AMHERST — Before she began teaching at Wildwood School several years ago, Kristen Roeder never got sick with pneumonia. Since Roeder’s been at the elementary school, which has been the subject of air quality complaints, she’s been afflicted with the illness four times.
At Fort River School, a leaky roof caused a portion of the ceiling in Nicole Singer’s art classroom to collapse over a kiln. Nevertheless, she said children still appreciate coming to art class where there are four walls as opposed to the elementary school’s open-air classrooms.
“I want to see students enjoy the rest of the building the way they do the art room,” Singer said.
Roeder and Singer were among more than 20 teachers, parents and residents who packed into a room at Town Hall Monday evening to offer testimony to the Town Council about the conditions of the two 1970s-era school buildings in advance of the council’s April 1 vote. That vote will determine whether statements of interest are submitted to the Massachusetts School Building Authority seeking funding to replace both Wildwood and Fort River.
The proposal the council would be endorsing is still being refined, but is expected to be different from the one voters narrowly approved in November 2016 but which was unable to muster support from Town Meeting.
Superintendent Michael Morris said a 600-student school, for children in kindergarten through fifth grade or kindergarten through sixth grade, would be able to more quickly replace both schools. Working conditions are challenging for staff members at both Wildwood and Fort River, he said.
“For us, the urgency is high,” Morris said.
The proposal is considered a compromise plan, as the rejected project, with $34 million from the MSBA to fund a $66.37 million building, would have had twin schools built at Wildwood and a grade reconfiguration that would have left the third elementary school, Crocker Farm, as an early childhood education center.
The idea is to apply for a grant “with some level of consensus,” Morris said, after the Amherst School Committee March 11 voted unanimously in favor of the statements of interest.
School Committee Chairwoman Anastasia Ordonez said people expressed to the School Committee at several meetings that the latest proposal is a reasonable compromise.
Ginny Hamilton, co-chairwoman of the Amherst Forward political action committee, said even though the new plan does not have an expanded preschool program, getting a new school is essential.
“It’s just time to say goodbye to the 1970s and the open classrooms,” said parent Deb Leonard.
Lisa Solowiej, a Fort River parent, said she wants the council to take a unanimous vote in favor of the application, adding that one of her children fears going to school when it is raining due to the constant roof leaks.
Jean Fay, president of the Amherst-Pelham Education Association, said repairs and renovations are no longer enough. “We can’t wait, our buildings are being held together by Band-Aids,” Fay said.
Although the last project faced organized opposition from a group called Save our Small Schools, none of the critics of that project spoke at Monday’s meeting.
Councilors offered few comments giving any indication of how they feel about the project.
District 5 Councilor Darcy Dumont said she hopes that all households in town, whether they have children in the schools or not, will be able to participate in the process.
At-Large Councilor Andy Steinberg said a 600-student school is most cost responsive to taxpayers, rather than pursuing renovations or new schools at the Wildwood and Fort River sites.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
