movement who worked with Malcolm X and other prominent leaders in the 1960s, has died. He was 87. Strickland, whose death April 10 was confirmed by a relative, first became active in civil rights as a high schooler in Massachusetts. He later became inspired by the writings of Richard Wright and James Baldwin while an undergraduate at Harvard University, according to Peter Blackmer, a former student who is now an assistant professor of Africology and African American Studies at Easter Michigan University.“ He made incredible contributions to the Black freedom movement that haven’t really been appreciated,” Blackmer said. “His contention was that civil rights wasn’t a sufficient framework for challenging the systems that were behind the oppression of Black communities throughout the diaspora.” (Daily Hampshire Gazette)

Feds Are Investigating UMass Amherst for Anti-Palestinian Bias by Prem Thakker (4/24/24). The U..S. Dept. of Education’s Office for Civil Rights has opened an investigation into the University of Massachusetts Amherst in response to a complaint that alleges that the school took months to address the harassment of Palestinian and Arab students. In the previously unreported civil rights complaint, 18 students said that they have “been the target of extreme anti-Palestinian and anti-Arab harassment and discrimination by fellow UMass students, including receiving racial slurs, death threats and in one instance, actually being assaulted.” The result, the students said, was a hostile environment for all Arab and Palestinian students, those perceived to be Palestinian, and their allies on campus. Among the most chilling allegations involves a student yelling “kill all Arabs” at fellow students protesting Israel’s war on Gaza. The complaint, which was filed under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, charges that despite repeated communication to over a dozen administrators and Title IX officials, the school “was extremely slow to take action” and that its stonewalling exacerbated the hostile environment. The Education Department’s civil rights division, known as OCR, opened its inquiry on April 16, less than two weeks after the legal advocacy group Palestine Legal filed the complaint on behalf of the students. The office will ultimately determine whether or not the school’s handling of the harassment complaints and disciplining of students involved in on-campus protests violated federal civil rights law. “When you have a complaint that so clearly, and in such detail, lays out the severity of the hostile environment … I think that led OCR to really swiftly open it,” said Radhika Sainath, senior staff attorney at Palestine Legal. “It’s an ongoing environment too.” (The Intercept)

Amherst Regional District Towns Seek Middle Ground on School Budget by Scott Merzbach (4/23/24). Scaled-back increases in the assessments for the Amherst Regional Schools are expected to be considered by residents when Shutesbury and Leverett hold their annual Town Meetings on Saturday. But the compromise 6% increases over the current year’s assessments being sought for fiscal year 2025, developed during a four-towns meeting last weekend, could necessitate about $460,000 in additional cuts to the proposed $35.75 million regional budget, which is already $747,896 below providing the same level of services as this year at the middle and high schools. The Regional School Committee meets Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. at the high school library to discuss whether to support a smaller budget than the one it approved, by an 8-1 vote in March, that relies on 8.2% increases in the assessments for all four member towns, including Amherst and Pelham. Interim Superintendent Douglas Slaughter is expected to present information about how a smaller budget would affect the schools next fall. Committee members representing the four towns bypassed financial guidance developed at earlier four-town meetings and added nearly $1 million more to the original $34.81 million spending plan. The revised budget is designed to prevent 15 student-facing positions from being cut, including both teachers and paraprofessionals, and preserve the world languages program at the middle school, as well as the restorative justice program at both schools. (Daily Hampshire Gazette)

Amherst Seeks Public Input on Opioid Settlement Money by Grace Fiori (4/20/24). In 2023, Hampshire County received almost $1 million from the settlement payments of pharmaceutical companies and drug distributors involved in the opioid crisis. While Amherst received upward of $162,000 in fiscal year 2023, the town has yet to spend any of it. No Hampshire County municipality has spent its share of the settlement money yet, many struggling with restrictive financial regulations and opting to first collect residents’ ideas for the funds.“ You have to balance the importance of getting the money out in a way that’s going to make a difference,” Kiko Malin, Amherst public health director, said. She acknowledged that some advocates are frustrated by the pace of spending decisions. But “if you just rush to spend the money without hearing from the people most impacted,” she said, “then you could really go in the wrong direction.” Many communities have been working with regional coalition Hampshire HOPE to survey residents’ desires and ideas for how the funds, which are being distributed to all Massachusetts municipalities, can be used to bolster harm reduction and recovery resources. Using the survey results, set to be analyzed starting in May, Amherst hopes to have a multi-year strategic plan in place by the end of June, according to Malin. (Daily Hampshire Gazette)

