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Date: 8/9/2022
HOLYOKE – Following interviews with five candidates to fill the Ward 3 School Committee vacancy, Dr. Yadilette Rivera Colón was selected during a joint meeting of the School Committee and City Council on Aug. 4.
In order to be approved, Rivera Colón needed support from at least 12 of the 19 voting members present. The joint session required four ballot votes before she was finally approved.
The Ward 3 School Committee seat was vacant due to the resignation of former Ward 3 committee member Rebecca Birks, who relocated out of Holyoke. Rivera Colón will complete Birks’ term, which expires Dec. 31, 2023.
“I’m honored and humbled and really excited to continue to fight for our youth,” Rivera Colón said following the meeting.
Candidates were given a five-minute period to talk about their qualifications and interests in the position before answering questions from the committee and council. Four of the five candidates interviewed formally applied for the position in the weeks leading up to the meeting.
Rivera Colón was the first candidate to be interviewed and said she saw the opening as an opportunity to serve the district’s youth. Born and raised in Puerto Rico, Rivera Colón has a PhD in molecular biology from the University of Massachusetts (UMass), is an assistant professor of biology at Bay Path University and serves as the president of the Girls Inc. board as well as co-president of a Latina scholarship fund.
The School Committee first-timer said that after doing community service in the Holyoke schools while still in college, she felt welcomed to the community after not being familiar with the city before. Through her work with children she realized she could be a role model through representation in Holyoke as a Puerto Rican born doctor.
“I learned that a lot of the kids that I met at the different schools – and even their parents – that was the first time they met a Puerto Rican scientist who had a doctorate, and to me that was really important,” said Rivera Colón during her interview. “There’s not many people with my background who get to be doctors, and to me it’s really important to have representation especially for children because they cannot be what they cannot see.”
School Committee Vice-Chair Mildred Lefebvre who asked all the candidates their familiarity with the district being under state receivership and how they thought about ways to work out of it.
Rivera Colón called the situation “sad and shameful,” and said that once a community is put in receivership it is hard to get out. She added that coming up with a solid plan was critical in showing they can advocate to the state to regain local control of the schools.
At-Large City Councilor Peter Tallman asked all candidates if they were planning to run for the seat when it opens through the election in fall 2023 to which all candidates answered they would be.
Receiving five total votes and finishing runner up for the Ward 3 seat opening was Lawrence Jackson. Jackson received four of his votes from City Councilors David Bartley, Kevin Jourdain, Joseph McGiverin and Linda Vacon, while Rosalee Tensley Williams was the lone vote from the School Committee.
Jackson was born and raised in Holyoke and has been a Ward 3 resident for 17 years. He is a retired firefighter after 35 years of duty and was interested in interviewing for the open seat due to working with children throughout his life.
According to Jackson, he has actively worked with students through tutoring, as his mother used to run the tutorial center of South Holyoke. Jackson also said he was heavily involved with the Fire Department’s Christmas lighting parade where they decorate trucks with lights.
When asked about working to get out of receivership, Jackson said while he was no expert on the situation that he was ready to fit the open role and follow in the steps of senior councilors.
The only other candidate to receive votes was Anna Kennedy, a resident of Holyoke for over 10 years and a mother to three children in the district. Kennedy has a bachelor’s degree from Smith College, a business degree from University of Massachusetts (UMass) Amherst Isenberg School of Business, a master’s from UMass, and an advanced degree in health care leadership from Elms College.
Kennedy has served on the Parent Teacher’s Association (PTA) at Metcalf school and said she believes in the importance of STEM. She added when asked about receivership that she felt there was a lot to learn in the challenge the district is facing but she was eager to take on the opportunity and learn as much as she could every day.
“The experiences we can give students in school will really help shape the opportunities we have going forward,” Kennedy said.
Kennedy received votes from Tallman and Ward 6 School Committee member William Collamore.