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Date: 5/18/2022
HOLYOKE – Holyoke Public Schools received the OK from the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) to move forward into the next phase of its proposal for a new middle school building after an April 27 vote.
The MSBA and Holyoke Public Schools will partner to conduct a feasibility study for replacing the William R. Peck School. With the feasibility study also comes the schematic design phase to replace the existing school building with a new facility to be built on the site to serve students in Grades 6-8.
“I want to thank the representatives of the MSBA for being very patient with Holyoke navigating this complex process and for ultimately supporting us,” Mayor Joshua Garcia said following the news. Garcia also serves as chair of the School Committee.
Superintendent Anthony Soto had similar sentiments, calling the MSBA a “strong partner in Holyoke over the past six years” in a press release. Soto also thanked the MSBA for partnering with Holyoke to invest $21 million in accelerated repair projects for other city schools in recent years.
Working with the city on the project are state Rep. Patricia Duffy and state Sen. John Velis who both were happy to take the next step in this project. Duffy said this was a tremendous opportunity to replace the building with facilities that students deserve and to demonstrate to them they want to invest in them.
“Public education is my highest priority and that includes facility improvements. The students, staff and families of Holyoke deserve the best facilities we can provide,” Duffy said. “Right now we have a school building, Peck, situated right in the geographic center of the city, within walking distance of diverse neighborhoods, which is substandard.
Velis echoed concerns of an outdated school building and thinks a new building will better the education environment for students. He added that members of the Holyoke Public School leadership team were “all stars” and assured the MSBA the school district and the city of Holyoke have forged a strong partnership that will help move the project forward.
“The Peck school was constructed in 1973 and the current infrastructure is outdated. Classrooms struggle with heating and cooling, science labs need new equipment and some rooms can’t access Wi-Fi through their walls,” Velis said. “A new school will create a more productive and conducive learning environment for students, teachers and our entire community. Moving this project into the feasibility study phase is a huge step and I am glad to have been able to support Holyoke throughout their process with the MSBA.”
In 2019, Holyoke residents rejected a proposal that would have allowed Holyoke Public Schools to build two new middle schools, but following the city’s analysis demonstrated that Holyoke can afford one new middle school under the existing tax structure, City Councilors unanimously approved a resolution in April 2021 to apply to the MSBA to build this new middle school for 550 students.
Garcia and Soto will now work with the City Council to secure a few votes needed to proceed with the project while the School Committee works on updating the educational plan and submit it to the MSBA. The educational plan will lay the foundation for what resources will be needed in the new building to meet the planning.
The proposed new middle school is part of Holyoke Public Schools’ efforts to reimagine its middle school program to strengthen educational learning opportunities for students. Holyoke Public Schools feels that they have been hindered by the infrastructure of its school buildings and inconsistent grade-level groupings throughout their 11 schools.
Grade-level groupings in Holyoke have been based on the boundary alignment developed by the schools. Erin Linville, chief of strategy and turnaround for the Holyoke Public Schools, said they are currently in the process of boundary realignment as there is inconsistency school by school at the elementary level through what grades are in the school.
“It’s actually kind of crazy, we have 11 different schools with kids in those grades (K-8) and nine different school configurations,” Linville said. “We have a pre-K through three, pre-K through four, pre-K to five, four to eight, five to eight.”
The boundary realignment will serve to make Grades K-5 consistent throughout Holyoke elementary schools, with some having a pre-K program, depending on space available. The middle school will only be Grades 6-8, and Linville hopes the new school building will provide a helpful solution to making sure there aren’t grade inconsistencies like they have had.
Changes to boundary alignment will go into effect by fall 2023 and if a new middle school is later built, they will then make the remaining necessary changes from there.
The hope for the Holyoke Public Schools is to redistrict and rezone all schools that serve students pre-K-8 through engaging in extensive community discussions and analysis with the support of expert consultants. They will be focused on identifying which schools will remain elementary and which will be middle schools, what programs at each school, which schools would close – if any and when, which students attend each school and which principal and other staff will be in each school.
Therefore, the current process of redrawing the current zone lines has also begun while the schools have just been approved for the feasibility study of the new school. Linville added that the schools are committing to ensuring that the changes made will work with or without a new middle school building, which is tentatively scheduled to be built for fall 2026.
Linville works with the Rezoning Work Force that will develop the rezoning scenarios as well as the Rezoning Task Force who will give feedback on the rezoning scenarios. She also added that the Holyoke Public Schools would continue offering dual language programming in different parts of the city for elementary school and at least one middle school.
The working group on this project is made up of people from the city, the school department and one parent. Their goals are to work with a consultant on identifying the best rezoning for students based on where they live and the right school for their needs within a more reasonable zone to avoid so many different configurations at each school.
The Rezoning Work Force includes representatives from all the schools that are elementary and middle and they are focused on following the guidelines for rezoning and deciding what is most important for students as they are possibly moved to a new school based on their zoning.
“What’s going to be most important? Is it going to be minimizing transportation costs? Is it safe walking routes to school? Is it ensuring program continuity from elementary to middle? What in some of these things are in conflict with each other?” Linville said.
Linville also noted that staff will be keeping their jobs through these changes and that they would be communicating directly with any staff members who are impacted and work collaboratively to find them a fit in a new school if they are displaced from their current position.
Linville noted a lot of the work at this point is figuring out and acknowledging where they are as a city and the vision for the future.
“Instead of 11 schools with nine different configurations, we want eight to nine schools with just two grade configurations. We’ll have six elementary schools and two to three middle schools,” Linville said. “Instead of having some schools that are really under enrolled and some schools that are still over enrolled, we want to have enrollment aligned to school capacity with three or four classes per grade.”
Linville said this would be great for more consistent staffing structures across the schools as well as more support.
“One of the biggest reasons behind this is so that we can provide a more equitable experience and more support for families,” Linville said.
She also reiterated that the schools plan for the dual language program is to make sure that it continues and is accessibly in different parts of the community so students can come together in middle school and continue learning in both Spanish and English.
Linville knows this may be a disrupted period going forward with school changes and the possibility of a new middle school but is hopeful that in laying this new foundation it creates a solution that will work for Holyoke for the long haul.
She added the feasibility study for a new school building will be important for planning this process out. Linville says the schools hope a new building can provide science labs, common space and flexible seating. Linville noted that the last time a new school was built in Holyoke was Dean Tech in 1989.
Linville also noted a goal for a new school building would be creating a space that allows educators to provide a more modern education for kids.
“It would still be organized in a way that still promoted small learning communities but would have spaces that were great for our music, science, teacher collaborations,” Linville said.
Linville says it is also a goal through the feasibility study to identify how the new school building could be constructed the most eco-friendly for the community as well as flexible and collaborative spaces for classes to have lessons.
One early challenge so far identified is the slope of the Peck site. Linville said there is about a 50-foot gradient slope on the site but thanks to the MSBA provided examples of similar projects to the one Holyoke is looking for, they have been able to see what designs in a school building can work on the site.
This is just the beginning of a long process that the city will continue working toward identifying the best option in bringing in a new school in Holyoke.