Amherst School Committee Takes on Hot Button Issues

Committee Considers Budget Increases of 5.59 and 6 Percent for FY26

Report on the Meeting of the Amherst School Committee, March 20, 2025

The Amherst School Committee took on some hot button issues in a full room with approximately 50 people in attendance at its March 20 meeting in the libary of Amherst Regional High School. The meeting was held in person and was simulcast on Amherst Media and was recorded.

Chair Jennifer Shiao announced that she would employ a rarely enforced rule to limit public comment to fifteen minutes, since she wanted the committee to have time for its own conversation about the FY 2026 budgets. 

Public Comment
Comments were divided between the two recurring themes of the evening: cuts to the Amherst elementary schools budget, and an incident  that occurred at Fort River Elementary School on February 10 in which two parents physically and verbally assaulted another parent in the lobby of Fort River school during the school day. The aftermath of this situation has left the Fort River community in turmoil, with the principal Tamera Sullivan-Daley on leave for the rest of the school year. The 10 pages of written comments from parents, educators, and community members included nine comments opposing budget cuts, six concerned about the Fort River incident, and three concerned about both.

Ariel Templeton, band director at the elementary schools, stated that she was unclear as to whether music instructor time would be restored in the recent announcements of restored positions in updated budget projections. She played a live recording of one of the elementary school bands for the committee, and then rushed off to her band concert that was scheduled for that night.

Laura Steinman, an art teacher at Wildwood, shared a quote from Dr. Martin Luther King about how we are all united as people in a shared garment of destiny. To illustrate her point, she took out a long piece of weaving created by Wildwood students, saying, “The black strings [are] the structure that holds all the weaving together and that’s what makes all the other weaving possible. So if we looked at the structure of our classrooms and our supports and our educators and just everyone in that way, I just wanted to show you what happens when that structure is broken and not supported.” She then indicated a part of the weaving where the structure had been removed, creating a hole large enough for her to place her hand through.

Parent Angelica Bernal, in asking the committee to show courage and refrain from making budget cuts, said about constant proposed cuts to paraeducator positions, “It’s not cost effective. The devaluing of our paraprofessionals is reflected in the struggles they face year after year in their fight for a living wage. Cutting them is like trying to fix ocean water coming into a sinking ship by scooping the water with a teacup…and with each position that you cut, you are moving yourselves into non-compliance.” Legal non-compliance could occur when there aren’t enough paraeducators to work with students whose IEP plans require them.

Fort River Staff Voices Concern over Violent Incident Between Parents
Ruthie Killough-Hill, a school psychologist and Maria Torres, a receptionist at Fort River, respectively, spoke to the devastating impacts of the turnover in leadership at the school.  Principal Sullivan-Daley will be replaced on an interim basis by Tim Austin, a current fifth grade Caminantes teacher. In addition to concern about the lack of preparation Austin may have for this role (despite being “caring and committed”), Killough-Hill highlighted the loss of an assistant principal at the beginning of the school year, the only Latino administrator in the school who had helped to build trust with Latino students and families and who helped to lead in the bilingual Caminantes program. 

According to Torres, “We [are] repeatedly put in this position where strong leaders leave, morale suffers, and staff members [are]  left scrambling to hold everything together. Most importantly, why is nothing being done to stop this cycle? The daily challenges in our school take a toll on everyone, especially when support from the district leadership feels inconsistent and inadequate. Our administrators often feel unheard and unsupported, and at times, it’s as  they are walking on eggshells, afraid to speak up out of fear of indirect reprimand, rather than meaningful solutions.”

According to Fort River educator Molly Malay, 96% of Fort River staff have signed onto a letter that she read aloud, which stated in part,  “At Fort River Elementary School, on February 11,, a Fort River parent brought to your attention a serious incident that took place the previous day at Fort River School. Two parents threatened her and engaged in verbal and physical assault, all witnessed by students and staff. While the Fort River administrators urgently requested support from the district, the policies outlined in your “Violence in the workplace” document were not fully implemented until a month later. This delay is unacceptable. Our dedicated administrator committed to ensuring the safety of staff and students faced pushback from the central office and is now on leave for the remainder of the school year. We demand to know why our parents, guardians, students and staff were put at risk and why it took so long for a response. Why were necessary support systems not put in place to keep our students and staff safe?”

