Holyoke Mayor Joshua Garcia cuts a ribbon to officially introduce the new Dr. William R. Peck Middle School to the community.
Reminder Publishing file photo
With 2025 now behind us, Reminder Publishing looks back at some of the biggest stories in Chicopee and Holyoke over the last 12 months. From a major receivership story, to school projects and beyond, 2025 was a consequential year for the two communities.
Chicopee and Holyoke have interesting elections, sans mayoral races
Holyoke saw two longtime city councilors lose their seats in contested races amid a 17% voter turnout.
One of them, At Large City Councilor Kevin Jourdain, currently serving in his 14th term on the City Council, captured 105 less votes than the final elected councilor, meaning he will no longer be part of the body come January.
The top vote getters were Patricia Devine with 3,030 votes, Tessa Murphy-Romboletti with 2,974, Israel Rivera with 2,888 votes, Mimi Pantich with 2,768 votes, Michael Sullivan with 2,251 votes and Howard Greaney with 2,173 votes. Pantich is the only newcomer in the bunch; the rest are incumbents.
Ward 3 also saw a shakeup on the City Council as challenger Anne Thalheimer beat longtime incumbent David Bartley by 64 votes. Bartley was seeking his eighth term.
Other winners in contested City Council races were Jenny Rivera over challenger Victor Machado (Ward 1) and Richard Purcell over Peter Diaz Jr. (Ward 4). Nicole Maisonet, Linda Vacon, Juan Anderson-Burgos and Meg Magrath-Smith were unopposed.
For School Committee, Jens Michaelsen captured the vacant Ward 5 seat over Aida Oquendo. Patty Lubold won a write-in campaign in Ward 6. Incumbents Gladys Lebron-Martinez, Rosalee Tensley Williams, Yadilette Rivera-Colon, Orlando Isaza, Ellie Wilson, Mildred Lefebvre and Devin Sheehan were all reelected to their positions.
In Chicopee, a highly contested and tight city collector race was won by Sandra Peret over Rajesh Sanghvi. The contest became necessary when City Collector Stanley Iwanicki announced in October that he would be retiring.
Frank Laflamme and Jerry Roy were joined by Jessica Avery and Joel McAullife as winners for at large seats. In other City Council races, incumbent Shane Brooks beat challenger Joesph Breton (Ward 2) and incumbent Susan Goff defeated Darrin Breault (Ward 3). Joseph Pasternak III defeated Jule Ann L’Heureux for the vacant Ward 5 seat.
Former School Committee member Douglas Girouard and incumbents Abigail Arriaga, George Balakier, Samuel Shumsky, William Courchesne and Mary-Beth Pniak Costello all won uncontested races for seats on the council.
Robert Cantin bested Mark McCarthy for at large School Committee. Diane Trela (Ward 4), Rafael Nazario Jr. (Ward 7), Susan Constance Lemieux (Ward 8) filled vacant seats on the School Committee while Deanna Rousseau, David Barsalou, Jason Dout, Grace Schofield, Carlton Rene Brooks Jr and Ronald Bernard were all reelected.
Chicopee residents also voted in favor of adopting a quarterly tax system, instead of the biannual system that is currently used in the city in a non-binding referendum.
Chicopee clears the way for new development
On Oct. 1, city officials, representatives from different federal agencies, architects, redevelopment partners and designers all gathered at the former Facemate property to celebrate the groundbreaking of a new residential complex.
Chicopee broke ground for Singing Bridge Residencies, a fully electric, mixed-income, multi-generational eight-story residential building consisting of 105 units.
The project will also include open spaces and seating areas designed to foster a strong sense of community among residents. Construction was expected to take 18 months.
The project is part of the redevelopment of Facemate lot No. 1, also known as the Baskin parcel. The project represents the third development phase of the larger RiverMills at Chicopee Falls Vision Plan for the redevelopment of the former Facemate and Uniroyal properties.
