Today I am extremely pleased to announce that on Tuesday, July 1st, Holio Public Schools will be the first district to exit receiverhip. That determination is uh under my purview as commissioner and it comes
after notable gains in graduation rates, uh a reduced number of suspensions, expanding prek offerings and dual language programming in the district, uh and the redesign of Holy Oak High School. also the notable and essential
work uh this body, this school committee has put in place to improve their governance. That and so much more. I want to honor that this is an emotional and deeply earned moment for the entire Holy Oak community. For the past 10
years, Holio families, educators, school staff, partners, and leaders have undertaken the arduous work of transforming your school system. This work has made a difference for your children throughout the district and it was motivated by your vision that all
Holy Oak children should experience the same excellent educational opportunities. I'd like to commend this body uh the school committee for your thorough implementation of your capacity building plan. You've done this work with admirable balance of advocacy and
teamwork with the department. The partnership that has emerged between the Holio School Committee and the department is a unique collaboration that will change on July 1st. But on behalf of the entire department and the executive office of education, I want
you to know that we're committed to helping Holio Public Schools sustain its positive trajectory as the first district to e exit receiverhip. I'd also like to take this moment to praise receiver Anthony Sodto and his
team for the steadfast leadership that has always kept the focus on students. As we often hear you say, students are at the center of everything you do in the Holy Oak public schools. Receiver Sodto, from the very beginning of your
tenure as a district's leader, you demonstrated how to incorporate community input into the district decision-making and built consensus around shared strategic uh priorities. Both receiver Sodto uh and the Holio uh
Holio's first receiver, Dr. Steven Dri brought highly skillful, steady, and deeply committed leadership to the district. Together, Holio Public Schools leadership, including the school committee and your engaged stakeholders, are demonstrating how strong
collaboration can fortify a district's transition out of uh receiverhip. I hope that you seize the opportunity ahead of you uh to leverage your strong systems, collaborative spirit, and community engagement to make the gains in student
learning that your students and families expect to see. The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education remains invested in your success and we will continue to support your work to create excellent outcomes for all Holio children. Congratulations.
And at this time, I will uh first acknowledge um Rep. Duffy and Senator Vis uh uh my our partners in the legislature uh and turn it over to uh my board colleague Mike Morardi. Thank you very much, Secretary. and uh
interim commissioner. I think you're in your last six days. Uh so no one's counting, but it is enjoy every minute of it. Uh so I I spent a good 10 years uh 13 years in this room uh with with
many of you. Uh I first got to know this gentleman next to the superintendent in these very rooms, sitting right next to him as you do now, Anthony. And uh uh you know, I've been at a front row seat through this whole process. uh you know
I've been uh not very publicly facing about the receiverhip in Hoyok because this is not a board that's representational by geography. It is a policy board that addresses the issues for the entire
state and so I'm not like the Holo member and I never positioned myself in that way but I was sure paying a lot of close attention first through Steve's Reich and uh now with Anthony Sodto they've been they've indulged me with uh you know an hour or more of their time
every month to keep me informed with everything that's going on. Uh instead of abandoning a school committee it was engaged through this entire process. uh although disempowered uh I think that was a very wise choice and um you know
there's been a lot of process that has taken place um I want to talk a little bit about the exit asurances because I've heard a lot of criticism outside of here um you know I've heard a lot of questioning why would that be it really is part of the culmination of what has
been done here an intentional careful and studentf facing process this and I think that's exactly what we should expect from our state department of education uh when they handle anything like this especially because as
you know there are no rules to end a receiverhip this had to be innovative by its very nature. It was sought from this community and it was responded to and I think it was responded to in a way where you have the continuity now of an experienced school leader to take you
in. you have the best trained school committee in all of Massachusetts by quite a bit. Um, and I've been watching as a very deliberative process as you go through all of the policies is taking place. Very few school districts go
through that level of housekeeping. So that really has you set out with the wind at your back. So why have asurances at all? I think there are a couple reasons for this. Number one is that some of it is about making sure some
unfinished pieces are completed. I'm going to speak about one of those in particular in just a moment. Another is to just make sure the off-ramp isn't a cliff. And I think that's always a good organizational mindset to engage. The one I'm most
