Turnaround Overview

Commissioner Johnston has announced his provisional decision to return local control to Holyoke Public Schools effective July 1, 2025. See video above.
Receivership News Updates
Capacity Building Plan
Capacity Building Plan (Spanish)

Receivership communications

Commissioner Johnstown's letter on 10/29/2024 announcing provisional return to local control (PDF) (English) (Spanish)

Letter from Mayor Garcia and Superintendent Soto on 10/29/2024 (English and Spanish)

Commissioner Riley's followup response to Mayor Garcia's receivership release request 2/2/2024 (PDF) (English) (Spanish)

Commissioner Riley's response to Mayor Garcia's receivership release request 12/22/2023 (PDF)

Superintendent Soto's response to the petition to end receivership 12/21/2023 (PDF)

Letter from Holyoke Mayor Joshua A. Garcia to Commissioner Riley requesting release from receivership 9/18/2023 (PDF)

Resources

Turnaround Plan Documents

About Turnaround

In April 2015, the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) voted to designate the Holyoke Public Schools chronically underperforming (Level 5), placing the district in state receivership. The receivership provides the opportunity for a significant, sustained turnaround in Holyoke.

The 2015 Turnaround Plan was released October 1, 2015, and has been renewed twice: October 1, 2018, and December 16, 2022. Additionally, on September 26, 2022, Massachusetts Commissioner of Education Jeffrey C. Riley removed Morgan School from chronically underperforming status on the basis of the district’s concurrent designation as chronically underperforming. This technical change signifies that the ongoing strategic transformation efforts at Morgan are fully aligned with and supported by the district turnaround plan.  

The timeline to local control

On October 29, 2024, Massachusetts Acting Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education Russell D. Johnston announced his provisional decision (English) (Spanish) to remove Holyoke Public Schools’ chronically underperforming designation at the end of the school year, with local control anticipated to be restored on July 1, 2025. This decision will be finalized in June 2025 based on the Holyoke School Committee’s (HSC) progress toward implementing its capacity building plan.

In reaching this decision, Commissioner Johnston offered his vote of confidence for the future for Holyoke Public Schools. Mayor Joshua Garcia and Superintendent Anthony Soto shared a letter with the community. In it, they wrote, “This announcement reflects the hard work, resolve, and steadfast commitment shown by students, families, staff, school and district leaders, the School Committee, and our entire community. Congratulations to all!” 

The letter recognizes that, together, Holyoke has rebuilt a school district that appropriately balances high expectations and high support for students and staff. HPS has strengthened students’ educational experiences by implementing high-quality, standards-aligned curriculum; by coaching educators to apply strong teaching practices in the classroom; and by analyzing and acting on student performance data. HPS has dramatically improved the operations of central services, ensuring schools have what they need to best support students and families. Most importantly, HPS students continue to grow as readers, writers, mathematicians, scientists, musicians, artists, athletes, and community members. 

Background on return to local control

On March 25, 2024, Commissioner Johnston met with members of the Holyoke School Committee’s Local Control Subcommittee and with the full School Committee, announcing his commitment to helping Holyoke develop a clear path forward to resume local control and end receivership of Holyoke Public Schools. He worked with subcommittee members to schedule seven meetings between April and August, 2024 to help build their understanding of the School Committee’s roles and responsibilities and develop a framework for their return to local control. As a foundation for that work, Acting Commissioner Johnston referred School Committee members to DESE’s regulations for Accountability and Assistance for Chronically Underperforming Districts and Schools.

On August 23, 2024, after five months of discussions, research, and planning, members of the Holyoke School Committee voted unanimously to adopt a Capacity Building Plan (English) | (Spanish) as the next step towards ending receivership in the district. The Capacity Building Plan spelled 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 are: 

  • Superintendent evaluation (with a focus on continuous improvement and collaboration)

  • Superintendent hiring

  • Finance and budget 

  • Policy development

The School Committee then began recruiting community members to serve on a Community Advisory Team that begins its work in November 2024. The Community Advisory Team’s role is to support the School Committee’s planning and implementation of the Superintendent hiring and evaluation processes, as well as ensure robust stakeholder engagement with the continuous improvement of HPS.