AMHERST — A final 2025-2026 school calendar that likely will see public schools open before Labor Day could be brought before the Amherst, Pelham and Amherst-Pelham Regional school committees later this winter.

Superintendent E. Xiomara Herman recently unveiled three possible schedules, developed with a small team of educators and a representative from the Amherst Pelham Education Association, that each meet the state’s required 180 instructional days and 990 hours. She described the work as a more collaborative method by engaging others.

One consideration in scheduling, Herman said, was not having school days after the Juneteenth holiday on June 19, because students and others found it difficult to return to school. To avoid going later into June, Herman said it was preferable to start the school year on or around Aug. 25, or a week before Labor Day.

Each calendar includes days off on three religious holidays that aren’t federal holidays, including Yom Kippur on Oct. 2, 2025, Three Kings Day on Jan. 6, 2026 and Good Friday on April 3, 2026. These have either significant student or staff absenteeism, where too few students are in class or too few individuals are present to run the district, Herman said.

Herman said Three Kings Day features important religious and cultural celebrations for some Hispanic cultures, and is like a second Christmas, including in the Virgin Islands where she previously worked. “There’s a lot of reverence and observance when it comes to that,” Herman said.

Leverett representative Tilman Wolf said his concern is that a public school shouldn’t be prioritizing accommodating religious holidays. “It’s a slippery slope to decide which religions we should favor,” Wolf said.

COVID testing

Wastewater surveillance of COVID levels recently resumed in Amherst in December, after sampling was on hold for six weeks beginning in November due to repairs at the Amherst Wastewater Treatment Plant’s laboratory.

Weekly sample taking was done in December, and twice weekly sampling is expected to begin this month. The most recent test showed 726,654 gene copy equivalents per liter of sewage, which Health Director Kiko Malin said is considered low. The threshold of more concern is typically 1 million gene copy equivalents per liter of sewage.

Malin said wastewater is the best indicator of whether there are concerning trends in COVID. In addition to the town’s tests, the University of Massachusetts also tests its own flumes that go into the treatment plant.

About 300 town and school employees were recently vaccinated at town clinics, and Malin said people can continue to get both flu and COVID vaccines at local pharmacies and at clinics in other communities. Her office at the Bangs Community Center also has COVID tests available.

Weather station build

A weather station for collecting data and educating the community about meteorology and climate change will be built by the Computer Science Club at Amherst-Pelham Regional High School, with donations being sought for the project.

Led by students Ella Wang, Libby Smith, Delany Cheng and Anoushka Sen, and advised by high school computer science teacher Ling Xue, the aim of the weather station will be to provide accurate local weather data and introduce K-12 students to the many uses of STEM education, or science, technology, engineering and math, in their lives.

The hope is to also connect the weather station to the National Weather Service’s citizens weather program, take measurements that can tell if weather conditions are safe for local sports teams, host tours with the younger students next fall and investigate weather trends with climate change and extreme weather.

To contribute, go to gofundme.com/f/help-arhs-students-build-a-weather-station.

Police officers graduate

Anthony M. Clark, Justin Cruz and Tyler Murray-Lavin graduated from the Boylston Police Academy on Dec. 6, allowing them to begin their 12-week field officer training program for Amherst police.

Murray-Lavin, 24, is the son of Carolyn Murray of Montague and a 2019 graduate of Turners Falls High School. He was previously employed at the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office and as a security officer at Franklin Baystate Hospital in Greenfield.

Cruz, 30, of Granby, is the son of Carlos Cruz. A 2013 graduate of Sabis International Charter School, he attended Springfield Technical Community College and Westfield State University. He was previously employed as a Ludlow special police officer.

Clark, 25, is the son of Myrl and Debbi Clark and a 2017 graduate of Westfield High School. He earned a masters of business administration and bachelor’s in general business from American International College in 2022 and previously worked as an account executive at Checkwriters in Northampton.

Cadet recognition

Hadley resident Kyle Wooddell, 14, a cadet member of the Civil Air Patrol, U.S. Air Force Auxiliary, recently earned the Curry Achievement and a promotion to cadet airman at the Brigadier General Arthur J. Pierce Squadron weekly meeting in Amherst.

Wooddell attends attends Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter School in South Hadley.

Another local cadet receiving honors was Belchertown resident Charles Fisher, 15, who earned the Rickenbacker Achievement, and with it a promotion to cadet technical sergeant.