Here's the link to the Bulletin article: http://www.amherstbulletin.com/commentary/20737579-95/katherine-appy-mike-morris-advancing-equity-and-excellence-in-amherst-elementary-schools
Mike Morris is the Assistant Superintendent of the Amherst Regional Public Schools
Katherine Appy is the chair of the Amherst School Committee
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Last week the
Amherst School Committee voted 4-1 to reconfigure our schools. The plan
is for Crocker Farm to become an early childhood center,
pre-kindergarten through first grade, and to construct a new building
housing two co-located schools, second through sixth grade. This vote
came after much public engagement — including multiple community forums
and PGO, school committee and small group meetings — and was based on an
educational recommendation made by the superintendent and supported by
the assistant superintendent, all three elementary school principals and
other educational leaders.
In our view, this reconfiguration is
the best option to advance educational equity and excellence. Research
has consistently shown that an investment in early childhood education
has a great impact on closing the achievement gap.
Our own local
data tells us that Amherst students who do not attend pre-school are at a
great disadvantage when entering our schools that lasts well into their
academic careers. For all children to have the best chance to realize
their full potential, they must have access to a high-quality pre-school
education.
The reconfiguration does exactly that. We would be
able to add two additional pre-school classrooms, which would provide an
early learning experience for students who cannot now attend pre-school
because of cost, space in our pre-school program, transportation or
other factors.
Another advantage of the reconfiguration model is
that students will no longer be bused away from their neighborhood peers
based on their socio-economic status or their special learning needs.
Currently, many low income students are bused to other schools to
achieve socio-economic balance in all our elementary schools.
Children in specialized special education programs also attend schools
outside their enrollment zones. The reconfiguration plan will eliminate
the need for these practices.
The new second through sixth grade
schools will offer high quality classrooms, thus overcoming the many
structural problems plaguing the Fort River and Wildwood schools, which
include an open classroom design that poses enormous challenges to
effective teaching and learning.
By providing far greater
acoustic privacy, the new classrooms will enhance education for all
students and make possible the project based, interactive learning that
our students deserve. Students with special needs and ELL students will
be particularly advantaged by the new design.
We understand that
there are some in the community who believe this will be one large
school of 750 students. In reality, the new, or newly renovated, school
building would house two distinct schools within it, each with around
375 students, which is smaller than the current population at Wildwood.
Each school would have its own principal, teacher teams, and culture.
The only shared instructional spaces would be a gymnasium, which would
be oversized for an elementary school, allowing for enhanced community
use after school hours, and an oversized library, which would allow for a
greater selection of books than would typically be available for
elementary school students.
The schools would also include a
“makerspace” — an indoor science and technology playground designed to
promote creative hands-on play and learning.
Cost estimates show
that reconfiguration will be roughly $20 million less expensive than
renovating or rebuilding Wildwood using Massachusetts School Building
Authority funds and renovating Fort River with town funds.
We
firmly believe that this reconfiguration model promotes educational
equity, provides a superior environment for engaged teaching and
learning, will maximize achievement for all students, and gives us the
most cost effective plan to resolve the critical structural issues
facing two of our elementary schools.
