The Meltdown at a Middle School in a Liberal Town
April 9, 2024 7:14 PM Subscribe
A post-pandemic fight about racism, the respectful treatment of trans kids, and the role of teachers’ unions has divided Amherst, Massachusetts. [The New Yorker]
This article feels like it’s trying to pit teachers of color and queer/trans kids and their families against each other in a way that feels deeply uncomfortable, and also overlooks the fact that queer and trans POC exist. Maybe there are few or no openly queer POC in Amherst itself—fair, it’s a small and largely white town. But the article feels like it’s implying that queer and trans identity are limited to white kids, and that caring about your kid being bullied for queer identity is exclusively the domain of a certain kind of overbearing white parent. Surely there is a way to take these overbearing parents to task for their biases without suggesting that queerness is limited to affluent white people, or that POC are inherently less accepting of queer identity.
posted by ActionPopulated at 8:59 PM on April 9 [26 favorites]
posted by ActionPopulated at 8:59 PM on April 9 [26 favorites]
Ah, but if all trans youth are spoiled white rich kids, we know they're not really trans.
posted by hoyland at 9:17 PM on April 9 [8 favorites]
posted by hoyland at 9:17 PM on April 9 [8 favorites]
whereupon I passed a rangy para as he high-fived a student.
What's a para in this context? I assume it's not the same as the South African racial slur.
This story seems to be one long string of allegations and denials. "X said Y did a thing... Y denies it."
posted by Zumbador at 9:23 PM on April 9 [2 favorites]
What's a para in this context? I assume it's not the same as the South African racial slur.
This story seems to be one long string of allegations and denials. "X said Y did a thing... Y denies it."
posted by Zumbador at 9:23 PM on April 9 [2 favorites]
“para” is “paraprofessional” (i.e., school support staff).
posted by mbrubeck at 9:28 PM on April 9 [7 favorites]
posted by mbrubeck at 9:28 PM on April 9 [7 favorites]
and also overlooks the fact that queer and trans POC exist.
Meanwhile, back in the reality of trans existence, another POC who was a trans woman was murdered in late March.
Yes, many trans people are not white, and intersectionality is the way to address bigotry, not driving wedges between marginalized groups.
posted by Flight Hardware, do not touch at 9:55 PM on April 9 [10 favorites]
Meanwhile, back in the reality of trans existence, another POC who was a trans woman was murdered in late March.
Yes, many trans people are not white, and intersectionality is the way to address bigotry, not driving wedges between marginalized groups.
posted by Flight Hardware, do not touch at 9:55 PM on April 9 [10 favorites]
This article feels like it’s trying to pit teachers of color and queer/trans kids and their families against each other in a way that feels deeply uncomfortable
It doesn't seem like the article's doing. It seems that actually is the case here to some extent. And that is deeply uncomfortable. The story does seem to be a volley of accusations and denials.
What a poisoned environment. It is interesting that the controversy mostly seems to involve non-teaching staff. Any parent should be rightfully concerned about bullying. The article feels like a bizarre perfect storm of liberal values clashing that, unfortunately, feels all too real to me. "Many people in the Amherst district describe a community that has become habituated to outrage—addicted to conflict and reprisal." Sounds too familiar.
posted by 2N2222 at 10:17 PM on April 9 [23 favorites]
It doesn't seem like the article's doing. It seems that actually is the case here to some extent. And that is deeply uncomfortable. The story does seem to be a volley of accusations and denials.
What a poisoned environment. It is interesting that the controversy mostly seems to involve non-teaching staff. Any parent should be rightfully concerned about bullying. The article feels like a bizarre perfect storm of liberal values clashing that, unfortunately, feels all too real to me. "Many people in the Amherst district describe a community that has become habituated to outrage—addicted to conflict and reprisal." Sounds too familiar.
posted by 2N2222 at 10:17 PM on April 9 [23 favorites]
Restorative justice approaches should always be an option for the victim, never required, because it can be retraumatising for victims, as well as used as a cudgel to silence their concerns, as the article suggests may have been the case a few times here.