RiverMills is the largest brownfields redevelopment project to be advanced in Chicopee’s history.
In May, the City Council approved a special permit and waivers for a proposal that includes adding up to 600 new residential apartments at the former Cabotville Mill building and outbuildings on Front Street.
The Zoning Committee had been reviewing the special application by Bridgewater Capital Partners c/o Mark Yunger for months at different meetings including most recently on May 28.
The parcel, located at 165 Front St. and 0 Exchange St., falls under the city’s Mill Conversion and Commercial Center Overlay Ordinance, which allows mixed uses.
Chicopee educators seek end to workplace violence
For the second consecutive year, Chicopee educators spoke out during public comment at the May 21 School Committee meeting, sharing stories of students being physically abusive toward teachers.
Almost exactly a year ago, the School Committee meeting was standing room only as faculty from Chicopee Public Schools used the public comment portion of the meeting to express their concerns with the way students are acting.
Multiple members highlighted several events where students were verbally and even physically abusive toward teachers.
This year, multiple educators and the daughter of a teacher expressed similar stories.
Belcher Elementary School kindergarten teacher Lynn Legiadre stated she has come before the School Committee multiple times expressing the same concerns, but that she will continue to do so for all the staff in the district who constantly reach out to her.
Chicopee Education Association President and Chicopee High School science teacher Ben Eisen used the theme of “respect” to address the concerns of teachers, but also address contract negotiation disputes between the city and the CEA.
Officials speak out against Job Corps pause
Reminder Publishing file photo
Before Westover Job Corps graduation on June 17, state Sen. Jake Oliveira as well as state Reps. Shirley Arriaga and Brian Ashe hosted a press conference outside Berchmans Hall at Elms College to address the Trump administration’s attempt to close the Westover Job Corps Center and nearly 100 similar programs across the country.
It was announced at the end of May that the U.S. Department of Labor and the Trump administration will be pausing Job Corps centers across the country, including Chicopee.
Oliveira, a Ludlow Democrat, said at Westover Job Corps, there are nearly 250 residential students that participate in the Job Corps program “that could be left without housing opportunities, without workforce opportunities, without job opportunities by truly a reckless administration in Washington D.C. that is continuing to unconstitutionally cut essential programs that we have in our country to help people get ahead.”
Over the previous 11 months, Oliveira said there had been 241 graduates of Westover Job Corps program and they expected 90 of those graduates to be at Elms College on June 17.
As of May 30, there were 352 students at Westover Jobs Corps, 284 of those students are residential students, according to Oliveira.
There were also nearly 170 staff members that worked at Westover Job Corps living in Pioneer Valley.
Szetela Early Childhood Center recommended for new school
At its Nov. 13 meeting, the Barry School Building Commission voted to recommend the Szetela Early Childhood Center site as the preferred location for the new Anna E. Barry Elementary School.
Chicopee has been working in partnership with the Massachusetts School Building Authority to build or renovate a new elementary school to replace the Anna E. Barry Elementary School and be partially reimbursed for the project.
The recommended option is a new two-story school behind the existing school building on the Szetela site.
The total building area is 96,461 gross square feet for a program area of 65,348 net square feet. The proposal also includes a traffic calming
solution, which will create a new access point through 562 Granby Road.
Based on the early estimates, Gardner said the project will cost approximately $102 million, but that is not set in stone yet. The costs include the demolition of the existing Barry School. The target move-in date is fall 2029.
Vega preparing to lead Western Mass. Economic Development Council
Holyoke Planning and Economic Development Director Aaron Vega has been appointed president and CEO for the Western Massachusetts Economic Development Council.
The membership organization made up of businesses, universities and partnerships works together to better the economic development prosperity for Western Massachusetts.
It focuses on Hampden, Hampshire and Franklin counties, and also collaborates with Berkshire County.
Vega will be replacing Rick Sullivan, who has served the EDC for 11 years and will work his last day in the lead role on Dec. 31.
