Summary of Recent Meetings

There was a lengthy discussion of two separate proposals to form committees/working groups related to the long-term fiscal stability of the school districts. One was submitted by Councilor Ana Devlin Gauthier and the other by Council President Lynn Griesemer and Councilor Cathy Schoen. Discussion starts around the one hour mark of the video. Here are some of quick takeaways: 

• We already have two bodies responsible for discussion and coordination of budget needs – and they are not being well used by the Town Council. The Council should try to use these existing avenues first before creating a whole new body. 
• Four Towns meetings are opportunities for leadership from Amherst, Shutesbury, Pelham and Leverett along with leadership for the Regional Schools to discuss budget needs of the Regional Schools as well as the resources available in the four towns. The Amherst Town Council has not made good use of these meetings this year (declining to appoint a representative and also coming into one meeting announcing that the Council would not be convening or making decisions in that setting). On Monday, Councilor Hanneke pointed out that the Four Towns Meeting could be used better if Town Council and Finance Committee could submit questions in advance and coordinate better with the School Committee, and that the a new committee would not be needed if this existing meeting structure could be better utilized by all parties. 
• Amherst also has a Budget Coordinating Group (BCG) which is a group made up of representatives from the Elementary Schools, the Regional Schools, the Library and the Town Council. This group has also not been well utilized this year by Town Council, and it has only met twice this budget cycle with a very limited agenda. Councilor Devlin Gauthier has repeatedly urged the Council to make use of this group for actual discussion and on Monday urged the Town Manager and Council President to actually call for a meeting of this group so that discussions could take place. 
• There was some discussion of how the proposed committees could be used to discuss desired school quality, which  may exceed the authority of the Town Council. We elect the School Committee to oversee our schools, not the Town Council. A previous attempt by the Town Council to form a committee a year ago suggested that committee would delve into programmatic offerings of the Districts, a real overreach. Decisions about our schools are made by the people we elect to operate our schools and not the Town Council. 
• Future discussions on “fiscal sustainability” must also include discussions of the municipal budget (and not only focus on the schools). There are a lot of unanswered questions about the municipal budget, and less transparency into the municipal budget than the schools budget, and this should also be addressed. 

• Upcoming Town Meetings where Regional Budget will be voted: 
  • Leverett: Saturday May 3rd 9:00 AM, Leverett Elementary School; Dr. Xi and outgoing School Committee member Tilman Wolf will attend to speak on behalf of the district budget
  • Pelham: Saturday May 10th 9:00, Pelham Elementary School
  • Shutesbury: Satuday May 31st, Shutesbury Elementary School

• Amherst Budget dates: 
  • Finance Committee Meeting Thursday May 8th 9-11AM – FY26 Review of the Regional and Elementary Schools’ budgets. Dr. Xi has been asked to present at this meeting. School Committee members indicated that they had not been informed of the meeting by Finance Committee or Town Council nor invited, but would try to attend in order to support Dr. Xi and answer questions. There is a public comment period at the outset of the meeting and members of the public are welcome to speak in support of the budget.  
  • Finance Committee Public Hearing on the budget – Monday May 12th, 6:30 PM via Zoom

• ARMS facilities update: Dr. Xi will be providing a written update on the ARMS health and safety issues related to the roof. In brief, though, remediation has occurred in several parts of the building, the building has been assessed and it has been determined that indoor mold levels are similar to outdoor mold levels indicating that any mold in air samples is not derived from an indoor source. Ceiling tiles have been replaced and are being monitored. 
• ARMS leadership – Mr. Rodriguez is continuing in his role as the Interim Principal. Dr.Gayle-Brissett is currently serving as the Interim Assistant Principal. The permanent Principal Position begins July 1st, and Dr. Xi plans to make an announcement about that by the end of May. 
• Portrait of a Graduate – The School Districts are involved in a strategic planning process called Portrait of a Graduate. School Committees received an update presentation on Tuesday night. One of the next steps in this process is a strategic budgeting process which will largely occur over the summer. It is interesting to note that one of the outcomes of the strategic budgeting process seems to be five-year projections. These type of longer-term projections is something that Town Councilors have been asking for.