Everything else sounds like a fucking mess, with trans students and POC staff in the firing line for some culture war bullshit.
posted by Dysk at 12:03 AM on April 10 [13 favorites]
Everything else sounds like a fucking mess, with trans students and POC staff in the firing line for some culture war bullshit.
posted by Dysk at 12:03 AM on April 10 [13 favorites]
post pandemic?
posted by nofundy at 4:50 AM on April 10 [11 favorites]
posted by nofundy at 4:50 AM on April 10 [11 favorites]
This mistreatment of LGBTQ kids is a serious problem throughout the US that is routinely mishandled by faculty and administrators of all backgrounds at all types of schools. However, I don't think we can really talk about this issue without acknowledging that the Amherst school system, like most schools in the US, has been intentionally racially and socioeconomically segregated.
Amherst is a suburb of the larger, much more diverse Springfield, MA. What would happen if this tiny town with their special little schools were integrated (both in general and specifically racially and socioeconomically) into a larger, city-wide school district? Across the southeastern US, as schools were integrated by court order, the combining of small town school districts into larger county districts was one of the ways that racial integration was achieved (it was of course since largely disbanded by right wing lawsuits and new court orders). Larger school districts with larger budgets tend to be run by professional educators with much more training and experience, and in general, with more people and more diverse people watching, it's harder for small fiefdoms to develop or a few outspoken parents to control narratives.
In the amazing This American Life episodes "The Problem We All Live With", they profiled a voluntary magnet program in Hartford, CT that creates very attractive magnet schools in the city that suburban parents choose to send their kids to. That program has since been enhanced by a court order that says that the segregation of the city/suburb schools is a violation of the equal protection clause in the state constitution. The magnets now have to reserve a certain percent of seats for Hartford kids, and even more magnets are being created to meet both the court order and the demand from parents. But even that of course is just a smaller voluntary program, and folks who want their kids to remain in the majority white, wealthy suburban schools are of course still able to do so.
It is indeed still The Problem We All Live With.
posted by hydropsyche at 4:56 AM on April 10 [5 favorites]
Amherst is a suburb of the larger, much more diverse Springfield, MA. What would happen if this tiny town with their special little schools were integrated (both in general and specifically racially and socioeconomically) into a larger, city-wide school district? Across the southeastern US, as schools were integrated by court order, the combining of small town school districts into larger county districts was one of the ways that racial integration was achieved (it was of course since largely disbanded by right wing lawsuits and new court orders). Larger school districts with larger budgets tend to be run by professional educators with much more training and experience, and in general, with more people and more diverse people watching, it's harder for small fiefdoms to develop or a few outspoken parents to control narratives.
In the amazing This American Life episodes "The Problem We All Live With", they profiled a voluntary magnet program in Hartford, CT that creates very attractive magnet schools in the city that suburban parents choose to send their kids to. That program has since been enhanced by a court order that says that the segregation of the city/suburb schools is a violation of the equal protection clause in the state constitution. The magnets now have to reserve a certain percent of seats for Hartford kids, and even more magnets are being created to meet both the court order and the demand from parents. But even that of course is just a smaller voluntary program, and folks who want their kids to remain in the majority white, wealthy suburban schools are of course still able to do so.
It is indeed still The Problem We All Live With.
posted by hydropsyche at 4:56 AM on April 10 [5 favorites]
Amherst is not a suburb of Springfield.
posted by helicomatic at 5:02 AM on April 10 [18 favorites]
posted by helicomatic at 5:02 AM on April 10 [18 favorites]
hydropsyche I also thought of those podcast episodes. Hugely recommended, if difficult listening. So bizarre for me who grew up in apartheid South Africa to learn about USA racism. It's like a distorting mirror, some things the same, some so different.
This article too, made me wince in recognition of some things, and wonder about others that are so different from where I live.
posted by Zumbador at 5:50 AM on April 10 [1 favorite]
This article too, made me wince in recognition of some things, and wonder about others that are so different from where I live.
posted by Zumbador at 5:50 AM on April 10 [1 favorite]
Liberal hot beds just as susceptible to the very same discriminatory behavior we see go unchecked in highly conservative communities. The difference is that there is more interest in fighting the symptoms of discriminatory behavior in the affluent, liberal enclaves. There remains a shared disinterest in understanding and doing the work to address the underlying issues universally. One could argue this is (sadly) human nature at its worst.
