12-18-15 Email and Newsletter

Dear Parents and Guardians:
As we get closer to the winter break, it’s wonderful to see your children’s excitement! I hope you are able to
enjoy time with family and friends.
Over the past couple of months, a few opinion pieces have been published in the local newspaper regarding the
schools and the projects currently underway. I am taking the opportunity in this week’s newsletter to clarify
some information and correct some inaccuracies. Since the newsletter is attached as a pdf, the links are spelled
out instead of being live. For your convenience, all of the live links are included below.
Have a great weekend!
Maria
Links:
Savings from Closing Marks Meadow
UMass Letter regarding South East Campus and East Street Alternative High School
Umass Housing Costs Letter to Chancellor
Response from Chancellor Subbaswamy
Amherst School Building Project FAQ
Elementary Configuration Options Chart
Amherst Elementary School Building Project Program Design Proposal
Estimados padres y encargados:
A medida que nos acercamos a las vacaciones de invierno, ¡es maravilloso ver el entusiasmo de sus hijos! Espero
que usted pueda disfrutar del tiempo con la familia y amigos.
Durante los dos últimos meses, un par de artículos de opinión se han publicado en el periódico local con respecto
a las escuelas y los proyectos actualmente en curso. Estoy tomando la oportunidad en el boletín de esta semana
para aclarar alguna información y corregir algunas inexactitudes. Dado que el boletín se adjunta en formato PDF,
los enlaces se detallan en lugar de estar en directo. Para su comodidad, todos los enlaces en vivo se incluyen a
continuación.
¡Que tengan un buen fin de semana!
Maria
Enlaces:
Ahorro derivado del Cierre de Mark Meadow
Carta de UMass con respecto al Campus del Sur Este y Escuela Secundaria Alternativa en la calle East
UMass Costos de Vivienda Carta al Canciller
Respuesta del Canciller Subbaswamy
Proyecto de Construcción Escuela de Amherst Preguntas frecuentes
Gráfico de Opciones de Configuración de Elemental
Propuesta del Diseño del Programa del Proyecto de Construcción de Escuela Elemental de Amherst
Updat es f r om Su per i n t en den t M ar i a Ger yk
December 14-18, 2015
One kind word can warm three winter months.
--Japanese Proverb
Upcom ing
Event s
.
Tuesday, December 22
Amherst School Committee
ARHS Library @ 6:00 p.m.
Thursday, December 24
Wint er Hol iday Break Begins
Monday, January 4
School Reopens
Tuesday, January 12
Regional School Committee
ARHS Library @ 6:00 p.m.
Fr omt heSuper int endent
The changes being explored for the Amherst and
Amherst-Pelham Regional Schools have, rightfully, been a
topic of great conversation in the community and the focus of
two recent op-ed articles. Such public discourse is essential
for these significant decisions; however, as we address our
educational needs as a community, it is imperative that we do
so with complete and accurate information. Here is clarifying
information about some concerns recently raised (with links
to additional information listed within the document and
active links included in my weekly email):
Concern 1: The process f or changes in t he dist rict s is
moving t oo quickl y and input is not being sol icit ed f rom
t eachers, parent s, st udent s and t he communit y.
Wednesday, January 13
Amherst School Building Project Community Forum
ARHS Library @ 6:45 p.m.
Tuesday, January 19
Amherst School Committee
ARHS Library @ 6:45 p.m.
ARHSLibr ar y donat ion
We are thrilled to announce
that the Amherst Regional
High School library is the
beneficiary of an
extraordinarily generous gift of $65,500 from the
estate of Ann L. Hyde of Lawrence, Kansas. Very
little information about Ms. Hyde was provided to
the district when we were notified of her gift, but
we know that she was not an ARHS alumni. ARHS
librarian Leslie Lomasson hopes to be able to learn
more about Ms. Hyde since she has been such a
wonderful benefactor, providing a gift that will
benefit our students for generations to come.
