AMHERST — A volunteer group is forming to advocate in support of the $98 million elementary school to replace Wildwood and Fort River elementary schools.

Vote Yes for Our Schools, a ballot question committee that organized in late January, was scheduled to hold a meeting at the Jones Library Monday evening to outline the project, a 105,750-square-foot, three-story, net-zero emissions building at the Fort River School site on South East Street. The group, which is recruiting volunteers, will also tout the project’s strengths and explain it meets the town’s sustainability goals.

Retired state Rep. Ellen Story is joining the group in the lead up to the anticipated May 2 Proposition 2½ debt exclusion vote.

Story, who also endorsed a failed twin elementary school project in 2016, said in a statement that Amherst has been waiting many years for the new school.

“I’m looking forward to helping voters understand why this project is so important to the future of Amherst and this community, and why the time to vote ‘yes’ is now,” Story said.

So far, there is no organized opposition to the project where 575 K-5 students would be educated, and all sixth graders would move to the Amherst Regional Middle School, either this fall or in fall 2026. The last project, to build co-located, 375-student, grades 2-6 elementary schools at a cost of $66.37 million, was extensively debated.

Competing ballot question committees then formed, one group called Save Amherst’s Small Schools and the other Building Opportunities and Learning Diversity. At the heart of the debate was bringing all grades 2-6 students to the twin school at the Wildwood site on Strong Street, and turning Crocker Farm School, the third elementary school, into an early childhood learning center.

The new ballot committee is planning coordinated outreach strategies to get voters to the polls and to raise awareness about the proposed school. The committee is citing the project’s educational benefits, such as natural daylight and operating windows and doors and flexible classroom and learning spaces that will fully accommodate all students, including those with special needs; the operational savings of $250,000 a year from efficient heating, cooling and ventilation systems; and the meeting of the town’s net-zero building goals through an all-electric building that reduces Amherst’s reliance on fossil fuels.

Kursten Holabird is co-chairing the ballot question committee. “Our community needs this new school building to meet 21st-century learning and sustainability goals,” said Holabird, an Amherst parent and longtime labor union activist.

With the Massachusetts School Building Authority accepting the town into to the building program, and paying for 40% or so of the building costs, Committee Co-Chairman Matt Holloway, an Amherst parent, veteran educator and administrator, called this “a second bite at the apple.”

“My family and I moved here for the diversity and excellence of Amherst’s schools,” Holloway said. “I’m grateful that we get another chance to build a new school for our youngest learners so that they can receive a quality education in a quality environment now and for years to come.”

A website at YesforAmherstSchools.org will provide more information. To learn more, email YesForAmherstSchools@gmail.com.

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