It’s difficult to change generations of bigotry - much of which was once considered protecting a righteous way of living by a lot of people. The teacher who misgenders and deadnames the trans student repeatedly is probably both struggling to act according to the new rules while fighting an internal morality battle. It’s a personal hell trying to do the right thing when the new right thing is the opposite of the old right thing you were raised with.
The saddest part is the hurt and suffering it all inflicts on people who are on the receiving end of the bigotry. They are victims of crimes committed by status quo who haven't changed, and may never change.
It’s a culture war where nobody truly wins individual battles. Rather, it is the long game of moulding a new generation who are enlightened and reformed.
posted by WorkshopGuyPNW at 6:15 AM on April 10 [4 favorites]
It’s difficult to change generations of bigotry - much of which was once considered protecting a righteous way of living by a lot of people. The teacher who misgenders and deadnames the trans student repeatedly is probably both struggling to act according to the new rules while fighting an internal morality battle. It’s a personal hell trying to do the right thing when the new right thing is the opposite of the old right thing you were raised with.
The saddest part is the hurt and suffering it all inflicts on people who are on the receiving end of the bigotry. They are victims of crimes committed by status quo who haven't changed, and may never change.
It’s a culture war where nobody truly wins individual battles. Rather, it is the long game of moulding a new generation who are enlightened and reformed.
posted by WorkshopGuyPNW at 6:15 AM on April 10 [4 favorites]
Racial demographics in the Amherst public schools are also locally locally determined to an extent, shall we say:
Just over twelve per cent of the city’s residents are Black or Hispanic; about seventy per cent are white, and roughly thirteen per cent are Asian. But the public-school district is more racially diverse than the wider community—about a quarter of students are Black or Hispanic—in part because of the number of white and Asian families that opt for private or charter schools.
posted by doctornemo at 10:47 AM on April 10 [2 favorites]
Just over twelve per cent of the city’s residents are Black or Hispanic; about seventy per cent are white, and roughly thirteen per cent are Asian. But the public-school district is more racially diverse than the wider community—about a quarter of students are Black or Hispanic—in part because of the number of white and Asian families that opt for private or charter schools.
posted by doctornemo at 10:47 AM on April 10 [2 favorites]
I live locally and it astounds me how many parents send their children to private schools. I can understand it if there has been bullying or some other issue, but most just seem to want to change their child's school experience in some way (more outdoor time, different methodologies, better test scores, etc.). Our public schools are some of the best in the state, and Massachusetts has the 7th overall best education system in the world. How is that not good enough?
I disagree that the counselor WorkshopGuyPNW mentions was genuinely trying to do "the right thing." She sounds incredibly unprofessional on multiple levels, and was found to have engaged in inappropriate behavior by a Title XI investigation. If she is incapable of providing appropriate support to all students, she should not have that job.
posted by chaiminda at 11:38 AM on April 10 [8 favorites]
I disagree that the counselor WorkshopGuyPNW mentions was genuinely trying to do "the right thing." She sounds incredibly unprofessional on multiple levels, and was found to have engaged in inappropriate behavior by a Title XI investigation. If she is incapable of providing appropriate support to all students, she should not have that job.
posted by chaiminda at 11:38 AM on April 10 [8 favorites]
...or that POC are inherently less accepting of queer identity.
I don't think anyone here or there is saying "inherently". But it's hard to pretend that mainstream middle-class white American culture isn't generally more accepting of queer identity than mainstream black American culture. I live in a much more densely populated area, but my daughters' school has pretty similar demographics to what is described in the article, and while there are individuals in all four quadrants of the race/(accepting of queer identity) matrix, there are huge and obvious clusterings. As a person of pallor, I'm not about to go tell black parents how to make their kids behave, but I've sure wanted to in a few specific cases.
