Board unanimous in closing school

By Nick Grabbe
Staff Writer

Published on May 22, 2009

The Amherst School Committee voted unanimously Tuesday to close Mark's Meadow Elementary School after the next school year.

The long-awaited move is expected to save $532,000 in that fiscal year and $673,000 a year afterwards. The 192 students at Mark's Meadow will be distributed to the three other elementary schools, which are below their capacities.

The decision came after five forums and hundreds of messages to school officials about the closure plan. About 70 people came to Tuesday's meeting but were not permitted to speak before the vote.

"This is a very difficult decision for all of us," said committee member Irv Rhodes. "It's not one we take lightly."

The vote affects not only children at Mark's Meadow and their parents but also Amherst's relationship with the University of Massachusetts. The Mark's Meadow building is owned by UMass and will now revert back to its use, leading some to charge that Amherst is getting short-changed.

The vote to close Mark's Meadow was to be contingent on UMass either allowing the Amherst schools to use the building for other purposes or to reimburse the town for the cost of educating about 50 children who live in housing that is tax-exempt because it's owned by UMass. That cost is estimated at $675,000 a year.

But when school officials met with UMass Chancellor Robert Holub Tuesday afternoon, he made clear that Amherst shouldn't count on either using the building or getting the money, said Andrew Churchill, the School Committee chairman. In fact, Holub has plans for UMass to use the building, he said.

Political and community pressure should be exerted on UMass to fulfill its obligations to the town, said committee member Steve Rivkin.

"It's clear that if they refuse to do anything now, it would be a decision to cut us loose," he said.

Committee member Catherine Sanderson said, "I hope they decide to do the right thing."

Tuesday's vote was just to close Mark's Meadow and create new elementary district lines.

Amherst's financial situation is so dire that it must consider other money-saving plans as well, such as staff reductions, consolidation of administrative positions, renegotiation of union contracts, and an override of the state law limiting property tax increases, Rhodes said.

"Amherst faces an incredible structural deficit that is not going to go away unless we act," he said. "We risk losing what we've come to believe is an Amherst education."

He called closing Mark's Meadow "a wrenching experience."

"I don't know how long the wound will last, but we have to find a way to heal it," he said.

Churchill, a former Mark's Meadow parent, said the closure plan may be unfair to the school, but it is the most logical option because the school is the smallest one. He said that redrawing the lines determining which school children attend will help equalize the percentage receiving free lunches. There is currently "an unconscionable concentration of poverty" at Crocker Farm School, he said.

The Amherst schools have experienced "death by 1,000 cuts, and it can't keep going like that," Churchill said.

Many urban elementary schools have a lot more students than Amherst does, said committee member Kathleen Anderson. She attended a school that closed when she was young, "but I survived," she said.

"I see this as an opportunity to create a better school system for all children," she said.

Alberto Rodriguez, the new superintendent of schools as of July 1, was in Amherst the last four days and was kept informed of the Mark's Meadow situation. "He concurs with the decision," Churchill said.

Parents of Mark's Meadow children have opposed the school's closure. But on Tuesday night, few of them were willing to address the committee after the decision was made.

Ludmilla Pavlova said there was "no thorough and careful analysis of how this decision affects the school system."

Shannon Borrell asked if Mark's Meadow might have to close next year if Amherst's financial situation deteriorates further. Churchill said he wouldn't take that option off the table, because "we're at the mercy of the state's funding picture." But Sanderson said the redistricting decisions could not be made that quickly.

Nick Grabbe can be reached at ngrabbe@gazettenet.com.