A brief description of the project:

• The proposed new school will replace Wildwood and Fort River Schools with one new elementary school on the Fort River site.

• The Amherst School Committee and Amherst Pelham School Committee have voted to move Amherst’s sixth-grade students to the middle school.  The new school will therefore be kindergarten through fifth grade.

• The new three-story school will have a capacity of 575 students, with five classrooms for each of the six grades.

• It will be a Net Zero building using ground source heat pumps and photovoltaic panels to supply 100% of the energy for the building.  The site will include space for outdoor learning and play.

• The project will receive a funding subsidy from the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA).

• The project began with the acceptance of Amherst into the MSBA core program in December 2019.  

• In March 2023, the Town submitted the Schematic Design report to the MSBA and is scheduled for the April Board meeting for an official facility grant decision (See TAB for reports)

  • The design built on two earlier reports:  Preliminary Design Program (3/2022) which assessed space needs given the education program, community priorities, and existing conditions, and provided preliminary comparisons of Options and the Preferred Schematic Report (6/2022) that selected a new, three-story building at the Fort River site preferred option. 

• This website serves as a source of information for the project.