Fundamentally, though, it's not a black/white thing; it's a religious/secular thing, and there's a huge racial divide on that. Very few of the white families near us are religious at all, and even the ones who are don't talk about it, but church attendance and public religiosity is nearly mandatory among the black families. Daughter 1, staunch atheist, has had several black friends who have expressed serious envy that she doesn't have to deal with that nonsense.
posted by outgrown_hobnail at 3:51 PM on April 10 [3 favorites]
I don't think anyone here or there is saying "inherently". But it's hard to pretend that mainstream middle-class white American culture isn't generally more accepting of queer identity than mainstream black American culture. I live in a much more densely populated area, but my daughters' school has pretty similar demographics to what is described in the article, and while there are individuals in all four quadrants of the race/(accepting of queer identity) matrix, there are huge and obvious clusterings. As a person of pallor, I'm not about to go tell black parents how to make their kids behave, but I've sure wanted to in a few specific cases.
Fundamentally, though, it's not a black/white thing; it's a religious/secular thing, and there's a huge racial divide on that. Very few of the white families near us are religious at all, and even the ones who are don't talk about it, but church attendance and public religiosity is nearly mandatory among the black families. Daughter 1, staunch atheist, has had several black friends who have expressed serious envy that she doesn't have to deal with that nonsense.
posted by outgrown_hobnail at 3:51 PM on April 10 [3 favorites]
Cunningham insisted to me that this finding was “totally inaccurate,” and that she objected to being implicated at all. “I didn’t work with kids,” she said. “Why am I involved in a Title IX investigation?”
Having attended a school in the northeast that had some similar issues with inappropriate lack of separation of church and state (during the height of the Satanic Panic; spoiler: the school principle was an incompetent asshat on multiple levels), I was already giving the side eye about that. “Berkeley East” perhaps doesn’t exactly mean what the people using that description seemed to think it meant - Berkeley has some not insignificant classism and racism issues too - and I find it not at all difficult to believe that affluent white liberals have a big blind spot around ways they contribute to and perpetuate racism and classism. But anyone in a school DEI position who has any relevant training or competence at it should know that Title IX also impacts teacher and staff HR issues. This is a somewhat telling self-admission.
Further thoughts upon finishing the article:
Having attended a school in the northeast that had some similar issues with inappropriate lack of separation of church and state (during the height of the Satanic Panic; spoiler: the school principle was an incompetent asshat on multiple levels), I was already giving the side eye about that. “Berkeley East” perhaps doesn’t exactly mean what the people using that description seemed to think it meant - Berkeley has some not insignificant classism and racism issues too - and I find it not at all difficult to believe that affluent white liberals have a big blind spot around ways they contribute to and perpetuate racism and classism. But anyone in a school DEI position who has any relevant training or competence at it should know that Title IX also impacts teacher and staff HR issues. This is a somewhat telling self-admission.
Further thoughts upon finishing the article:
- Yeah, it’s not real clear about the Black or POC teachers and staff who have supported trans or LGBTQ+ students, which does rather come across as pitting two marginalized groups against each other. It doesn’t really tell the story very clearly overall, however, so that may be an unintentional artifact of poor/unclear writing. Though I don’t get the sense that the author particularly understands intersectionality themself - they seem like the sort of person who would get confused about, eg. (to use an example from a demographic I’m a member of), whether or not the “girlboss” trope is feminist (in particular, regardless of how any given woman boss treats her employees), not understanding that feminism is less about individual (especially token) representation within oppressive systems and more about interrogating power structures and systems.
- It can certainly simultaneously be true that the guidance counsellors and school leadership involved in the Title IX complaint were acting in ways that were oppressive to some students or incompetent, and also that there’s a group of racist parents. (The overlap between parents of the trans students and the parents who were acting maybe abusively toward some of the other teachers was not fully clear to me, given the overall lack of clarity in the article. Not everyone in Amherst is liberal, even though proportionally more residents are than in many other places, and it could be that non-liberal, racists parents took advantage of this situation, or that liberal whites parents were racist while being better about other axes of oppression, or some combination of the two.)
Amherst is not a suburb of Springfield.
