AMHERST — An overhaul of the Amherst Family Center is underway to provide better intervention and support for families of children missing a significant amount of school days and causing them to struggle academically.

As part of a continued effort that’s being driven by data to streamline and improve public school services, Superintendent E. Xiomara Herman explained in an interview this week that she is concerned with the future of the center housed at the middle school, now known as the Family and Student Services Center.

“Our data is not showing that the Family Center is affecting students most in need,” Herman said. “Hispanic students aren’t benefiting, student of color are not benefiting, students with IEPs (individual education program) are not benefiting, high-needs and low-income students are not benefiting.”

The Family Center has a mission to connect students, their families and the community to partner for academic achievement and overall success, with much of the focus on students with severe and chronic absences, which typically means 18 or more absences in a school year.

But Herman said not only are these problems not being addressed adequately, there is also a stigma that the Family Center isn’t serving the full diversity of students, and there need to be ways of engaging with more families.

“It’s concerning for me, so the changes are to build a bridge and connection to the schools, ” Herman said.

Under the changes being implemented, the Family Center is continuing to work with the current caseload, but now in a school-based way, instead of being stationed at the middle school. This includes two support liaisons to engage with families, doing training and facilitating family meetings, as well as continuing to do home visits. One day each week, a support liaison is at one of Amherst’s three elementary schools, and that person also spends two days at the high school; while another Family Center liaison is assisting families at Pelham Elementary.

The centralized hub has been operating from the middle school across from the central offices, but services should happen at the schools for what the Family Center calls Tier 3 supports, with those supports mostly about being more proactive in addressing absences and other problems that may prevent a student from graduating. This has mostly been done through the school’s Steps to Success program.

Tier 1 supports have been available to all families through the Family Center’s website, with requests coming from families, while Tier 2 supports have typically been referred by teachers and principals with concerns over student performance.

“We have to do it with the school in tandem,” Herman said.

“Our data clearly shows that our absenteeism rates are not going down, our students who are the most in need are not receiving those needs, our students of color, our high-needs, our low-income students, are not showing the growth rate we would need,” Herman said.

Herman said she asked for data regarding Family Center programs and which are original to its mission. She learned that many programs are collaborations, like Morning Movement and Mentoring, which brings in Amherst police, Amherst Recreation, Amherst College and the University of Massachusetts; and VELA, an after-school program partnering with the Collaborative for Educational Services.

“One of the clear things that was brought to my attention a lot of the programs that are are being pushed by the Family Center are not directly district-sponsored programs, they were actually programs sponsored through grants or another entity through sponsorship, ” Herman said.

But she is supportive of continuing those programs as well as reprogramming to meet current needs.

“How do we meet needs and have our own programs?” Herman said.

As she seeks to get the services into the schools, Herman said that both Marta Guevara, director of the Family Center, and administrator Mildred Martinez remain at the middle school office.

Long term, Herman said there is a need to provide school support and training, before students stop coming to school.

“Let’s stop being reactive and saying we’re addressing the problem after it has arisen, and start dealing with the problem ahead of time,” Herman said.

Herman said she wants to ensure that what is needed in the schools is actually in the buildings.

“One of the things I’ve found coming in is a lot of processes that belong to the schools were sitting at the central office, and a lot of the processes that belong to the central office may have been sitting at the schools,” Herman said.

Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.