About Turnaround
In April 2015, the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education 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.
On March 25, 2024, Massachusetts Acting Education Commissioner Russell Johnston met first with members of the Holyoke School Committee’s Local Control Subcommittee and then later in the evening with the full School Committee. During both meetings, he delivered a clear message: He is committed to helping Holyoke develop a clear path forward to resume local control and end receivership of the local school system. While no date for the end of receivership has been set, the acting commissioner worked with subcommittee members to schedule seven meetings between April and August, 2024 that will help build their understanding of the School Committee’s roles and responsibilities and develop a document outlining the district’s path out of receivership, he said. 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.
The meeting topics are:
Acting Commissioner Johnston will meet with members of the Local Control Subcommittee as follows:
April 8, to review and discuss the Turnaround Plan that has guided the receivership process since 2015;
April 23, to discuss the annual budgeting process;
May 13, to discuss the policy process;
May 28, to discuss the process for reviewing, hiring, and evaluating the superintendent;
June 10, to build a plan for collaboration with key stakeholders going forward;
July 22, to revisit the Turnaround Plan with a focus on continuous improvement going forward; and
August 19, to review and develop recommendations for School Committee bylaws that would go into effect when receivership ultimately ends.
The School Committee is developing a process so that stakeholders can have input on the plan to transition to local control.