Sorry, never been there, just looked at a map. In any case, the map I looked at showed that there are roughly ten thousand school districts, one for each of the ten thousand towns in that general area that encompasses two counties. Maybe those could be reined in some. And some intentional work could be done to integrate schools across racial and socioeconomic lines, better professionalize the system administrations so that they could, for instance, hire a new principal for the middle school instead of sharing the high school's principal, and so that there aren't small fiefdoms controlled by powerful groups of wealthy angry parents.
posted by hydropsyche at 5:23 PM on April 10
Sorry, never been there, just looked at a map. In any case, the map I looked at showed that there are roughly ten thousand school districts, one for each of the ten thousand towns in that general area that encompasses two counties. Maybe those could be reined in some. And some intentional work could be done to integrate schools across racial and socioeconomic lines, better professionalize the system administrations so that they could, for instance, hire a new principal for the middle school instead of sharing the high school's principal, and so that there aren't small fiefdoms controlled by powerful groups of wealthy angry parents.
posted by hydropsyche at 5:23 PM on April 10
Sorry, never been there, just looked at a map. In any case, the map I looked at showed that there are roughly ten thousand school districts, one for each of the ten thousand towns in that general area that encompasses two counties. Maybe those could be reined in some.
Gently, maybe if you don't know the area, you shouldn't assume you know the dynamics here? Those "two counties" (Do you mean Hampden and Hampshire? Hampshire and Franklin? Which have nothing like 10,000 towns, any of them) actually include several regional school districts, INCLUDING Amherst itself (ARMS includes the town of Pelham, as well as Amherst), because large parts of this region are very rural and sparsely populated, and some students are *already* on buses for a long way to get to school. There is a big separation (geographically and culturally) between Hampden County (Springfield's location) and Hampshire County (which includes the "Five College Area" where Amherst is). There are *absolutely* racial dynamics that play into that - but they're fairly recent, relatively to the history of the area. ARPS has some longstanding issues with their administrators that have very little to do with lack of professionalization (?). The district (which, again, includes both Amherst and Pelham at the secondary level) is quite diverse for the area (see their profile from the Department of Ed here and compare to other surrounding districts). The larger, more urban districts in this area (such as Holyoke, Chicopee, and yes, Springfield) do not generally have educators with more training or experience than the smaller districts (which, again, racism plays into).
posted by lysimache at 6:17 PM on April 10 [4 favorites]
Gently, maybe if you don't know the area, you shouldn't assume you know the dynamics here? Those "two counties" (Do you mean Hampden and Hampshire? Hampshire and Franklin? Which have nothing like 10,000 towns, any of them) actually include several regional school districts, INCLUDING Amherst itself (ARMS includes the town of Pelham, as well as Amherst), because large parts of this region are very rural and sparsely populated, and some students are *already* on buses for a long way to get to school. There is a big separation (geographically and culturally) between Hampden County (Springfield's location) and Hampshire County (which includes the "Five College Area" where Amherst is). There are *absolutely* racial dynamics that play into that - but they're fairly recent, relatively to the history of the area. ARPS has some longstanding issues with their administrators that have very little to do with lack of professionalization (?). The district (which, again, includes both Amherst and Pelham at the secondary level) is quite diverse for the area (see their profile from the Department of Ed here and compare to other surrounding districts). The larger, more urban districts in this area (such as Holyoke, Chicopee, and yes, Springfield) do not generally have educators with more training or experience than the smaller districts (which, again, racism plays into).
posted by lysimache at 6:17 PM on April 10 [4 favorites]
Student newspaper article detailing some of the accusations against the counselors.
I don’t really know how to approach the direct denials cited in the New Yorker article but one of them certainly has a public relationship with a “faith-based” organization.
posted by atoxyl at 10:25 PM on April 10 [6 favorites]
I don’t really know how to approach the direct denials cited in the New Yorker article but one of them certainly has a public relationship with a “faith-based” organization.
posted by atoxyl at 10:25 PM on April 10 [6 favorites]
For anyone who read the first article, please read the one atoxyl just posted. It gives a lot more details, and makes it much more difficult to accept the staff members denials.
posted by Zumbador at 11:02 PM on April 10 [3 favorites]
posted by Zumbador at 11:02 PM on April 10 [3 favorites]
"Many people in the Amherst district describe a community that has become habituated to outrage—addicted to conflict and reprisal."