The Amherst Elementary Building Project has been ongoing
for several years with many opportunities for stakeholder
input. A Statement of Interest (SOI) was first submitted to the
Massachusetts School Building Authority in 2007 to address
the elementary building concerns, and the district followed
up with annual submissions until the Wildwood SOI was
accepted in 2013. Each SOI submission was discussed and
approved at open meetings of the Amherst School Committee
and Select Board. Once an SOI was accepted, moving forward
with the MSBA process was discussed and approved by the
Amherst Town Meeting in 2014. Since then, discussion of the
building project has been featured at 16 School Committee
meetings, 10 School Building Committee meetings, six PGO
meetings, three School Council meetings, nine faculty
meetings, one meeting with preschool families, two meetings
with Special Education families, and six community forums.
Information is also shared, and feedback solicited, on the
Amherst Elementary Building Project Facebook page and the
district website.
(Continued on next page)
The schools have been dealing with a structural deficit
for a decade now, with multiple administrators and
school committees working to address these serious
financial constraints. In 2014, representatives of the four
Regional towns requested that the district explore
consolidating the middle and high schools as a potential
means of cost savings. The Regional School Committee
was first notified of this exploration in April 2015. Since
then, the district has engaged in a variety of outreach
efforts designed to share information and elicit
feedback, including a stakeholder survey that garnered
approximately 1,000 responses, multiple community
listening sessions, and the full-day Hurricane
Revisioning Summit. Updates on both the Amherst
Elementary Building Project and the potential Merging
ARMS and ARHS Project are highlighted regularly in my
weekly email and newsletter to all district families and
staff members. These weekly updates are also shared
with Town Meeting members and the broader
community on the Office of the Superintendent page of
the district website at www.arps.org.
UMass ensuring cash payments to the town in lieu of the
in-kind support represented by the Marks Meadow
building. According to Amherst Finance Director Sandy
Pooler, no such agreement was ever reached with UMass.
Nevertheless, both the Amherst Town Manager and I
have continued to negotiate annually with UMass for
support to offset the cost of students living in University
housing. My first formal proposal was in 2009, which
involved a request to allow the district to continue
utilizing the Marks Meadow building to house what was
then our South Amherst Campus and East Street
Alternative High School Programs. When this proposal
was rejected, the two schools were combined in the
South Amherst Campus location creating the South East
Campus school. In subsequent years, school data was
included in the conversations between Town and UMass
officials. In June 2015, I wrote to UMass Chancellor
Subbaswamy requesting a meeting to discuss the
significant rise in the cost of students living in UMass
housing and potential ways to offset those costs
(http:/ / www.arps.org/ UserFiles/ Servers/ Server_926729
There will continue to be outreach efforts and many
opportunities and venues for community input as both
of these projects progress. A public forum regarding the
Amherst Elementary Building Project is already
scheduled for January 13, 2016 and dates are being
finalized for public forums regarding the potential
Merging ARMS and ARHS project.
/ File/ Umass% 20housing% 20costs% 20chancellor% 20
Concern 2: Past cost -savings decisions did not resul t in
savings as promised (part icul arl y, t he decision t o
out source f ood services in t he dist rict s and t he cl osing
of Marks Meadow)
from% 20Chancellor% 20Subbaswamy.pdf). When the
new Amherst Town Manager is appointed, I will continue
to work with him or her to negotiate a fair and equitable
agreement with UMass that reduces the financial impact
on our schools.
Outsourcing food services in the school districts did
result in significant savings. In FY2007, prior to
outsourcing food services, the labor costs were
$658,293. Assuming a conservative salary increase of
1.5% per year, that cost would be $741,562 in FY2015 if
food service had remained in district. The actual cost of
salaries in FY2015 is $602,882, a savings of more than
$100,000.
