consideration of the Superintendent. The EWG decided to form five subgroups: Socio-Economic Balance, Special. Education
A RPS U p d at e M ar ch 16 , 20 18 A M essage f r om M ich ael M or r is, Su per in t en den t of Sch ools On Wednesday, many of our students participated in activities related to the national school walk out in response to the Photo by Sarah Crosby, Daily Hampshire Gazette tragedy in Parkland, Florida. Activities at each school, which ranged from moments of silence to student walk outs, were planned to be developmentally appropriate and to ensure students' emotional safety. I want to recognize our students for the way in which they exercised their rights to free speech, while honoring every individual's right to choose whether to participate or not. I also want to thank our faculty, staff and administrators for supporting our students so well during this moment of national advocacy, as well as the Amherst Police Department for their role in ensuring the safety of our students who chose to walk into town for the rally on the Common. After students were released early on Wednesday, Jessica Minahan, M.Ed, BCBA, worked with our faculty/staff on the topic of understanding and teaching the most challenging students. Dr. Minahan works with faculty to show how commonplace school factors, as well as the student?s underdeveloped skills, contribute to his or her challenging behavior. She provides professionals with time-tested interventions that will lead their students to more appropriate, constructive behavior in and out of school. For those who are interested in learning more about her work, Dr. Minahan?s first book is The Behavior Code: A Practical Guide to Understanding and Teaching the Most Challenging Students. Last year 's dialogue surrounding the Amherst Elementary School Building Project surfaced multiple enrollment challenges facing the district. On June 14,
2017, the Amherst School Committee voted to form the Enrollment Working Group (EWG), which includes community members, families, and staff members, to investigate challenges and develop potential suggestions for consideration of the Superintendent. The EWG decided to form five subgroups: Socio-Economic Balance, Special Education Programs, Declining Enrollment, Preschool Access, and Dual Language Immersion. After working summer 2017 through winter 2018, the EWG subgroups each reported their findings to me and to the Amherst School Committee. At last night's Amherst School Committee meeting, I presented my formal response to the EWG findings. Information regarding the work of the EWG, it?s subgroups? findings, and my response can be found here. In exciting news for the Amherst elementary schools, Crocker Farm, Fort River and Wildwood have each been awarded grants of $2,000 from the Whole Kids Foundation. Created in partnership with FoodCorps, the Whole Kids Foundation Garden Grant program provides funds to support new or existing edible school gardens. I was pleased to learn that the Amherst-Regional Public Schools' Food Service Collection Policy, which was developed and passed last year by the School Committees, has been noted as a "Model Policy" by the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute (MLRI). Founded in 1968, MLRI is a statewide nonprofit poverty law and policy center. Its mission is to advance economic, racial and social justice through a multi-pronged strategy that includes legal action, policy advocacy, coalition building, community engagement, and public awareness campaigns. MLRI specializes in large-scale initiatives and systemic reforms that: address institutional policies and practices that harm low income people; promote economic fairness and stability; and create pathways to opportunity and self-sufficiency for low income individuals, families and communities. Have a great weekend,
Superintendent
Updat e f r om t h e Am h er st Sch ool Com m it t ee Ch air an d Vice-Ch air Pr esch ool En r ollm en t Wor k in g Gr ou p Pr esen t at ion The fifth subgroup of the Enrollment Working Group presented their report about preschool access in the district. Given the conclusive research about the significance of high-quality preschool education for long-term student success, the group specifically focused on understanding what barriers exist for families whose children do not attend preschool prior to entering kindergarten. Their full report can be found here. Su per in t en den t ?s For m al Respon se t o En r ollm en t Wor k in g Gr ou p Repor t s Last spring, the Amherst School Committee tasked the Superintendent with forming an Enrollment Working Group (EWG), to identify and research areas of enrollment challenge in the district that needed addressing following the failed elementary school building project. The subsequent EWG, a group of 29 volunteers from the community and schools, identified five areas of focus: socio-economic balance; declining enrollment; preschool access; special education programming; and dual-language programming. Subgroups were formed to study these topics, and following multiple facilitated sessions as well as independent work, each group presented a full research report to the Superintendent and School Committee, with recommended solutions. All documents related to the EWG?s findings can be found on the ARPS website here. At the March 14th Amherst School Committee meeting, Dr. Morris presented a path to explore, based on the work of these subgroups, that could simultaneously address all the issues they studied. This exploration would consider developing a Spanish/English dual-language program at Fort River Elementary School, where two of three kindergarten classrooms would work in both Spanish and English, with the goal of adding one grade per year through sixth grade. Dr. Morris made clear that no students in the district would be required to change schools or participate in a dual-language program if they did not wish to do so, and that if adopted, the program would function within the current budget with no additional staff. Additionally, Mr. Shea and Mr. Yaffe, the Crocker Farm and Wildwood Elementary School principals respectively, shared their enthusiasm about the possibility that their school communities would simultaneously engage in a process to consider a thematic focus unique to each school setting. In the upcoming weeks and months, staff and committee members will be conducting site visits, attending conferences, and scheduling informational meetings with community members, specifically targeting Spanish-speaking families and families with preschool-aged children to explore the community?s interest in this kind of program. Dr. Morris is also in communication with comparable districts with dual-language programs throughout the country, and has engaged the Multistate Association for Bilingual Education (MABE) to guide this exploration.The first informational meetings will be held April 4th, 9:30am and 4:30pm, in the Woodbury Room of the Jones Library. A full proposal for the School Committee to consider will be brought for a vote in fall of 2018. Should the proposal be approved, the program would begin in Fall of 2019. Dr. Morris?s full presentation can be found here and the Amherst Media video of the presentation is available here. St at em en t of In t er est (SOI) Su bm ission s t o t h e M SBA The Amherst School Committee voted to submit SOIs for the Wildwood and Fort River buildings to be considered for Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) funding. The district will be informed in winter of 2019 if it has been accepted into the program for either building. The full SOI documents can be found here. FY2019 Bu dget f or Am h er st Elem en t ar y Sch ools Appr oved The Amherst School Committee voted on March 14th to approve the recommended budget of $23,227,365 for the Amherst Elementary Schools. This budget represents a 3.1% increase over last year ?s budget, and includes reductions of over $537,000. The full budget can be found here. Questions or comments for the Amherst School Committee can be emailed to
[email protected]. For posted meetings, agendas, and meeting minutes, please visit www.arps.org. Phoebe Hazzard, Chair
Anastasia Ordonez, Vice-Chair
For t River Sch ool Bu ildin g Com m it t ee
Com e t o a Gospel Ch oir Con cer t t o ben ef it Am h er st A Bet t er Ch an ce (ABC) on Tu esday, Apr il 10t h , at Gr ace Episcopal Ch u r ch , Am h er st ! Th e con cer t st ar t s at 7:30 PM an d f eat u r es t h e Am h er st Ar ea Gospel Ch oir , t h e Am h er st Region al High Sch ool Ch or ale, t h e Ham psh ir e You n g People?s Ch or u s, an d t h e Resu r r ect Gospel Ch oir at Am h er st College. Con cer t -goer s ar e also in vit ed t o a w elcom e r ecept ion w it h ligh t r ef r esh m en t s f r om 6:30 t o 7:15 p.m . in t h e r oom adjacen t t o t h e San ct u ar y at Gr ace Ch u r ch . Th e r ecept ion w ill in clu de t h e oppor t u n it y t o m eet t h e Am h er st A Bet t er Ch an ce Sch olar s an d t h e Residen t Dir ect or s. A don at ion of $20 (or m or e!) f r om each con cer t -goer w ill be gr at ef u lly accept ed, bu t all w h o w ish t o celebr at e t h e ABC Pr ogr am t h r ou gh gospel m u sic ar e m ost w elcom e!
