Amid budget squabbling Amherst Councilors warn 4-town Amherst-Pelham regional school district could dissolve
Updated Feb 08, 2021;
AMHERST – During Saturday’s remote meeting of the four towns comprising the regional school system, Amherst Town Councilors said lack of consensus on a method to determine the amount each municipality should pay for grade 7-12 education could lead to the district’s demise.
The Amherst officials did not go into detail at the Feb. 6 meeting on what a break-up might look like – such as whether some of them might advocate completely divorcing town from regional district, or remain with one or two of the other communities in the school system.
Amherst preliminary school budget would cut spending by $864K
Updated Feb 03, 2021;
AMHERST The regional school board has begun its review of a proposed $31.3 million budget for the upcoming fiscal year that reduces spending by $864,246.
“We are proposing spending less money next (fiscal) year than this year; this is a literal reduction in the budget,” Amherst-Pelham Regional School Superintendent Michael Morris said on Tuesday. “It is raw, less money.”
The district budget chief, Douglas Slaughter, noted the fiscal 2022 plan represents “about a million dollars worth of cuts. that’s what we’ve done.”
The school district budget for the current fiscal year totals $32,145,531, which was $21,811 less than the previous year.
Amherst Councilor critical of police chief for not condemning US Capitol riots
Updated Jan 26, 2021;
AMHERST Police Chief Scott Livingstone was not on the published agenda for Monday’s Town Council meeting but he was targeted by a member of the 13-person body for not publicly condemning the events at the nation’s Capitol on Jan. 6 – now the subject of a far-reaching FBI investigation.
“We did not hear from the chief of police” on this, Amherst Town Councilor Mandi Jo Hanneke said at the Jan. 25 meeting.
She said that was in contradistinction to after George Floyd’s death, when the chief, town manager, school superintendent along with the Amherst Police Patrol Officers Union, and Amherst Police Supervisors Union, issued a joint statement.