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By SCOTT MERZBACH

LEVERETT — A proposed donation of a 147-acre working forest in North Leverett, which would continue to be actively managed under town ownership and open for hunting, will be decided by voters at annual Town Meeting May 3.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — It’s back to the drawing board for the Amherst-Pelham Regional Schools’ proposed budget for next year, after the Town Council on Monday rejected changing the way assessments are determined for each of the district’s four member towns.

In 1975-76, I was a Fulbright scholar in Germany, teaching for a year at a German university. It was close enough in time to the Holocaust to stir feelings of fear (some professors still dressed up in SS uniforms on weekends).

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — The Amherst-Pelham Regional School Committee is putting forward a $37.08 million fiscal year 2026 budget that would limit some anticipated staffing cuts at the middle and high schools, a proposal that would significantly increase assessments for the four member towns.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Mold and mildew that may be developing at the Amherst Regional Middle School, possibly related to the poor condition of the roof that could be fixed as part of the Massachusetts School Building Authority’s accelerated repair program, will be examined by school district officials.

We have descended down the deep hole of fascism. The guardrails have been stripped away and we are in grave danger of becoming an authoritarian state. Democracy will die down this hole. I am perplexed as to what 77 million Americans were expecting when they voted for this man. To make matters worse, he has brought in his sidekick, Elon Musk, an ununelected man with a chain saw to obliterate our government and our democracy. And this man with his chain saw has fired thousands of government workers, men and women who daily keep the system going.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — A full team of five teachers at Amherst Regional Middle School, who provide instruction in English language arts, mathematics, science, social studies and special education to seventh and eighth graders, would be eliminated as part of at least 18 staff cuts, saving around $1.39 million, at the regional schools if a proposal under consideration is adopted for next fiscal year.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — An investigation has cleared Amherst Superintendent E. Xiomara Herman of allegations of threatening harm to a district employee, creating a hostile work environment for an employee, and retaliating against employees who are part of a protected class.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Members of the Amherst Pelham Education Association remain divided over whether to offer support to Superintendent E. Xiomara Herman in the face of an ongoing investigation, led by the Regional and Union 26 school committees, into accusations of mismanagement and abusive behavior in the central office.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Construction of a new track and field at Amherst Regional High School, at a cost of $4.11 million, should begin in late June.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Families of students at Amherst Regional Middle School are being notified about an antisemitic incident that occurred Monday when a student gave a Nazi salute during class — the latest in a series of incidents that have occurred at area schools in recent years.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Unless state aid increases, other sources of funding are found or member towns can contribute more, a fiscal year 2026 budget that eliminates around 17 positions may be the best-case scenario for the Amherst-Pelham Regional Schools, according to information presented at a “Four Towns Meeting” Saturday.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — A letter being drafted by members of the Amherst-Pelham Regional School Committee to the Amherst Town Council is challenging the idea that the school officials’ annual budget requests have been fiscally irresponsible, while at the same time seeking ways to gain more financial support in the face of up to 24 staff reductions projected for next year.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Superintendent E. Xiomara Herman’s work to promote diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging, and to combat a status quo in the schools that has been harmful to students, is winning praise from some in the community.

As the lights go out around us we must continue to fight and not give up, although it is so overwhelming. As I try to continue to struggle with the unbelievable assaults, as we must do, I am struck by how much energy goes into the fight — rather than the providing of services — he and his henchpeople are creating. They hope that this will wear us down, I hope it won’t, but I worry so much for those in need who live in fear and simultaneously are not provided with what they need to survive.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — A week after the release of an anonymous letter highly critical of Superintendent E. Xiomara Herman’s management of the central office, the executive board for the union representing teachers, paraprofessionals and clerical staff released a statement last Friday supporting Herman and applauding her efforts to bring transparency and financial stability to the Amherst, Pelham and Amherst-Pelham Regional schools.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

LEVERETT — A project featuring events and dialogues bringing together western Massachusetts progressives and residents with more conservative views from eastern Kentucky, gaining both national and international attention over the course of seven years, is being chronicled in a new book.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — A dozen administrators in the Amherst and Amherst-Pelham Regional schools are accusing Superintendent E. Xiomara Herman of threats of physical harm, creating a hostile work environment and allowing sexual and workplace harassment since she took the helm of the district last July.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Up to 24 staff positions would be eliminated at the Amherst-Pelham Regional Schools, including four teachers and three paraprofessionals at both the middle and high schools, based on a possible deficit of $1 million or more in the schools’ $37.7 million fiscal year 2026 budget.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — A deficit in the revolving fund that covers costs associated with the Amherst-Pelham Regional Schools’ athletics program could be addressed by eliminating certain sports, according to school leaders, even as the Regional School Committee is likely to be asked to make a $175,000 transfer to the account before the end of June.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Rebuilding Amherst Regional High School’s track and its interior field, both in poor condition and identified as priorities for replacement in a town study released more than six years ago, should be underway by late June, shortly after the school year ends.