Amherst Leisure Services & Supplemental Education (LSSE) Fee Subsidy/Scholarship

New! ONE TIME SPECIAL AMHERST YOUTH (ages 0 to 18yrs) DISCOUNTS AVAILABLE NOW ON ALL PROGAMS!

Amherst Leisure Services & Supplemental Education (LSSE) is now offering a 20% discount for Amherst youth (0-18 years old) meeting one of the following criteria:

•       Siblings registering for the same program at the same time;

•       Youth who participated in an LSSE Program within the last year;

•       Any youth new to an LSSE program.

The discount can apply to registrations made online, over the phone, or in person. For online registrations use WEBB20 in the coupon code. Fee subsidies are also available based on income qualifications. Please see the web site for details: http://www.amherstma.gov/2158/Fee-Subsidy-Scholarship



THANKS to our Volunteers! Running + Pumpkins + Pancakes = Happy Fort River Families!

The PGO would like to thank Principal Finocchio for her brilliant suggestion to host a Pumpkin Fun Run! 

The 1st Annual Fort River Pumpkin Run and Pancake Breakfast was a tremendous success! The weather was sunny and brisk, perfect for the mile dash around the beautiful fields at Fort River. The volunteer crew of flapjack makers flipped some tasty treats for everyone to enjoy after their morning exercise. Most runners were adorned in charming costumes and everyone took home a mini pumpkin courtesy of our sponsors Karen and Jeff West of Maple Street in Hadley. Many, many thanks go to our flapjack flippers Seny Salvon, Bill Leonard, and Aaron Osbourne, and to alumni family Bob and Sally Fitz from Small Ones Farm in South Amherst for the delicious apples! Finally we owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to Deb Christakos for making this inaugural event go off without a hitch. Congrats Deb on the success of this beautiful community celebration!

Amherst Lions Club Supports Hurricane Sports Teams with Coupon Books

The Amherst Lions Club is partnering with the ARMS and ARHS Athletics Program to raise money for equipment. Family coupon books are currently on sale to everyone in the ARPS community for $20.00 each. 

There are over 30 businesses in the Amherst area that are represented in service coupons.  The value of all coupons in the book is approximately $1,000.00. The coupons are good through 7/31/16.

Family coupon books are available for purchase at the ARHS Athletic Director's office (whitep@arps.org); ARMS office (adairs@arps.org); and the Amherst Lions Club (tacromack@comcast.net).

Amherst Hockey presents "Try Hockey for Free" Day on Saturday, November 7

Annual PGO Winter Clothing Drive

Brrrr! The temperature is dropping and Fort River PGO's annual winter clothing collection is ongoing.  Now is a great time to go through closets and find coats/jackets, snowpants, boots, mittens, scarves, and hats that your family has outgrown or you no longer need. Please drop off clean items in good condition in the collection box in the lobby. All sizes are wanted, including infant/toddler and adult. 

All school and community families will be able to take whatever they need. Fort River PGO is working together with other ARPS PGOs and schools to share warm winter clothes among as many students and families as possible, and we also have community partners assisting with the clothing collections.  Distribution dates for Fort River will be on November 12 and 13. Volunteers are needed to help sort and hang donated items; please contact Sarah sarah.fortriver@gmail.com if you'd like to help. Thank you!

Fort River Families … Please Share your Thoughts about Reconfiguration with the Amherst School Committee

ARPS administrators presented the Elementary School Education Program to the School Committee at the Amherst School Committee meeting on October 20. This is a required step in the MSBA process. Among the three options being considered in the Feasibility Study, Superintendent Maria Geryk recommended that the School Committee reconfigure the elementary schools into grade wide schools serving all Amherst students. The Crocker Farm school would enroll children in grades pre K to 1, and a new building (location to be determined) would serve students in grades 2 through 6. Under this reconfiguration the Wildwood and Fort River buildings would no longer be in use by the district. The other options being considered would include new or renovated facilities for Wildwood alone. There is no state funding available at this time to renovate or rebuild Fort River unless the reconfiguration option is chosen. Regardless of the option chosen, it would need to be considered at Town Meeting and will necessitate an override.

The School Committee is scheduled to vote on the recommendation on November 3. The School Committee welcomes and encourages feedback and comments. It is important for all interested stakeholders to have their opinions heard. At the October 26th public forum on the project, Wildwood PGO board member Laura Quilter mentioned an online feedback form that she has created to encourage input from parents, teachers, school staff, and community members about the Superintendent's recommendation. The link to the Wildwood PGO's online feedback form is below, and the form is available in both English & Spanish. Additionally there are postcards available in Fort River's Main Office that can be completed and will be returned to the School Committee. 

The simplest way to provide feedback would be to email the Amherst School Committee directly at schoolcommittee@arps.org. In any communication with School Committee members it is important to identify who you are and what school(s) your children attend (if any). 

The Fort River PGO is taking no public position on the building study and the district's recommendations. Several members of the PGO Board have attended recent public forums and meetings and some have made public comments based on personal beliefs; these are not meant to be representative of the PGO or Fort River collectively. The Fort River PGO is providing information on the project and the link to this feedback form as a service to help our families learn more about the project and to provide some easy feedback options.

Email the Amherst School Committee: schoolcommittee@arps.org

Link to form:  http://wildwoodpgo.com/reconfiguration-feedback-form/

Email the Superintendent: gerykm@arps.org

Email the Assistant Superintendent: morrism@arps.org

Email individual members of the Amherst School Committee:

Katherine Appy appyk@arps.org
Vira Douangmany Cage douangmanyv@arps.org
Phoebe Hazzard hazzardp@arps.org
Rick Hood hoodr@arps.org
Kathleen Traphagen traphagenk@arps.org

To learn more about the Wildwood/Amherst Elementary School Building study, you can visit the study's web site: http://wildwood.projects.joslinlesser.com/ or the Amherst Elementary School Building Project Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Amherst-Elementary-School-Building-Project-968374979880827/?fref=nf

The New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Book List for 2015

Check these great books out at The Eric Carle Museum or your local library! The New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Book List for 2015 …