Holyoke joint committee addresses middle school, literacy and bus safety

The School Committee and City Council host a joint committee meeting to discuss various items, including a new middle school, early literacy and bus violation detection
Photo credit: Holyoke Media

HOLYOKE — The Holyoke City Council and School Committee Subcommittee hosted a joint committee meeting on March 12 to discuss a path toward a new middle school, the district’s current early literacy instructional model and bus safety.

Potential new middle school

The joint committee voted unanimously to recommend that the City Council, by April 17, authorize the city to enter into the Massachusetts School Building Authority process for a new middle school. Less than a week later, the City Council officially authorized a statement of interest at its March 17 meeting with very little discussion.

The decisions do not require any funding right now; it simply puts Holyoke in line for MSBA for a new middle school project. The city will not know whether it is accepted into the program until January 2027, but they want to get the ball rolling.

In a letter to the City Council and School Committee, Mayor Joshua Garcia and Interim Superintendent Anthony Soto recommended that the site be considered for new construction or renovation to become a middle school for an estimated 400 students.

The original goal was to have a new middle school for every Holyoke student to ensure equity of opportunity and experience for all students. The current H.B. Lawrence School is the HPS building in the poorest condition for modern education, according to the letter from Soto and Garcia.

The project is financially feasible due to the recently completed Dr. William R. Peck School, which came in significantly under budget, and the space in the city’s anticipated debt schedule in the next 30-40 years. The statement of interest requires approval from the City Council and School Committee. The earliest the new school would open is 2033.

If the statement of interest is not submitted to MSBA by April 17, the city has to wait another year to apply.

Literacy instructional model

City Councilor Israel Rivera requested that the School Department provide an overview of the district’s current early literacy instructional model, including reasons for transitioning from phonics-based instruction to the use of sight words and how student reading outcomes are being assessed.

At the March 12 meeting, Soto, Academics Executive Director Rebecca Thompson, Dual Language Associate Director Laura Espinoza Mufson and Early Literacy Associate Director Caitlin Rosazza talked about how the district is teaching reading in K–2, how they screen for early challenges and where they are seeing success.

Soto stated, “Early literacy was named as one of our five priority areas in the strategic plan that we developed four years ago. We made a commitment to focus on early literacy. We hired a consultant and worked with someone from the state to evaluate what we’re doing and came up with a plan to really get at early literacy in Holyoke.”

They also focused on what happens after third grade and how Holyoke Public Schools is supporting students who may be falling through the cracks in upper grades. Thompson named this as a top priority that requires sustained focus, even as they recognize that not every solution can be implemented all at once.

Soto shared that HPS is one of 12 districts in the commonwealth to receive an early literacy PRISM grant, or Partnership for Reading Success in Massachusetts. The grant helps districts adopt strong reading curricula, train teachers and build better systems so more students learn to read well.

“Part of the reason we were invited to participate in this and [were] awarded this grant is, because around early literacy instruction, we had done so much work over the last four years, and the state really thought that we were ready to participate in the PRISM grant,” Soto stated.

While committee members, including School Committee member Patty Lubold, were excited to learn of the gains the district is seeing in K–2, they remained concerned about literacy for older students who are at risk of being passed along without truly knowing how to read, especially students with reading disabilities.

The joint committee supported the order, but the discussion around literacy in the district will still ongoing, according to the committee. The School Committee previously accepted a request that literacy in grades 4–12 also be a strategic priority for the district next year.

Bus safety

Finally, the joint committee voted unanimously on Lubold’s order for the city to adopt the state school bus camera law so they can move forward with outfitting the school district’s buses with the equipment.

The cameras would identify vehicles that illegally pass stopped school buses and put children at risk. Michael Gorham from BusPatrol, a vendor of AI-assisted bus camera technology, explained how the system works and how it can be implemented at no cost to the city if it adopted the law, as Chicopee did recently.

Failing to stop for a bus when the sign is out and the lights are on would result in a ticket fine.

The order to consider adopting Massachusetts General Law Chapter 40, Section 71, School Bus Violation Detection Monitoring Systems; Installation and Operation, was sent to the School Committee for them to adopt.

Ward 1 City Councilor Jenny Rivera and At Large City Councilor Howard Greaney stated that they will present the item to the City Council.