School Superintendent Responds to Fort River Incident
Discussion of the Fort River incident and its aftermath continued into other agenda items, including the Superintendent’s report. Superintendent Dr. E. Xiomara Herman (Dr. Xi) indicated that she was taking point on the Fort River violent incident with the police department and the sheriff’s department. 

Sarah Marshall asked if any children had witnessed the event and what assistance they might receive from the school for any related trauma. Dr. Xi noted that no specific student was a witness, but that a classroom had been within earshot and they may have overheard the incident, which she took very seriously. A member of the crowd then yelled, “she didn’t answer your question!”  

Dr. Xi also indicated that a no trespass order had been issued to the parents who perpetrated the assault and a court case is pending. However, in response to a question from the committee, she noted that the no trespass order is only valid for Fort River. She also indicated that the parents involved in the assault had been the subject of similar complaints from other schools, other staff members, and the union, and that it is a “multi-district issue.”

Dr. Xi introduced Wildwood principal Allison Estes, who gave a presentation on Building Culture and Behavioral Support Systems at Wildwood. The idea of each school presenting on how they build positive school culture came up when the violent issue at Fort River first came to the attention of the School Committee. 

Budget Discussion Includes Increase in Preschool Fees and Proposal for 5.6% Increase 
The committee then moved into a discussion about fee structures for FY ‘26. A discussion ensued around Finance Director Shannon Bernacchia’s proposal to raise preschool fees to $8.00/hour for full tuition, noting that Amherst’s hourly rate is not keeping pace with local districts like Hadley and Northampton, which charge between $8 and $10 per hour. Jennifer Shiao, Deb Leonard, and Bridget Hynes pushed back, noting that the increase would be 14% all at once and likely would be a financial hardship for local low income families. They further asked that Bernacchia return with sliding scale fee proposals that were less expensive for the lowest income families, and a bit more expensive for the highest income families, in order to balance out the increases in a more equitable manner.

Finally, the Committee took on the FY 2026 budget. Bernacchia announced that she had met with all of the elementary school principals to determine tiers to prioritize which positions to restore should more funding become available, summarized on page 4 of this document. With the recent announcement from the Town of Amherst that it will provide a 4% increase to all departments, the schools would be able to restore the positions currently in Tier 1, according to Bernacchia. The  restored positions include an academics teacher, a general education teacher, a reading teacher, and restoring some specials (art, music, physical education) teachers to full- time levels.

Dr. Xi began by saying, “This is not where we would want to be.” She went on to emphasize that, although she has been asked for projections on the FY27 budget, she did not expect savings from the sixth grade moving to the Middle School. “Even though Amherst would be  operationally over two buildings, they will still be running…three schools..because the sixth grade academy is not joining the region [and it] will need its own staff and leadership,” she said. 

School Committee members Hynes and Leonard presented a budget memo in which they argued for a compromise of a 5.59% overall increase for the school budget and argued for priority for restoring student facing positions, including a school psychologist, teachers, a Building Blocks/AIMs teacher, specials teachers, and a speech pathologist. Both acknowledged the need for, and encouraged, advocacy with the Town Council to change its own budget guidelines about giving equal increases to all departments in order to facilitate this increase.

Irv Rhodes added  his support for a 6% increase. “Let’s set it this year at six, and then sit down with the town and come up with some other rational way of devising this budget so that we’re not back here year after year after year with the same thing.” Shiao stated her support for the 5.59% increase recommended in the Hynes-Leonard memo.  Marshall asked if the default budget would be the 4% increase model, were the Town Council to deny a higher percentage increase. This was confirmed by Shiao. 

The School Committee will vote on the budget at its next meeting on March 26th, at which they will be presented with a detailed model from the Finance Director based on a 5.59% increase to the overall budget, and also consider the 6% model as an option.