interested in in the area that as will surprise no one here, I think is most important is that there's going to be a literacy plan developed in this district. I am a huge fan of literacy plans if and only if they are done
right, that they're done with a lot of community involvement, that they're done following the best evidence-based information that is available, and then that they don't just turn into some compliance document that gets placed in a drawer, but rather is a living document that is being referred to by
the leadership of every school and by the people actually doing the instruction, our teachers and our educator workforce. force. Um, it's had very very good effect in places all across the country. I've seen it firsthand. I've uh had an opportunity to
meet with people who have crafted them. You have many assets in place to develop an excellent literacy plan and to execute it excellently and it's sorely needed because I was in that room at the war memorial
in 2015. I made a case that was different than a lot of my fellow Hoyokers and said, "Do it or don't. Do what works for the kids. Do what changes the trajectory that's been so problematic for so long." And I've always thought that trajectory were
the very low literacy outcomes that we've been experiencing across the city. Now, in the course of receiverhip, two things happened. I pointed this out the last time we were in Holio. One is the Morgan school in the early years of its receiverhip reached a 44% meet and
exceeds expectations on third grade reading. It did not sustain that but it did it. Also, as school configuration was gradually changing, the metaf school while it was still an elementary school obtained over 50%. Which is the only
time that that has happened so long as we've been measuring this data in the city of Holio. But it was done. And what does that tell us for all of you as you execute a plan going forward? That it can be done. And it can be done in schools that are discounted as places
where kids aren't going to learn. You like I do, like people who actually live in this city understand that's never been true and it isn't true now. Kids in Holyok can learn. It really is about a solid plan, very well executed. So all
of these things are coming into place. And one other thing that I always said throughout the receiverhip because I was never advocating for a change in the governmental structure. I was always advocating for resources and changes in outcomes. And so throughout that time I always
said you want it into the receiverhip. Help the receiver succeed. The receivers success is the best end result. I'm going to be honest with you. I don't believe in terms of uh in terms of academic outcomes that's where we are. And I actually think this city will
eventually be an excellent case study for what does and does not work with the most extreme versions of state intervention because I think the ball is in the legislator's court at this point. We really have to look at intervention.
We have to have intervention. We truly do. But it needs to always be effective and serve the purpose for which it's invoked. Uh and I don't think we're there yet. However, uh I think the start
that you have on July 1st and more importantly the start you have at the beginning of the upcoming school year with the exciting opening of a new PEC school uh is all to the good and I think there's a bright future. So uh by the way uh
another thing is uh I was appointed in September after the receiverhip vote had happened and all the pre-planning for that was done. You are allowed two five-year terms in Massachusetts and then you're term limited. I'm at my 10th year. So, as this process finishes in
this particular hat that I've been wearing, so do I. But be assured, I remain tremendously invested in the successful outcome for the children of this city and wish to be called on at any time that I can be of any help to any of you. Thank you.
Thank you. I think thank you so much miss from Martina. I just thank for our community whoever is watching this deserves a round of applause for all of us our teachers administration who has worked so hard to make this um become a
success for all of us. So you all deserve that. discussion. Yes. Yes. Mr. Colmer. Yes. Thank you very much. First of all, I'd like to thank the acting
commissioner for really, really working together and your colleague, Mr. Thompson working together to make this happen because without you people and without us and without all the wonderful
children in Hoyok, this wouldn't have happened. And I want to work together with you and I know you're going to work together with us to make this happen. Speaking of Mr. Moyardi,
you know, we go back many, many years and the best thing that Mike ever did on a school committee is start that reading program. That is one of the wonderful things that
has happened in the school system in all my years of working together with many colleagues. It's been wonderful, wonderful just working with all of you to make sure
that the children come first. And as long as the children come first, everything will gel and we'll be back for successful the best in the state of Massachusetts,
the best school system. And we'll be there shortly as long as we all work together. to make this happen. Thank you, Mayor Garcia. Thank you, gentlemen, so much. I think
that's for a very long time uh all we were we have been looking and waiting for is to be considered a partner in how we um uh improve outcomes uh improve our systems in the district. You know,
obviously receiverhip is not meant to be a permanent situation. It's a temporary pivot uh when uh circumstances aren't necessarily achieving the outcomes communities are are expected to achieve. But one um one important note in Mr.
