The city of Holyoke is on track to regain control of its schools for the first time in a decade, exiting receivership in two months. Before that happens, though, city and state leaders have agreed on several “exit assurances,” leading to protests by the local teachers' union.
As Holyoke and its school committee prepare for a receivership exit, the state’s top education official stopped in the city this week to discuss its progress and transition to local control.
“To this board, to the district leadership, to the teachers, educators and staff of the Holyoke Public Schools as well as the students and families - it's been a long journey that's brought you to this really important benchmark,” said Dr. Patrick Tutwiler, both the state’s secretary of education and interim Department of Elementary and Secondary Education commissioner. “… and I know that it's a result of hard work, creativity, innovation, thoughtfulness...”
Tutwiler praised the committee at its regular meeting Monday as the body prepares to once again fully-govern the district. The meeting itself featured the committee voting to remove and update large swathes of HPS policies in preparation for the switch, which is currently slated to happen July 1.
Assurances before an exit
Holyoke’s public schools have been under state control since 2015 due to chronic underperformance. The receivership led to the creation of a lengthy turnaround plan - one outlining goals and plans to boost attendance, get test scores up, and better the engage the city’s now-4,800 students.
But as Tutwiler explains, some of the plan’s policies will be sticking around for a while as “exit assurances” – a move to ensure stabilization and that the local control transition is a smooth one, he says.
“Holyoke is the first district to come out of receivership, so this is a first,” he said while explaining the concept of exit assurances to the school committee. “… this is a feature that exists - both in statute and regulation - a sort of an opportunity that the commissioner can take advantage of to ensure that the district continues to move in a positive direction”
Those assurances include parts of “Section A” of the turnaround plan – dealing with collective bargaining agreements, a compensation system, educator evaluations and even who establishes the school calendar – in this case, the superintendent.
Signed off on by Receiver/Superintendent Anthony Soto and Mayor Joshua Garcia, the move drew immediate criticism from the Holyoke Teachers Association. It also fueled a series of walk-in protests held by its some 400 members Thursday morning across the district.
Prolonged restrictions on collective bargaining prompt protests
“They told us that we can't bargain on the length of the school year, the length of the school day, the amount of money we get, how much professional development time we get...” said Micah Shafferan, an English teacher at Dean Tech High School. “Usually, every other school district in the state bargains over those things and they have been telling us that we are not allowed to bargain over that, because those are what's part of the exit assurances.”
Speaking with reporters, Shafferan says Holyoke teachers already contend with a low contract ceiling, on top of a turnover of about 100 teachers a year – with many leaving for higher pay in school districts elsewhere. As of April 2025, state Department of Education data shows Holyoke has retained 320 of its 423 teachers over the past year – 75.7 percent.
For clarity, union members can bargain – but Appendix A features language that sets up various parameters and restrictions, says HTA members.
Nick Cream, an ethnic studies/history teacher at Dean and also president of the HTA, tells WAMC while the union knew exit assurances were a possibility, Monday night’s announcement was a surprise.
Cream says teachers previously went through Appendix A with then-interim Commissioner Dr. Russell Johnston – going through it point-by-point and stressing how it affects them and what they felt needed to go. According to Cream, Tutwiler was clued in on those discussions and also met with the HTA.
Sensing changes were coming, the HTA head said he had been in contact with the secretary via email following a recent meeting.
“… in the email he wrote ‘Nice to talk with you, as well … quickly, we will set up a special school committee meeting where this will be the only thing on the agenda … that date is to be determined,’” the HTA head said. “.. and that was the last thing I heard. So … when Monday came around, and I had heard that they were releasing these [assurances], I was like, ‘Well, that can't be right.’”
Consultation, ongoing dialogue and an upcoming rally
In a memo announcing the assurances, Tutwiler does say both district and union leadership were consulted on the matter, though the HTA emphasizes it does not approve of them.
“The way they wrote it in the exit assurances was – ‘in consultation with the union,’ and we've learned that that word ‘consultation’ means absolutely nothing. That means ‘Okay, we're going to host a listening session, and then we're going to do the thing we were going to do anyway.’” Cream said. “My sense … is that they're holding on to some very backwards and kind of outdated ways of thinking about education and the way that students actually learn and teachers actually teach.”
Asked for comment about the HTA’s assurance disapproval and the apparent, previous plans for a special school committee meeting, a DESE spokesperson responded with a statement re-iterating that the assurances announced Monday were developed in consultation with local stakeholders, “including the teachers’ union.”
The full statement from DESE spokesperson Jacqueline Reis reads:
“The assurances announced Monday we developed in consultation with local stakeholders, including the teachers' union. These measures are needed to provide stability and ensure that Holyoke Public Schools are set up for success when they exit receivership, such as preserving early literacy programming, robust communication with families, and educator compensation and professional development."
Following Monday night, Cream says the HTA has reached out to the education secretary for a follow-up meeting and they have heard back, but no date was immediately set as of Thursday.
In the meantime, he says the public is invited to attend a rally on May 15 before a scheduled bargaining session at Holyoke High School.
