The Amherst Regional Public Schools are located in the Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts and serve approximately 4000 students. Four elementary schools are located in the town of Amherst and one in the town of Pelham. Our middle school and high school are located in the town of Amherst, and draw students from the towns of Amherst and Pelham, as well as Leverett and Shutesbury. The central office for the district is located in the middle school building at 170 Chestnut Street in Amherst.
The mission of the Amherst Regional Alumni Association is to support the community of Amherst alumni and to strengthen ties between alumni and the schools they attended. The Alumni Association will facilitate communication among alumni to arrange reunions and other special events. The Association seeks to promote the active involvement of alumni in the Amherst schools of today and of tomorrow. This includes the support of current and proposed educational initiatives that ensure high quality educational experiences for all students and will shape the future of the Amherst schools. http://www.arps.org/AlumniAssociation/
School will begin on Thursday, August 27, 2009.
The earliest possible last day of school (with no snow days) will be June 14, 2010.
See the pdf document attached below for details of vacation dates.
Local Information Links:
See map below for the location of the Amherst Regional Public Schools main office (location in the Amherst Regional Middle School building).
For driving directions, see link in the map for "Get directions: To here".
For directions to each school, see each school's page (accessed via the home page)
Amherst Regional High School
http://www.arhsparentcenter.org/
Amherst Regional Middle School
http://www.armspartnership.org/
Crocker Farm Elementary School
http://crockerfarmpgo.blogspot.com/
Fort River Elementary School (School Council)
http://ftriver.blogspot.com/
Pelham Elementary School
http://www.arps.org/pe/parentcouncil.htm
Wildwood Elementary School
http://wildwoodpgo.blogspot.com/
Special Education Parent Advisory Council (SEPAC)
http://arps-sepac.info/
See PDF below
See PDF below
Executive Summary: Report
to the Amherst School Committee on Current Status and Alternatives Regarding the Organization of the Elementary Schools
The Amherst Schools Organization Committee (ASOC) was designated by the Amherst School Committee to summarize the current configuration of the Amherst elementary school district and the issues that arise from that configuration, and to identify other potential configuration options and the pros and cons of each. The committee included teachers, parents from each elementary school, administrators, and a School Committee liaison, and met between October 2007 and March 2008.
The Research Base (or Lack of It)
The ASOC looked at research on impact of concentrations of poverty on school effectiveness, grade-span configuration, magnet schools/controlled choice, and transitions. Kahlenberg's work[1] indicating that majority-low income schools face disproportionate challenges in generating student achievement was seen as compelling. There is a noticeable lack of research on the merits of various grade-span configurations at the elementary level. The literature on magnet schools and controlled choice was not viewed as helpful in our smaller, less-urban context. Transitions are generally seen as a disruptive experience for students and are often associated with short-term term negative outcomes in a variety of areas (e.g. social/behavioral adjustment, academic achievement, school satisfaction), but the long-term impact is less clear.
Concentrations of disadvantaged students. 59% of Crocker Farm students are categorized as low-income, compared to 34% at Mark's Meadow, 26% at FortRiver, and 18% at Wildwood. Crocker Farm also has higher proportions of Limited English Proficient and Special Education students than the other three schools, though these differences are smaller.
Variation in class sizes/configurations, for non-educational reasons.
With seven grades in four schools of differing sizes, Amherst class sizes/configurations vary significantly from grade to grade and school to school. This problem is particularly acute at the smaller schools, which have used a variety of strategies including multi-grade classes (difficult in the MCAS era) to reduce this variation.
Potential staffing inefficiencies.
Distributing teachers from the same grade across four schools can cause inefficient use of staff. If the district could have more classes per grade in the same building, that could allow for more uniformity of class sizes, in turn potentially allowing the district to teach the same number of students with fewer teachers.
Limits on teacher-student matching and grade-level professional development.
With teachers from each grade spread across four schools, there are relatively few teachers per grade in each school. This limits opportunities to flexibly match students with teachers that match their learning styles, and to have grade-level teachers working together regularly on team-teaching, peer feedback, and other instructional and development opportunities.
Other physical variations in the educational experience across schools.
