Fort River School Building Committee Seeking Architectural Design Team

For More Information, Contact:

Jonathan Salvon, Fort River School Building Committee, Chair, fortriversbc@amherstma.gov​

On May 2, the Fort River School Building Committee released a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for the Fort River Elementary School Feasibility Study. The Building Committee will receive applications from architectural design teams interested in working with the Committee to provide the Amherst community with options for a Pre-K through 6thgrade school on the Fort River site and the estimated costs of those preliminary design options. The Building Committee’s work will conclude with the delivery of these options to the Amherst School Committee.

The awarded design team will analyze the Fort River site and school building and propose options for at least three feasible designs. The committee will ask the design team to give the community options that span a range of building costs, operating and maintenance costs, and environmental impacts of both initial construction and continuing operations of the building. The committee and design team will also consider how potential design solutions will affect the operations of the school during the construction of such a project. Renovation, addition, partial or complete demolition, and new construction will all be explored.

The successful design team will work with the building committee in a collaborative, iterative design process over an anticipated 6 months. During this process, the Amherst community will be invited to participate in public forums at three milestones to learn about the design processes and offer feedback.

An indoor air quality assessment of the existing building was recently conducted by ATC Group Services from West Springfield, MA.  Results are expected to be available in June.

Community engagement with the Building Committee’s work will include public access to the committee’s website (www.amherstma.gov/frsbc), that provides access to meeting agendas, minutes, and documents; a binder located in the circulation section of the Jones Library; an e-mail address to receive public comment (fortriversbc@amherstma.gov​); an e-mail list serve; public forums; and scheduled press releases. We welcome feedback on all of these strategies.

Fort River School Building Committee Update

In the spring of 2017 Amherst Town Meeting voted to move forward with a feasibility study of the Fort River Elementary School. The goals of the study are to evaluate the site and building in order to determine what are the possibilities for improvement. The School Administration asked for, and Town Meeting approved, up to $250,000 to accomplish this task that should include a structural analysis, initial schematic designs, and implementation of a “community engagement process”. The committee work is anticipated to take approximately 12 to 18 months.

The Fort River School Building Committee is committed to communicating with the public about its progress and getting a great deal of input along the way to inform decisions. Members of the public are welcome to attend the meetings, the location of each meeting will be published in the town website. Public comment is welcomed at the beginning of the meeting or via email at fortriversbc@amherstma.gov. The public is encouraged to visit the committee’s website www.amherstma.gov/frsbc where documents, schedule, agendas, minutes, and other information are available. Additionally, meetings are recorded and will be broadcast by Amherst Media.

If interested in regular email updates, the public can opt-in to our list-serve by signing up on our website. A copy of these email updates and other documents will be kept on the website and in a binder at Jones Library so that anyone can access our documents and notes. Community listening and information sessions will be scheduled at key points of the process. 

Volunteers Needed for Videotaping Fort River School Building Committee Meetings

Volunteers are needed to videotape the Fort River School Building Committee meetings. Amherst Media will provide training and the necessary equipment, and will broadcast the meetings for the community.

The first meeting is Thursday, November 30, 2017 from 4 to 6 pm at the ARMS Professional Development Center and there will likely be one or two meetings per month. Several people willing and able to take turns doing the filming would be ideal to ensure coverage of these important meetings.

Please contact ftriver@gmail.com if you or someone you know can help.

Thank you!

Update from the Amherst School Committee Chair and Vice-Chair

The Amherst School Committee is pleased to announce the membership of the School Building Committee for the Fort River Building and Site Feasibility Study. At our Tuesday, October 17th meeting, we randomly selected four at-large community members to serve on this 12-member committee. We would sincerely like to thank all those who submitted applications, and to those community members, educators, administrators, and town employees who will be offering their time and service to do the important work of this committee going forward.

The selection process went as follows:

• All completed applications were numbered and names were removed.
• These numbered applications were shared with all School Committee members via email.
• The Chair and Vice-Chair reviewed the numbered applications and sorted them according to the positions for which they applied, which included:
• Community Member with Green Energy Expertise and Architectural Background-At-Large Parent/Guardian/Caregiver
• At-Large Community Member #1
• At-Large Community Member #2

The Chair and Vice-Chair shared all complete applications and the categories with the Committee; final selections were made randomly during the public Committee meeting on Tuesday. The Committee publicly committed to having a minimum of 50% of the voting membership of the School Building Committee be composed of women and persons of color. Applications were considered accordingly based on the optional self-identification of applicants.

