School Council is a representative, building-based committee composed of parents, teachers, community members, students and the principal. Parent representatives will be elected at Open House in September.
A primary responsibility of School Council is to review the annual budget for ARMS and to help prepare the School Improvement Plan. In addition, the council solicits input from all members of the ARMS community to learn how the school can better serve our students.
For more information about school councils, see the Massachusetts Department of Education website
School Council is a representative, building-based committee composed of parents, teachers, community members, students and the principal. Parent representatives will be elected at Open House in September.
A primary responsibility of School Council is to review the annual budget for ARMS and to help prepare the School Improvement Plan. In addition, the council solicits input from all members of the ARMS community to learn how the school can better serve our students.
For more information about school councils, see the Massachusetts Department of Education website
Listed below are the School Council Monthly Minutes.
The Amherst Regional Middle School’s School Council sent out a survey to all students in April 2010. There were 371 surveys returned, which represents 77% of the students. Families were asked to respond to 34 questions about communication, school climate, academic experience, homework, special services, and demographic information.
Survey results showed that middle school families use a variety of communication lines with ARMS. Most notable was that the new online grading system could be more utilized and that the Family Handbook was not a regularly used source of information. Families reported knowing how to get answers to their questions and that staff members were receptive.
Both 7th grade and 8th grade families agreed that there should be scheduled conferences for all families and that the 7th grade conferences were informative. In general, people found the wide range of communication tools from the school to be informative.
The majority of families responded that they were kept informed about their child’s academic achievement with a slightly higher number of 8th grade parents checking not well informed in their core academic classes. Overall, the communication from the middle school to home was rated as good.
As reported in the survey, students feel safe at Amherst Regional Middle School and school staff respects differences. The level of academic expectations were appropriate in all subject areas with a higher response of too low for 8th grade English. There was an adequate level of academic support across the school.
Families reported that there was enough reading, they were satisfied with the quality and selection of reading, and writing assignments helped their child become a better writer. Students have been able to do most of the math work on their own with a higher percentage of Math 7 students requiring math help at home. Science and Social Studies curriculum was deemed meaningful for middle school students. Overall the academic experience at ARMS was ranked as good.