The administration's full report is available at this link (MS-HS report)
MERGING ARMS AND ARHS:ADMINISTRATIVE RECOMMENDATIONS
One year ago,
the district launched the 7-12 Consolidation project with an expectation that
consolidation could occur by September 2017. The funding gap and ability of the
four towns to pay their assessments for the Regional Schools and their
municipal departments, including the local elementary schools, is increasingly challenging.
Declining enrollment in three of the four towns and significant reliance on
choice funding in two of the four towns is putting into question the viability
and sustainability of local schools. At the same time,each of our communities
highly values the education and the variety of opportunities being provided to our
children. Also significant is that the Amherst-Pelham Regional Schools are
distinguished by having an exceptional teaching staff committed to serving all
children and to providing an enriching and vibrant educational experience. The
Regional Schools,despite having lost some low enrollment courses over the past
several years, remain unique in the depth and breadth of core educational offerings,elective
courses,extracurricular and athletic clubs and activities.
It is not an
overstatement to say that consolidation will be an historic change for the
district.Our K-12 schools once educated almost 4,000 students. Now there are
fewer than 2,700 students in Amherst, Pelham and the Region,with half this
number at our Regional middle school and high school. If you remove the Choice students
from the K-12 population, there are 180 fewer students. The capacity of the
high school is,on paper,more than sufficient to house all of these students.
Space and financial savings are important and students and staff could simply
be moved; however, maintaining the exceptional quality of an Amherst education
must be the lens through which this work is done. Great consideration has been
given to the potential expanded opportunities consolidation could mean for our
students. The study of potential consolidation considered how to maintain the
high quality of education provided to students,stop the annual budget cutting
and also more wholly prepare students for the future by providing them with the
necessary skills to be successful in the 21st century. As a community,can we
both consolidate and take the necessary steps to maintain and enhance how
students are educated? What is the shared community vision,what do we value and
can we afford it?
It is important to remember that the renovation and expansion
project on the current high school took place 20 years ago. Regardless of
consolidation, there are updates and upgrades that should take place. While
working with JCJ architects, it was pointed out that the free
standing,handicapped accessible corridor that connects two old portions of the
high school building is not actually ADA compliant. Alone, this improvement
will cost more than $350,000. Funds must be invested to correct this,but might
it also make sense to look at enclosing an adjoining courtyard and expanding
that space? Another code requirement will be adding girls?toilets in the locker
room area to accommodate the additional females in the building. Converting
some office and storage space into classrooms needed in order to consolidate
could cost hundreds of thousands more.There are some funds for high school improvements
in the capital budget that can be used for this purpose,and an initial
investment of $800,000 is needed.
Combining the middle and high schools is not
enough to bridge the financial gap faced by the Region. Our communities need to
stop working from a belief that K-12 Regionalization is a dead concept and
start considering what is at stake if we do not both regionalize and smartly
consolidate.
With any consolidation,we will save well over $700,000 annually in
staffing and utility efficiencies. Adding in K-12 Regionalization would realize
and additional $300,000 annual savings. It is time for our communities to look
seriously at the practical and financial benefits of regionalizing our schools.
This is a critical decision for the future of our communities and the education
of our students.
Consolidation seems inevitable if we are to financially
sustain the rich opportunities we currently offer our students. What the consolidation
looks like and how it is operationalized is crucial,and there are many
unanswered questions at this time. These questions include educational and
practical concerns such as:
* finalizing a bell schedule for a consolidated
school,
* clearly identifying the number of staff sharing space,
* determining
how special education and ELL programming will work in a consolidated building
and whether these programs can be partially or wholly merged for students in all
grade levels,
* determining the number of computer labs needed and whether the
district will adopt a 1:1 computer program so that each student has a personal
computer device,
* determining what access students in Grades 7 and 8 will have
to electives,and
* carving out space to accommodate storage,meeting rooms,etc.
Concurrent
with considering consolidating, repurposing of the Middle School is a major
undertaking,and presently there is no articulated vision for the facility other
than the apparent desire and need to sustain the building for present and
future educational purposes. This topic is a crucial one which requires significant
community input and thoughtful planning. It would be a mistake to rush planning
or make hasty decisions in the interest of covering overhead costs,without
regard to planning for capital improvements that will surely be needed over
time.
Last, and of equal importance, is the recent Amherst School Committee
decision to reconfigure the elementary school structure and build a new school.
This is a major project that will continue to require significant public input
and support and sustained attention from our town officials,employees and the
community at large. It is our belief that some period of time should pass
before asking our community to formally engage in decisions about 7-12 consolidation.
For these reasons, it is the recommendation of administration that a decision
by the Regional School Committee concerning 7 through 12 consolidation at the
Regional High School be held until Fall 2016,with consolidation not to occur
before September 2018-- one year later than originally planned. In order to fund
the gap anticipated for FY18, the district will continue to effect reductions through
appropriate district-level and building-based cuts and, potentially, the
one-time use of funds from the Excess and Deficiency and/or School Choice
accounts. In the interim, the following groups will be established in order to
address outstanding consolidation questions:
* Operational Working Group
* Educational Working Group for 7-12 Schedule and Curriculum
* Vocational
Programming Group
* Middle School Repurposing Group
Community members with
interest and expertise in the above areas are invited to join the discussion
and help articulate the educational vision for our district moving forward.