I wish I could favorite this twice, and it's definitely not just limited by school district, political ideology, or even to any particular part of the US. People, particularly Americans, thrive on rage and conflict and I think it'll only get worse.
posted by photo guy at 1:00 AM on April 11 [2 favorites]
I wish I could favorite this twice, and it's definitely not just limited by school district, political ideology, or even to any particular part of the US. People, particularly Americans, thrive on rage and conflict and I think it'll only get worse.
posted by photo guy at 1:00 AM on April 11 [2 favorites]
Sorry, never been there, just looked at a map.
You don't need to apologize for that. The US census says it's part of the Springfield MSA, which means enough people commute to Springfield for jobs or shopping to make it a suburb. If the commute ratio was not met, it would basically be a standalone small town not connected to any MSA. People who disagree should take it up with the US Census.
posted by The_Vegetables at 7:18 AM on April 11 [1 favorite]
You don't need to apologize for that. The US census says it's part of the Springfield MSA, which means enough people commute to Springfield for jobs or shopping to make it a suburb. If the commute ratio was not met, it would basically be a standalone small town not connected to any MSA. People who disagree should take it up with the US Census.
posted by The_Vegetables at 7:18 AM on April 11 [1 favorite]
The article linked above from the high school newspaper is astonishingly good journalism. Pretty much all mainstream news sources would do well to read and learn.
posted by hydropsyche at 1:14 PM on April 11 [7 favorites]
posted by hydropsyche at 1:14 PM on April 11 [7 favorites]
They latch onto the trans rights issue
winterportage, I'm glad that what I see as a terribly transphobic post on your part at least made it clear what this is: a 'trans' thread. Also a 'POC' thread.
As such, I'll bring up that the general community feeling around that (there may even be a policy?) is that people who are not part of the marginalized group(s) in question think long and hard before posting - and that we center the experience of those marginalized groups.
Please people. Cis people, for the trans side. White people, for the POC side. This is not about you. Trans people, and people of color, are not "issues." We are human beings, who are suffering, in this society. Be in listening mode on this one.
posted by Flight Hardware, do not touch at 5:25 PM on April 11 [2 favorites]
winterportage, I'm glad that what I see as a terribly transphobic post on your part at least made it clear what this is: a 'trans' thread. Also a 'POC' thread.
As such, I'll bring up that the general community feeling around that (there may even be a policy?) is that people who are not part of the marginalized group(s) in question think long and hard before posting - and that we center the experience of those marginalized groups.
Please people. Cis people, for the trans side. White people, for the POC side. This is not about you. Trans people, and people of color, are not "issues." We are human beings, who are suffering, in this society. Be in listening mode on this one.
posted by Flight Hardware, do not touch at 5:25 PM on April 11 [2 favorites]
Mod note: One deleted and a reply left standing. In the future, please consider the importance of being aware of your position/identity/privilege in threads and take opportunities to hold space for others rather that inserting your opinions or abstractions as a person not from the marginalized group(s) in mention. Check out our Community Guidelines and our Microaggressions page to gain a better understanding of how not to/how to show up.
posted by travelingthyme (staff) at 5:59 PM on April 11
posted by travelingthyme (staff) at 5:59 PM on April 11
ou don't need to apologize for that. The US census says it's part of the Springfield MSA, which means enough people commute to Springfield for jobs or shopping to make it a suburb. If the commute ratio was not met, it would basically be a standalone small town not connected to any MSA. People who disagree should take it up with the US Census.
This is slightly beside the point, because it was about schools (and the idea of, what, busing kids from Amherst to Springfield every day -- that takes about an hour on a school bus, btw; Pelham, which, again, is part of the Amherst Regional district would be even further -- is prima facie absurd and ignores the realities of settlement patterns here--talk about integration with the Holyoke schools if you're pursuing ideas that have no basis in reality but do know something about geography and demographics here), but, sure, more fun with government definitions:
As of 2023, the federal OMB defines Amherst as part of the, wait for it, Amherst Town - Northampton Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). It, along with the Springfield MSA and Greenfield Micropolitan Statistical Area (μSA), make up the Springfield-Amherst Town-Northampton Combined Statistical Area.
