Speaking at this week’s Holyoke School Committee meeting, Mayor Joshua Garcia recommended the group refrain from appealing the state’s decision to defer a petition to end receivership.
“I know we’ve had a lot of what felt like reassuring conversations, but I can tell you that the stars are aligning in a positive direction," Garcia said.
The meeting was held weeks after an effort to jumpstart transitioning the district out of receivership.
Toward the end of 2023, Holyoke Receiver and Superintendent Anthony Soto submitted a letter to the Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education, asking the department to “begin the transition to exit receivership in a careful and highly planned manner.”
The letter, supported by Mayor Garcia, touched on a petition submitted by the school committee in September, requesting the city be released from receivership.
Holyoke schools have been in receivership since 2015 due to chronic underperformance. In the years that followed, the school district has taken part in a turnaround plan, leading to a significant increase in graduation rates, rising 15 points to 74.9 percent in 2021-22.
However, even Soto’s letter acknowledged ongoing issues like MCAS scores significantly lagging behind state averages, including Math and English Language Arts.
On Monday, Garcia told the committee he chairs that it can petition the commissioner again, but by appealing, the school committee runs the risk of running headlong into the members of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, where it’s not clear how the petition might be received.
“You got the administration, as far to even the Governor’s administration that is behind Holyoke in this process," the mayor said. "You submit that - now we’re kind of putting their hard work to the side and going straight to the board and we don’t know where that board, individual members stand. It’s just, you know it’s the same board that put us in here to begin with.”
The mayor also cited recent positive conversations he had with members of the BESE, especially regarding the upcoming departure of Commissioner Jeffrey Riley.
According to the mayor, he had recently been in contact with Secretary of Education Patrick Tutwiler, who assured him that even with an interim commissioner, establishing a timeline and path toward Holyoke exiting receivership would remain a priority.
However, on top of the fact that the deadline to appeal is March 2nd and that a vote was not specifically mentioned in the agenda, committee member Ellie Wilson said she felt “pigeon-holed” by the whole situation, especially given past reassurances that progress was being made in discussions with the state.
“We have got no positive motion, even though we’ve come to this group before, saying 'There’s positive - Oh, the governor’s looking forward,' 'Oh, this is great’ and ‘Oh, someone said that his goal is going to be to establish the path forward for Holyoke,'" Wilson said. "That’s all good being said in conversations that are not public, that no one is being held accountable for.”
The mayor said he understood the frustration.
Meanwhile, Vice Chair Erin Brunelle shared her own frustrations with trying to get the commissioner to meet with the committee.
The vice chair described how the commissioner had been invited to take part in Monday’s discussions, and that regardless of who’s commissioner, they need to take part in a formal meeting.
“The reason we invited them tonight, right, is to try to have that conversation tonight, to help us educate in the decision of whether or not to appeal," she said. "Because if we had a fruitful conversation that came out with dedicated timelines, then that would maybe make us feel one way or the other, right?”
Brunelle added that she and the mayor will be reaching out at the end of the week to attempt to schedule said formal meeting.
The committee instead agreed to explore entering a dialogue with the incoming interim-commissioner, voicing a desire to collaborate and end receivership.
