Holyoke schools will return to local control in July 2025

Nearly a decade after Holyoke Public Schools was placed under state control due to chronic underperformance, state education officials announced Tuesday a “preliminary decision” to place the district into receivership effective July 1, 2025.

The news became public during a monthly board of education meeting at the headquarters of the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, or DESE, in Everett.

“We are today announcing Holyoke’s provisional release from chronic underperforming status, which will take effect once we complete a preliminary process,” said DESE Acting Commissioner Russell Johnston, “which means we are continuing the work that the Mayor (Joshua Garcia) and Superintendent (Anthony Soto) has provided leadership to ensure we continue to improve after the receivership.”

The state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education named Holyoke Public Schools a chronically underperforming district in 2015.

Since that time, the district has been led by a state-appointed superintendent/receiver focused on implementing a “turnaround plan,” most recently by Anthony Soto, himself a graduate of the Holyoke school system.

“I know there is still so much work to do,” Soto said at the meeting. “We still need to achieve better results. But I’m really proud of the work we’ve done over the past nine years and the foundation we’ve helped create to improve learning conditions and outcomes for our children. “

Soto said he was committed to working with the mayor, with DESE and the School Committee — which will regain control of the district’s budget and the hiring and evaluation of the district superintendent — to ensure that the transition to local control is successful.

“I have great confidence in the mayor’s leadership and in our school committee that… we can pass the torch and they can take it to the next level and ensure that students are at the center of all the decisions we make. ” and that a focus on student results is paramount,” said Soto.

A lot of ‘soul searching’ in the past ten years

Holyoke Mayor Joshua Garcia told the board, first in Spanish and then in English, that he was incredibly proud to join the state of Massachusetts at this time.

“We feel very ready to move forward,” said Garcia, who also attended Holyoke Public Schools. He also served on the school board.

The community has done a lot of research over the past decade, Garcia said, when she went into receivership.

“We have done a lot of conflict reconciliation and trying to understand the strategic direction we need to go as far as the district is concerned,” Garcia said.

Even without any ability to make decisions since 2014, Garcia said the Holyoke School Committee has met every month and every year since going into receivership, with former trustees and the current trustee.

“I think there are some lessons learned on this journey that we can definitely talk about and figure out how we can pivot together and try to be better when it comes to helping districts,” Garcia said.

There is much more work to be done, Garcia said.

“We have a capacity building plan in place with clear benchmarks and what we need to do to be ready to launch on July 1,” Garcia said, thanking Johnston and his team, Education Secretary Patrick. Tutwiler and Governor Maura Healey for their support and understanding of what needs to be done in Holyoke to achieve the shared goal of what is best for students.

Garcia also gave a “shout out” to all the elected school board members, “both former and current, who have been extremely patient throughout this process and remain committed so that we can ensure we are ready by the first day of July. to get started.”

Trusteeship, governors and their education commissioners

Laurens and Southbridge schools remain in receivership. Garcia pointed to the “quality of life challenges” in those districts and other schools in Massachusetts.

“I think in this ongoing journey (with districts) there needs to be a conversation at a different, higher level about how we support these gateway cities,” Garcia said.

Instead of going to the schools and having teachers solve neighborhood problems, Garcia thinks partnerships can be created with the state to improve communities, “whether it’s housing, health and other social determinants that bring our children to go to school. “

Immediately following Garcia’s comment, Matt Hills, the vice chairman of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, said he was very happy for Garcia and the city and its families, but on Garcia’s final point, Hills said, “Please don’t underestimate the impact .” that political leadership and educational leadership have played a role in the decision-making on this (acting DESE Commissioner Russell Johnston).

He acknowledged that communities face challenges.

“You have all, as I understand it, done an excellent job of embracing the moment and being willing to work in a very cooperative way and reaching the point where you are ready to take on the challenge. And political and educational leadership are very important in these decisions,” he said.

In February 2024, former DESE Commissioner of Education Jeff Riley, who was appointed under Governor Charlie Baker, delayed action on a request from Garcia to begin the process to end the state receivership of the city’s schools.

Riley resigned in March 2024 and Johnston was named acting commissioner.

Capacity building plan

In the spring and summer of 2024, the Holyoke School Committee’s Local Control Subcommittee worked with DESE to create a capacity building plan, and the full School Committee approved it in August.

The plan focuses on implementing governance activities with targeted training support in four key areas of school district governance: hiring a superintendent, evaluating a superintendent, budgeting and finance, and developing policy.

In a news release, the Healey administration noted the district’s achievements since 2015, including an increase in the district’s four-year cohort graduation rate from 60.2% in 2014 to 74.6% in 2023.

The district also saw a decrease in out-of-school suspension rates from 20% in the 2013-2014 school year to 9% in 2022-2023.

Holyoke Public Schools also expanded its pre-K program to offer more than 500 seats to families this past school year, through classrooms operated by the district or partners.

This story is a production of the New England News Collaborative. It was original published by New England Public Media.