FortRiver and Wildwood have vestigial open-classroom partitions that do not reach the ceiling, leading to noise and circulation problems. Mark's Meadow was built in 1958 and is showing its age; it also lacks a cafeteria, so students eat in their classrooms. Mark's Meadow does have an auditorium for assemblies or performances; the other three schools have multi-use gyms or "cafetoriums."
|
Crocker Farm |
FortRiver |
Mark's Meadow |
Wildwood |
|
Students
|
255[3] |
489 |
187 |
418 |
Low Income (Eligible for Free/Reduced Lunch)
|
59% |
26% |
34% |
18% |
Limited English Proficient
|
21% |
14% |
17% |
10% |
Special Education
|
20% |
15% |
15% |
17% |
MCAS English CPI (2007)
|
86.8 |
88.6 |
87.4 |
91.0 |
MCAS Math CPI (2007)
|
74.8 |
84.2 |
84.9 |
87.9 |
Sources: Student numbers and demographics - District office 4/10/08; MCAS data - MA DOE website
[1] See Richard Kahlenberg, All Together Now: Creating Middle Class Schools Through Public School Choice (Century Foundation, 2001).
[2] Plus 72 preschool students in a separate program at Crocker Farm.
[3] Plus 72 preschool students in a separate program.
Questions for the Committee Arising from the Current Configuration
1. Do differences in school populations amount to an inequity that should be remedied, and if so, how?
One school has a far larger proportion of students eligible for free and reduced-price lunch than the other three. Consistent with what one would expect on the basis of research on the effects of high poverty rates in schools, this school has somewhat lower MCAS scores, and staff and community members have expressed equity concerns about having one school with a significantly more disadvantaged profile than the others.
2. Are there reasons other than equity to
consider changing our present school configuration - would differently
configured schools be more effective and/or efficient than the status
quo?
For example, if certain grade levels were focused in fewer schools rather than being spread across four schools, class sizes could be more consistent, there could be new opportunities for teacher collaboration, and so on. On the other hand, such a configuration would reduce the sense of Amherst having "neighborhood" schools and increase the number of transitions from school to school, could increase transportation costs, and so on.
Alternative district organization options
Conclusions
Our work was motivated by the issue of equity across the elementary schools, and certainly our findings point to issues of inequity in the current system, with one of our elementary schools having a significantly higher proportion of low-income students than the other three. The current configuration creates other problems for our community, including the challenges that emerge when children from very different schools are joined together in the middle school in 7th grade, the financial inefficiencies of the current system, and potential instructional benefits to be gained by bringing together more grade-level teachers and students per building.
We encourage the School Committee to create awareness (among parents, teachers, and community members) about the costs and benefits of the current system as well as the costs and benefits associated with various alternatives. In addition, the School Committee may want to consider a combination of short-term and long-term approaches for creating a more equitable, efficient, and effective school organization.
Preliminary School Committee concerns
Committee Membership.
The ASOC membership included representatives of the various stakeholders in the district, including teachers, parents from each elementary school, administrators, and a School Committee liaison. Committee members were: Clare Bertrand (Crocker Farm parent), Elizabeth Devlin (Crocker Farm teacher), Claire Hamilton (Wildwood parent), Mary May (Marks Meadow teacher), Kathryn McDermott (Wildwood parent), Felicia Mednick (Mark's Meadow parent), Michael Morris (Crocker Farm Assistant Principal), Meg Rosa (Marks Meadow parent), Catherine Sanderson (Fort River parent), Ray Sharick (Wildwood parent), Derek Shea (ARHS guidance counselor), Michele Spirko (Fort River parent), and Andy Churchill (School Committee liaison). Superintendent Jere Hochman also participated in a number of the meetings.
If school is canceled or delayed, a message will be displayed on the front page of the district web site. If no message appears, then school is open at the regular time.
Information about school closing can also be obtained through the following sources:
ARPS School Cancellations or Delays Information Line (413) 362-1898
Radio Stations: FM 93.1 94.7 98.3 100.9 AM 1400
Television stations WWLP Channel 22 WGGB Channel 40
TV Station Websites:
www.wwlp.com
www.wggb.com
Buses pick children up 1 hour after regularly scheduled time – school begins one hour later than usual. Students are dismissed at the regular time.
Children are picked up 2 hours after regularly scheduled time - school begins 2 hours later than usual. Students are dismissed at the regular time.
Sports Cancellations Line (413) 362-1798 or www.highschoolsports.net