Vega previously served on the Holyoke City Council and in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. Since January 2021, he has led the Office of Planning and Economic Development in Holyoke. He is also the son of Carlos Vega, a local activist and co-founder of Nueva Esperanza.
Holyoke cuts ribbon on new middle school
Reminder Publishing file photo
The city of Holyoke hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony on Sept. 2 to officially unveil the new Dr. William R. Peck Middle School to the community.
Although the school opened on time to welcome students for the first day of school on Aug. 25, the ribbon cutting ceremony was a chance to reflect on the decade long process and allow the community to tour the space.
The city partnered with the Massachusetts School Building Authority to construct the new, 550-student middle school that meets the needs of modern education.
Dr. William R. Peck Middle School, the same name as the school formerly on the site, is the first new school built in Holyoke since 1989.
The $85.5 million project was officially approved in June 2023 by the city of Holyoke and the MSBA. The city of Holyoke is responsible for paying approximately $27.1 million and the MSBA will reimburse approximately $58.4 million. Currently, the project is estimated to be approximately 10% under budget.
Holyoke schools officially exit state receivership
After 10 years, Holyoke Public Schools exited state receivership on July 1, following an announcement made by Massachusetts Education Secretary and interim Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Commissioner Dr. Patrick Tutwiler during the June 23 School Committee meeting and June 24 state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education meeting.
The announcement follows a provisional determination in October 2024, by then-acting Commissioner Russell Johnston, to remove Holyoke Public Schools from chronically underperforming status and that the district would be ready if the School Committee completed its capacity building plan.
Since then, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has supported the School Committee as they completed a capacity building plan to return to local control.
The Healey-Driscoll administration made the determination official on June 23.
The new exit plan changed the duties from the receiver to the superintendent who will have control over staffing, schedules, compensation and other decisions. The plan also lays out state control exit assurances enforced for two years after receivership ends.
Before the transition, Holyoke Teachers Association President Nick Cream issued a statement opposing the state’s plan for the city’s schools on behalf of the group.
Although Holyoke Public Schools and Tutwiler said the exit assurances were made with suggestions and feedback from the School Committee and HTA, the Teachers Association expressed they were “angered and dismayed” by the exit assurances announced.
Federal education funding cuts to impact Holyoke, Chicopee
With more tough news of federal funding cuts being announced from the Trump administration, the Healey-Driscoll administration condemned the administration’s move to terminate $106 million in K-12 education grant funding for Massachusetts.
On March 28 at 5:03 p.m., the U.S. Department of Education notified all states about its decision to end the federal Education Stabilization Fund liquidation period effective three minutes prior, at 5 p.m.
Nationally, it is estimated that this decision terminated over $2 billion across 41 states.
In February, the Trump administration reaffirmed that Massachusetts had until March 2026 to spend the funds.
Many schools and school districts across the state had to juggle with the loss of funding including Holyoke Public Schools, which lost $395,863; Mater Dolorosa Catholic School in Holyoke, which lost $118,894, and Saint Stanislaus School in Chicopee, which lost $172,692 in funding.
WESTCOMM officially opens dispatch center
Elected officials, first responders and more gathered on July 14 for the ribbon cutting ceremony of a new regional emergency communications center at the old Salter College site at 645 Shawninigan Dr.
The new center is set up to enhance and revolutionize the emergency response capabilities for the towns and cities it currently serves and allows more room for other communities to join.
WESTCOMM Regional Dispatch currently provides emergency communication services for Chicopee, Longmeadow, Monson, East Longmeadow, Ware and the Hampden County Sheriff’s Department.
WESTCOMM hosted a groundbreaking event in March 2024 and has since renovated the building to feature advanced equipment and systems designed to streamline communication processes and improve response times during critical situations. Additionally, the facility is said to provide ample space for training, collaboration and future expansion to accommodate the needs of growing communities.
The new facility was made possible through funding from the State 911 Department.
