HOLYOKE — The Holyoke School Committee has formally begun the search for its next superintendent.
At its July 21 meeting, the committee voted to initiate a national search for the next leader of Holyoke Public Schools, with the goal of having that person in place on July 1, 2026.
The committee also voted to form a search committee for that position and to fund a consulting firm to help with the search. Committee member Dr. Yadilette Rivera Colón will create a proposal for reaching out to those consultants, with timelines and expectations, to present at the next School Committee meeting on Aug. 11.
The committee also agreed to wait for formal interviews until January or February, after the elections, so that the committee doing the interviews would be the same one that does the hiring.
Eric Weiss, director of economic and municipal collaboration from the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, presented the results of the Community Advisory Team. This team spoke with many of the stakeholders in Holyoke to gather information about what people felt was working or needed to be improved in the district. The committee noted that this information should be taken into consideration when hiring their next leader.
Weiss noted that the report would have exact information from the community with no interpretation, as he felt that “was not our place.” The report focused on seven main areas for the city to focus its efforts, including relationship building and community engagement, teacher support, transparency, teacher burnout and retention and underserved groups.
Weiss added that although there weren’t always a lot of people at the listening sessions, there was a good mix of people. He also said that he was impressed with the teachers who clearly “really love the schools.”
The committee discussed the need to use the report as a roadmap for next steps in the district and focus on the resources needed. Member Gladys Lebron Martinez emphasized that “teachers have become social workers” and that more resources need to be added to address the root causes of need.
In other work, the committee will ask the mayor to present to the committee his plan for a chief financial officer for the city and to request all documents discussing what this role would entail.
As it continued its work on updating the policies of the district, the committee had first readings of policies around background checks, bus safety and vandalism, among others. It also began discussions on new policies, including those about data and records retention and school nutrition program charges. Those discussions will continue in the coming weeks and the policies will be available for feedback from the community.