Amherst Officials Examine Quincy Shelter for Ideas to Develop Former VFW Property by Scott Merzbach (4/20/24).  A Quincy-based temporary shelter that includes transitional housing, along with a resource center for people to find jobs, medical care and permanent homes, is being eyed as a model for how Amherst might redevelop the former VFW site at 457 Main St. Assistant Town Manager David Ziomek said municipal staff, members of the Amherst Affordable Housing Trust and others involved in meeting the needs of those experiencing homelessness visited Father Bill’s and MainSpring last week, also known as Father Bill’s Place, to determine whether a similar project could work in Amherst. The field trip to Quincy, which took place Wednesday, comes as the town is getting ready to hire an architect to design a building for the site, which is just under an acre, with the request for proposal advertisement seeking design services for a site layout and concept of supportive sheltering.

First Look at How Little Amherst’s Police Alternative Being Used Called Troubling by Scott Merzbach (4/17/20). The tiny number of emergency dispatch calls directed to the Community Responders for Equity, Safety and Service since mid-December, when the department began taking 911 calls, is prompting worries by members of the Community Safety and Social Justice Committee about how the public safety department is being used.  Following a public records request for data, the committee that offers advice to town officials on advancing diversity, equity, inclusion, and community safety in Amherst contends that there were only a handful of dispatch calls going to CRESS over the 80 or so days from Dec. 18 through March 4, according to Committee Co-Chairwoman Allegra Clark.  “Three (dispatch calls) seemed very low to me, and it seemed kind of disappointing, honestly,” Clark said. The CRESS department has eight paid full-time responders, a director, and implementation manager. The department receives approximately $641,000 in funding from the town, according to budget figures. (Daily Hampshire Gazette)

Three Amherst Middle School Counselors Absolved of Title IX Offenses by Scott Merzbach (4/16/24). Even with complaints that their actions and behavior, including intentional misgendering students were likely offensive, three counselors at the Amherst Regional Middle School have been cleared of violations of the federal Title IX law in response to complaints received by the district, with determinations that they didn’t deny any student equal access to the district’s educational programs or activities. The decisions, all signed by Talib Sadiq, the principal at both the middle and high schools, were made last fall and released by the central office Friday at the request of the Gazette. The determinations of responsibility, as they are known, follow an in-depth Title IX investigation and other related reviews completed by Edward Mitnick, CEO of Just Training Solutions in Springfield, whose reports showed that school leaders failed to adequately protect LGBTQ+ students from bullying and harassment by classmates and staff members and allowed offensive conduct by at least one employee to continue despite multiple complaints. In all three decisions, Sadiq notes that none of the findings from the investigations meet the Title IX threshold of “unwelcome conduct determined by a reasonable person to be so severe, pervasive and objectively offensive such that it effectively denies a person equal access to the district’s educational program or activity.” (Daily Hampshire Gazette)

Revised Plan to Combat Bullying in Amherst Regional Schools Questioned by Scott Merzbach (4/16/24. A revised plan for investigating bullying and stopping such incidents at the Amherst-Pelham regional schools is raising concerns for some members of the Regional School Committee, who see the changes as taking a backward step. “This new document is protecting the district against lawsuits — it’s not protecting students,” said Pelham representative William Sherr, expressing his worry during a presentation on the updated Bullying Prevention and Intervention Plan at the committee’s April 9 meeting. Sherr said he finds it “insulting” that the changes to the plan mean that a school principal or designee will investigate only if bullying is believed to be happening, not each time bullying is reported. “The biggest issue I have is the investigations section,” Sherr said. (Daily Hampshire Gazette)

Sadiq to Leave Amherst Middle School Principal Role by Scott Merzbach (4/16/24). As a process continues to find a permanent Amherst Regional Middle School principal, High School Principal Talib Sadiq is relinquishing his oversight of the building where seventh and eighth graders are educated. Interim Superintendent Douglas Slaughter announced in a recent letter to families that Sadiq, who has been in the middle school role since last July 1, will be stepping away from that position on April 22. Interim assistant principals Doreen Reid and Rich Ferro will remain in their positions at the middle school. “We know that both schools will benefit from having their principals on-site full time in order to focus all of their time, support and expertise on serving the students, faculty and staff of their specific school community,” Slaughter wrote. (Daily Hampshire Gazette)