The Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) held its monthly meeting on Tuesday, November 19, in the auditorium of Holyoke High School North, drawing educators and community leaders from across the state who came to listen to presentations, share their viewpoints, and ask a wide range of questions of the BESE board.
The agenda included discussion on a number of topics, including:
Voter approval of ballot question 2 to eliminate the requirement that students pass the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) in order to graduate high school,
An update on Holyoke’s transition plan for return to local control,
An update on the DESE commissioner search process, and more.
During the meeting, a group of HHS North students performed a short segment from their production of “Miss Nelson is Missing!”—earning a standing ovation from those in attendance.
HPS Superintendent Anthony Soto opened the discussion about Holyoke’s return to local control by noting that developing a strategic plan for the district was one of his highest priorities when he was appointed receiver and superintendent in 2021. That plan was developed based on suggestions and feedback from more than 1,500 students, families, staff, leaders and community members. The strength of that plan is an important reason why Holyoke is ready for a return to local control, Superintendent Soto told the BESE board.
“This strategic plan guides everything we do,” Superintendent Soto explained. “As part of that process, we were able to set a vision for the district, a mission, and our equity commitments. We did a REACH learner profile, or a profile of a student that we would like to see, and (established) some core beliefs.” He cited “students are at the center of everything we do” as a guiding core belief that has been instilled across the school community, as well as among school committee members and city leaders.
This school year, Superintendent Soto said the district is focusing on implementing evidence-based early literacy practices, delivering high-quality lessons to help students produce grade-level work, reducing chronic absenteeism through a comprehensive and multi-faceted attendance plan, reducing the number of student referrals through a strong multi-tiered system of supports, and offering differentiated and coordinated professional learning for educators. (View Superintendent Soto’s full slide presentation here.)
“There was no real path for us to follow, we had to build it,” Mayor Joshua A. Garcia said, thanking Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education's Acting Commissioner Russell D. Johnston for partnering with the city and the school district to forge a path out of receivership and back to local control.
The Holyoke School Committee has remained actively engaged and involved in the operations of the school district since the first days of receivership, said recently appointed committee member Devin Sheehan, who also served on the School Committee in the past—including in 2015 when Holyoke’s receivership began.
In August, members of the Holyoke School Committee voted unanimously to adopt a Capacity Building Plan as the final step towards ending receivership in the district. The Capacity Building Plan spells out concrete steps and timelines to ensure the district’s elected board is well prepared to assume its role in four major areas of school district governance when receivership is ultimately ended. These four areas include:
Superintendent evaluation (with a focus on continuous improvement and collaboration)
Superintendent hiring
Finance and budget
Policy development
Since August, the School Committee has made additional strides in these four areas, Mr. Sheehan said, with their policy review work expected to be completed in spring 2025. The full Capacity Building plan has been posted to the Turnaround Overview page on the district website.
Acting Commissioner Johnston acknowledged both the progress made to date and the work that lies ahead. “The work is not done here in Holyoke. There is much more that needs to be done. This is not a moment of celebration and stop. This is a moment of acknowledgement and keep going ahead.”