The final School Building Committee is as follows:

- Eric Nakajima, Amherst School Committee Representative

- Diane Chamberlain, Fort River Principal

- TBD, Green Design/Architectural Representative

- Heather Sheldon, SEPAC Representative

- Jonathan Salvon, Fort River PGO Representative

- Irene Dujovne, Parent-at-Large

- Allison Page, Community Member-at-Large

- Maria Kopicki, Community Member-at-Large

- Claire McGinnis, Town Finance Representative

- Jean Fay, ARPS Staff Member

- Nicole Singer, Fort River Teacher

- TBD, Facilities Director

- Dr. Michael Morris, Superintendent (ex-officio member)

We appreciate the range of experience and expertise represented in this group and look forward to working together on behalf of our schools.

Questions or comments for the School Committee can be emailed to: schoolcommittee@arps.org. Visit www.arps.org for posted meetings, agendas, and meeting minutes.

Phoebe Hazzard, Chair Anastasia Ordonez, Vice-Chair

Members Sought for Fort River School Building Committee - Deadline October 13

The PGO is still accepting applications for the PGO appointee position to the School Building Committee. The deadline for applications is 12 noon on October 13 (THIS Friday). Thank you to all who have applied thus far.

For background see this post: https://ftriver.blogspot.com/2017/10/members-sought-for-fort-river-school.html

FORT RIVER COMMUNITY MEMBERS INTERESTED IN SERVING AS THE FORT RIVER PGO APPOINTEE SHOULD COMPLETE THIS FORM. The Fort River PGO Board will select a representative from the pool of applicants. The appointee will be expected to provide School Building Committee updates to the Fort River PGO on a regular basis (minimum monthly). 

Here is the URL for the Fort River PGO appointee application: https://goo.gl/forms/kdg07j59K66mmJ632

There are other ways to apply to join the Committee; please read on for details or visit arps.org.

Community members are encouraged to complete the application available here for the following positions:  

1) Community Member with Green Energy Expertise and Architectural Background; 

2) At-Large Parent/Guardian/Caregiver; 

3) At-Large Community Member (2 positions).

Community members interested in serving as the SEPAC representative should email Nancy Stewart, SEPAC President at sepac@arps.org.  Please include your name, contact information and brief description (two paragraphs or less) explaining your interest in serving.

The deadline for applications to all positions is 12:00 Noon on Friday, October 13. All applications will be considered; however, preference may be given to women and people of color, parents/guardians/caregivers, and those with Amherst town government experience.

Members Sought for Fort River School Building Committee

At their September 25 meeting, the Amherst School Committee approved the mission statement (available here) for the Fort River  School Building Committee.  The committee also voted to include the following voting members on the Fort River School Building Committee:

Fort River Principal or Designee

Fort River Teacher

Fort River Staff Member

Facilities Director or Designee

School Committee Member

Special Education Parent Advisory Council (SEPAC) Designee

Fort River PGO Appointee

Town Finance Representative

Community Member with Green Energy Expertise and Architectural Background

At-Large Parent/Guardian/CaregiverAt-Large Community Member #1

At-Large Community Member #2

In addition, the committee voted to formalize their commitment to having a minimum of 50% of the voting membership of the School Building Committee composed of women and persons of color.

FORT RIVER COMMUNITY MEMBERS INTERESTED IN SERVING AS THE FORT RIVER PGO APPOINTEE SHOULD COMPLETE THIS FORM BY 12 NOON ON OCTOBER 13. The Fort River PGO Board will select a representative from the pool of applicants. The appointee will be expected to provide School Building Committee updates to the Fort River PGO on a regular basis. *

Here is the URL for the Fort River PGO appointee application: https://goo.gl/forms/kdg07j59K66mmJ632

There are other ways to apply to join the Committee; please read on for details or visit arps.org.

