The four recommendations range from maintaining the current school structure to complete regionalization.
AMHERST - Officials and residents from Amherst, Pelham, Leverett and Shutesbury have the opportunity tonight to review the final report and recommendations of a committee charged with evaluating the educational and efficiency benefits of consolidating the towns' elementary schools.
As Diane Lederman reports, the Four-Town K-12 Regionalization Study Committee has spent the past 18 months studying options for regionalizing grades K-6. The committee will present four options outlined in its report at a 7 p.m. meeting at Amherst Regional Middle School.
The towns currently participate in a regional district for grades 7-12.
The options recommended in the report include:
- expanding Union 26 to include Shutesbury and Leverett;
- expanding the region to include Kindergarten through high school (K-12);
- expanding the region to K-12 with closure of the Pelham Elementary School; and,
- taking other actions within the current structure to improve articulation and achieve operational efficiencies.
Below, enrollment totals -- excluding school choice -- for grades K-6 in Amherst, Pelham, Leverett and Shutesbury, 2003-2010.