Committee approves thank-you letter for building team

School Committee · Meeting of October 27, 2026

AMHERST — The Amherst School Committee pressed district leaders over a bus driver shortage that overcrowded routes and delayed a planned overhaul. Superintendent Dr. Z told the committee the district is down to four in-house drivers from eight, while contractor Kuzmeskus remains six to seven drivers short, and apologized after a Monday mix-up left buses overloaded: "We are truly, truly sorry for what occurred yesterday." Finance Director Shannon Bernaccia reported $726,000 budgeted for contracted transportation and $301,000 for in-house service, with preschool special-education transportation running near double its budgeted cost. Member Bridget asked about immediate hiring bonuses for drivers, but Dr. Z said union negotiations must come first.

The district pushed its revised elementary route rollout to a tentative November 20 launch. The committee's only vote of the night unanimously approved a letter thanking the Massachusetts School Building Authority, the Elementary School Building Committee, DiNisco Design and Accenture's Anser Advisory for the new Amethyst Brook Elementary School.

In the full story:

• Chair's Update and the Amethyst Brook Ribbon-Cutting
• Finance Director's Q1 Report and Capital Plan
• Superintendent's Update: Chestnut Street Academy and Amethyst Brook
• Safety and Well-Being: JKAA Restraint Procedures and Neuro-Affirming Training
• Presentation of the School System (Policy CM)
• Transportation Update
• New Working Groups and the Technology-Use Data Request
• Letter of Thanks: Amethyst Brook Project Partners
• Who Was There
• Organizations And Documents Referenced
• The complete report: 3,343 words

Source: the School Committee meeting of October 27, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.

Checked against the record: before publication this article was automatically compared with the meeting transcript.