Community members are encouraged to complete the application available here for the following positions:  

1) Community Member with Green Energy Expertise and Architectural Background; 

2) At-Large Parent/Guardian/Caregiver; 

3) At-Large Community Member (2 positions).

Community members interested in serving as the SEPAC representative should email Nancy Stewart, SEPAC President at sepac@arps.org.  Please include your name, contact information and brief description (two paragraphs or less) explaining your interest in serving.

The deadline for applications is 12:00 Noon on Friday, October 13. All applications will be considered; however, preference may be given to women and people of color, parents/guardians/caregivers, and those with Amherst town government experience.

Fort River Building Site/Feasibility Study 2nd Listening Session on September 11

Please join the Amherst School Committee and Interim Superintendent Dr. Michael Morris on September 11, 2017 at 6:00 PM in the Amherst Regional High School Library to share your ideas and learn more about The Fort River Building & Site Feasibility Study, School Building Committee.

In May 2017, Amherst Town Meeting appropriated funds to conduct a feasibility study about the Fort River Elementary School building and site. Please attend the listening sessions to learn more about the feasibility study process and the responsibilities of the School Building Committee (the body charged with overseeing the feasibility study), share your ideas about membership and public engagement, and ask your questions.

This will be the second session. The first session took place on Thursday August 8th, 2017 at 6:00 pm in the Town Room. The PGO is not hosting this event but rather is helping to promote it to the community. We hope to see you there!

Click here for the flyer in Spanish
Click here for the flyer in English

POSTPONED: Fort River Building & Site Feasibility Study School Building Committee Public Listening Session

The September 14th Public Listening Session has been postponed.  A new date will be announced soon. Please follow PGO news for updates.

Voter Resources: Amherst Elementary School Building Project and Question 5

The PGO hosted Town Meeting Moderator Jim Pistrang last week for an informative conversation about Amherst's Representative Town Meeting. Mr. Pistrang also spoke at length about the role that Town Meeting plays in the Amherst Elementary School Building Project. Thanks to all who attended and to Mr. Pistrang for his excellent presentation!

The PGO has received many questions about Question 5. The Town of Amherst provides multiple voter resources on the Town's homepage; see below:

For information about this election and as well as results and related documents about prior elections:

https://www.amherstma.gov/650/Upcoming-and-Past-Election-Information

To see the official ballot (including all six questions):

https://www.amherstma.gov/DocumentCenter/View/36148

To see details about the Ballot Question (5) Committees:

BOLD: Building Opportunities for Learning and Diversity 

https://www.boldamherstschools.org/

https://www.amherstma.gov/DocumentCenter/View/35412

SASS: Save Amherst's Small Schools

https://saveamherstssmallschools.wordpress.com/

https://www.amherstma.gov/DocumentCenter/View/35699

All public documents submitted to the state as well as agendas and minutes from all Building Committee Meetings are available on the ARPS homepage (bottom right of page or see below on this page): www.arps.org

Amherst Elementary School Building Project's Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/Amherst-Elementary-School-Building-Project-968374979880827/?fref=ts

Amherst Elementary School Building Project's website hosted by NV5:

http://wildwood.projects.nv5.com/?doing_wp_cron=1463682371.9666869640350341796875

Amherst Elementary School Building Project's FAQ's:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0By0mz4P0v3bWdnpkZ2FRa3l6M0k/view

Mark your Calendars! Elementary School Building Project Forum - January 13 at 6:30pm

Elementary School Building Project Updates

The Amherst Elementary School Building Project team hosted a community forum last week on December 8.

Visit the Facebook page to stay informed: https://www.facebook.com/Amherst-Elementary-School-Building-Project-968374979880827/ 

Here is the slide from the presentation with the updated project schedule: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0By0mz4P0v3bWX1c3Q2VJd3ZWdkE

Here is the final version of Preliminary Design Plan submitted to the MSBA earlier last week: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0By0mz4P0v3bWU25nQkxVWWZOc0xVSEtobzJoUDQzc0xmNDVZ

Here is an updated draft of implications of enrollment options for the building project: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0By0mz4P0v3bWeFZuQ25ZZ1Y3Vmc