I have lived here for 20 years. Amherst is NOT a suburb of Springfield. Amherst is a *COLLEGE* town. Yes, Springfield is a larger nearby (~45 mins) city. People do NOT go from Amherst/Northampton to Springfield to go shopping (they go to Hadley for big box stores, mayyyyyybe West Springfield, the Holyoke Mall back when malls were a thing). Sure, some minority of folks are employed by e.g. Baystate, the large (relatively) hospital system in Springfield -- which has its main facilities in West Springfield, btw -- or MassMutual or whatever to which they commute, but the top three employers in the town are UMass Amherst, Amherst College and Hampshire College with a combined total of approximately 8,000 employees: all located in Amherst itself, because Amherst is absolutely centered around the colleges, and particularly UMass.
posted by lysimache at 2:47 PM on April 12 [2 favorites]
This is slightly beside the point, because it was about schools (and the idea of, what, busing kids from Amherst to Springfield every day -- that takes about an hour on a school bus, btw; Pelham, which, again, is part of the Amherst Regional district would be even further -- is prima facie absurd and ignores the realities of settlement patterns here--talk about integration with the Holyoke schools if you're pursuing ideas that have no basis in reality but do know something about geography and demographics here), but, sure, more fun with government definitions:
As of 2023, the federal OMB defines Amherst as part of the, wait for it, Amherst Town - Northampton Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). It, along with the Springfield MSA and Greenfield Micropolitan Statistical Area (μSA), make up the Springfield-Amherst Town-Northampton Combined Statistical Area.
I have lived here for 20 years. Amherst is NOT a suburb of Springfield. Amherst is a *COLLEGE* town. Yes, Springfield is a larger nearby (~45 mins) city. People do NOT go from Amherst/Northampton to Springfield to go shopping (they go to Hadley for big box stores, mayyyyyybe West Springfield, the Holyoke Mall back when malls were a thing). Sure, some minority of folks are employed by e.g. Baystate, the large (relatively) hospital system in Springfield -- which has its main facilities in West Springfield, btw -- or MassMutual or whatever to which they commute, but the top three employers in the town are UMass Amherst, Amherst College and Hampshire College with a combined total of approximately 8,000 employees: all located in Amherst itself, because Amherst is absolutely centered around the colleges, and particularly UMass.
posted by lysimache at 2:47 PM on April 12 [2 favorites]
One more thing, and then I swear I'm walking away:
There is actually already some significant (non-administrative) regionalization of schools in this area beyond actual regionalized school districts (like Amherst-Pelham, Southwick-Granville-Tolland [also in the news nationally recently for some horrific racism], and many others): the Collaborative for Educational Services provides services to member school districts in Hampshire County, including Amherst and Amherst-Pelham Regional, while six districts in Hampden County (that are actually suburbs of Springfield!) make up the Lower Pioneer Valley Education Collaborative. They provide resources that member districts would have a hard time putting together on their own, ranging from buses to special ed programs to professional development to vocational education. Yes, each district has their own schools, with their own School Committees (i.e., elected boards of education); but the characterization of "individual fiefdoms" that "need to be reigned in" is in deep ignorance of the actual way education is practiced here. We have plenty of issues in schools in Western Mass -- as the ARMS student journalists clearly showed! -- but lack of awareness or cooperation between districts is really not the problem.
posted by lysimache at 4:34 PM on April 12
There is actually already some significant (non-administrative) regionalization of schools in this area beyond actual regionalized school districts (like Amherst-Pelham, Southwick-Granville-Tolland [also in the news nationally recently for some horrific racism], and many others): the Collaborative for Educational Services provides services to member school districts in Hampshire County, including Amherst and Amherst-Pelham Regional, while six districts in Hampden County (that are actually suburbs of Springfield!) make up the Lower Pioneer Valley Education Collaborative. They provide resources that member districts would have a hard time putting together on their own, ranging from buses to special ed programs to professional development to vocational education. Yes, each district has their own schools, with their own School Committees (i.e., elected boards of education); but the characterization of "individual fiefdoms" that "need to be reigned in" is in deep ignorance of the actual way education is practiced here. We have plenty of issues in schools in Western Mass -- as the ARMS student journalists clearly showed! -- but lack of awareness or cooperation between districts is really not the problem.
posted by lysimache at 4:34 PM on April 12
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posted by Zumbador at 8:56 PM on April 9 [3 favorites]