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.

Amherst Elementary School Building Project Public Forums on Tuesday, December 8th

The Amherst Elementary School Building Project is having more public forums on Tuesday, December 8, at 3:30pm and 7:00pm in the Amherst Regional Middle School Library. The “Preliminary Design Program” that will be discussed can be found here.

Here is a story from MassLive about the recently approved option for a k - 6 school that would replace BOTH Wildwood and Fort River.

Please also join us for Fort River Night at the Pub on Tuesday!

Amherst Elementary School Building Project - Upcoming Community Forum on December 8

The next public forum on the Amherst Elementary School Building Project will be held on December 8, 2015, in the Amherst Regional Middle School Library. Identical presentations will be made at 3:30 pm and 7 pm and Spanish interpretation is available for both sessions. Bus transportation and child care will again be provided for the evening session.

Visit the Facebook page to stay up to date on this project.  

Amherst Elementary School Building Project - Decision about Grade Reconfiguration Coming Soon

Thank you to everyone who attended the PGO Coffee with the Principal last Friday! We had a great turnout of concerned parents and lots of dialogue about the future of our elementary schools. Special guests Superintendent Maria Geryk, Assistant Superintendent Michael Morris, and Amherst School Committee chair Katherine Appy presented information about the current and future status of the Amherst Elementary School Building Project, formerly known as the Wildwood School Building Project. Superintendent Maria Geryk will be presenting recommendations to the Amherst School committee this Tuesday, October 20th about grade configuration. Should Amherst have three K-6 elementary schools or a single district wide pre-K/K/1 at Crocker Farm, and a single district wide grades 2-6 school somewhere else? Should the new elementary school building be a smaller grades K - 6 school, essentially replacing Wildwood's current building but with some necessary redistricting, or should it be a larger grades 2 - 6 district wide school, allowing the district to cease usage of both the Wildwood and Fort River buildings?

The meeting is open to the public, and will be held at the Amherst High School at 6 pm. Parents are encouraged to attend and share their thoughts. Please consider delivering concise remarks on Tuesday night or emailing the School Committee members with your thoughts.  The Committee members' contact information is found on this district webpage. 

If you need to get up to speed quickly, please visit the Amherst Elementary School Building Project Facebook page.