Without question, closing Marks Meadow resulted in
significant financial savings for the Amherst School
District? just over $867,000 (http:/ / www.arps.org/
UserFiles/ Servers/ Server_926729/ File/ MM% 20
Savings.pdf). However, a question was raised about a
signed agreement between the Town of Amherst and
letter.pdf). Dr. Subbaswamy responded that any
discussions around these issues would need to take
place in the larger context of continuing negotiations
with the Town of Amherst (http:/ / www.arps.org/
UserFiles/ Servers/ Server_926729/ File/ Response% 20
Concern 3: Redist rict ing t he el ement ary school s af t er
Marks Meadow cl osed did not resul t in equit y in cl ass
sizes and t he dist ribut ion of st udent s f rom dif f erent
socio-economic backgrounds because t his is l ist ed as a
benef it of t he proposed new conf igurat ion.
Before the elementary schools were redistricted at the
end of the 2010 school year, there was a 44% difference
between the school with the highest rate of
free/ reduced lunch eligible students and the school with
the lowest rate. Currently, the difference is only 10% .
While this is an admirable reduction, a configuration
with a preK-grade one school and a grade 2-6 school
would eliminate the imbalance completely since all
students from each grade level would be in one building.
Concern 4: Redist rict ing l ed t o ?isl ands? of st udent s in
some of t he apart ment compl exes which coul d not be
avoided due t o a number of t ransport at ion
impediment s. El iminat ing t he isl ands is present ed as a
benef it of one of t he new el ement ary scenarios, but no
anal ysis has been shared wit h t he publ ic regarding t he
maximum and median t ransport at ion t imes f or st udent s
under each of t he new scenarios.
A frequently asked questions document has been posted
and updated regularly for both the Amherst Elementary
School Building Project and the Merging ARMS & ARHS
Project. The transportation implications for the
elementary school configurations are addressed in
question 5 of the elementary FAQ, which was posted on
October 30th. The information provided also contains
links to a report showing the specifics for the bus routes.
The link to the FAQ is https:/ / drive.google.com/ file/ d/
0By0mz4P0v3bWc1Z3NXRQQmJKek0/ view.
Concern 5: One l ist ed advant age of a t wo-school model
is ?Ensure that regular collaboration between groups of
educators with similar positions can occur on a
consistent basis so that best practices can be shared and
transferred to multiple classrooms, providing a similar
experience for all students.? The impl icat ions of t his can
be concerning given recent t eacher and parent concerns
about t op-down imposit ion of t eaching met hods and
programs.
Three years ago, School Instructional Leadership Teams
(SILTs) were implemented at each school in the district.
SILTs are teams of educators in each school that are
integral in designing staff meetings and professional
development. In addition to the work of the SILTs,
teachers have been integral in the professional
development offered in the district. At the last early
release day on December 16, 17 of the professional
development sessions were designed and facilitated by
teacher leaders, not by school or district administrators.
In a two-school model, the time required for teachers to
travel to a training location could have been utilized for
collaboration.
Concern 6: A vot e on consol idat ion of grades 7-12
shoul d simpl y be post poned f or a year.
As has been shared, merging the middle and high
schools is being explored due to financial constraints.
Postponing a vote for a year will not forestall extensive
budget cuts that will be required if no change is made.
Concern 7: The pl usses and minuses of each el ement ary
conf igurat ion opt ion have not been f ul l y expl ored.
Actually, the pros and cons of each potential
configuration option have been explored extensively by
the Wildwood School Building Committee and have been
shared publicly in a number of ways. A chart
summarizing each of the options is available on the
website and on the Amherst School Building Project
Facebook page (the link is https:/ / drive.google.com
/ file/ d/ 0By0mz4P0v3bWeFZuQ25ZZ1Y3Vmc/ view). For
extensive details about the options, you can link to the
full 350 page Program Design Proposal report at
https:/ / drive.google.com/ file/ d/ 0By0mz4P0v3bWU25n
QkxVWWZOc0xVSEtobzJoUDQzc0xmNDVZ/ view. As
more questions or concerns arise, I will address them in
my weekly newsletter to all families and staff.
Maria Geryk
Superintendent of Schools