Recap of 1/28 school committee meeting
Amherst School Committee/Regional School Committee Meeting 1/28 – You can watch the recording here.
- Public Comment – A number of commenters spoke in support of Dr. Xi and the work she is doing, including staff representing the LGBTQIA+ Caucus and the Black Caucus.
- Presentation on Strategic Planning – The School Committees heard a presentation from Dr. Allison Layland on the work she is beginning in strategic planning with the districts. You can view her slide deck here.
- Discussion of a draft letter to Amherst Town Council on school funding – The Regional School Committee’s Fiscal Sustainability Subcommittee put together a letter to Amherst Town Council in response to the Budget Guidelines for FY26 that Amherst Town Council has approved. The School Committee began but did not finish discussing this letter and will continue at the next meeting. It’s worth taking a look at as it lays out the ways in which the Town of Amherst isn’t prioritizing the schools in the budget. You can scan just the first couple of paragraphs for the summary. The Gazette also covered this here. The Indy covered it here. It is important to recognize that last year around this time, families had to push very hard to get the School Committee to ask for more money from Amherst, and our then Interim Superintendent was resistant. A year later, the School Committee is front and center with this fight, pushing back at the town for limiting the budget of the schools.