Holyoke Public Schools offers a wide range of employment opportunities that “speak to the heart” for many job seekers throughout the region. Working for HPS has many rewards including pay, benefits, professional learning communities—and best of all—making a real difference in the lives of children. This week’s spotlight is on two open positions at Transitions Academy. Please read and share to help us secure the best possible candidates.
Holyoke Public Schools is actively recruiting qualified candidates to continue to strengthen and grow its Transitions Academy program for students ages 18-22 with disabilities as they prepare for their emerging adult roles. The two open positions include:
The deadline to apply for both positions is July 30.
“The successful candidates for both of these positions will have opportunities every day to make a significant difference in the lives of our students and their families,” said Chief of Pupil Services Marianne Currier. “Our Transitions Academy students are poised and ready to enter the adult world in the best possible way. They are in a program that is the culmination of all the supports they have received in traditional K-12 schools, and now they are getting ready to find their place in the world after high school.”
Transitions Academy offers a mix of classroom and experiential learning experiences, including on-the-job training programs and college-level coursework, along with day-to-day life skills such as how to manage money, secure housing, get a driver’s permit or license, and so much more, said Opportunity Academy Principal Phelipe Johnson who also oversees the Transitions Academy program. “The Transitions Academy team and our community partners work directly with students to help prepare them to live as independently as possible when they turn 22.”
Transitions Academy is housed in a non-traditional learning environment in downtown Holyoke, in a former mill building that has since been repurposed for both business and educational purposes. Located at 4 Open Square Way near the upper canal and Connecticut River, Transitions Academy “is the best program in the district, hands down,” said one HPS employee who regularly spends time there. “It’s my happy place. Ten minutes there and it turns my day around. It’s a magical place.”
Students spend a portion of each day at Transitions Academy engaged in a wide range of hands-on learning. From there, they are off to their respective work sites for experiential learning in a variety of local business locations, supported by their teachers and other school staff as they pursue their career interests.
“We offer a number of encompassing academic experiences so these young adults can explore and figure out their next steps into adulthood,” Ms. Currier said. “The two people we hire to join our Transitions Academy team will make a difference for today’s students as well as our future students, and we can’t wait to welcome them aboard.”