Mayor's point about case studies. When we look at the three districts that are in receiverhip or other districts that are probably on that line, we're talking about communities that have centralized poverty um in in those
communities. And uh one of the uh takeaways now here as mayor in my community um and being in the trenches and trying to understand the landscape and how to improve the quality of life, the social determinance of health disparities in our neighborhoods and the
municipalities inability. you know, we're kind of like on this overdrive where the engine, the foot is all the way down on the pedal trying to close those gaps and improve conditions and barely making a dent because there isn't enough resources to keep up with um the
circumstances that exist in these neighborhoods. And when I speak with administrators and teachers, the superintendent, you know, and there's an expectation of districts like Hoyok to compete and be at the same level as more
affluent communities. Those communities aren't dealing with the disparities that exist in neighborhoods. In a lot of ways, we're asking our teachers to be case managers and case workers. we had to adopt a whole uh uh community uh access engagement team just to help
principles and teachers establish better uh relationships with households that are struggling. Um, you know, I think there's opportunity to in on the subject of best practices and conversation, instead of threatening to take away uh control from
districts, instead offering support to those local governments to overcome those health disparities, whether if it's public safety issues in neighborhoods and other, you know, domestic violence issues. Glattis and Alansza do a lot of work in that area.
all those disparities that exist in um uh that are barriers for a lot of low-income uh comm uh families. Um low offering support for those local governments to navigate those issues so that kids um are coming to school uh
with uh minimized uh neighborhood level pressure uh and ready to learn um I think is is the is the real solution to path. I think direct relationships with local governments to better improve services, municipal services, opposed to, hey, if you don't get these scores
up, we're taking away control from your district, I think is a good conversation we should probably have for the future as we try to figure out how to be better with these. But other than that, um, the temporary pivot was necessary. I was on
the school board with Mr. minority and frustrated about what was going on in our district and happy that receiverhip came in to help blow things up a little bit. Uh but also understanding that it's a temporary pivot so that people can do some sulting, come back to the table,
figure things out, establish collaboration to then get us to where we need to be so that we can regain control of uh and and practice our our democratic process. So, I appreciate you guys uh recognizing um uh that level of
partnership and have been meeting with us very regularly to try to figure this out because there was no blueprint. And now we here we are today celebrating this uh this moment and very much looking forward to continue to build upon what we've all done together um
with our stakeholders and finally be able to get rid of those exit asurances um the training wheels uh so that um you know we can uh get back to business and and doing what's right for our community. So thank you so much
Mr. Sodto. Yeah, I just also wanted to uh thank you all for the partnership. I want to thank uh the school committee. I want to thank um all of our teachers, all of our families, all of our principles, my
leadership team. Um this has been a lot of work over the last 10 years. Like a lot of blood, sweat, and tears. I'll never forget Dr. Reich, you know, when he first uh recruited me from Springfield. Um, you know, one one thing that he got me with was was Anthony,
we're we're not just um supporting a school district here. We're saving lives in Holio. That really hit me. and um working in Holio for the last uh 10 years, I I I see that, you know, the the work that we're doing here is truly uh
you know, all of us, our our teachers, uh our pair of professionals, everybody uh you know, we're we're setting kids up and and and change shaping their their future, changing their lives, saving their lives in many cases. And um it you
know, it truly has been a partnership. I don't think anybody in this room has has seen how much the state has partnered with us more than than me and my leadership team. You know, many of it in private meetings. Um we we not always agreed. Sometimes there were pushes, but
they were good pushes and they were pushes for the right reasons. Um, we we could all agree that students were at the center of of all the tough decisions that we had to make and and all of the pushes and and and the encouragement sometimes was about improving the
quality of instruction in our classrooms, improving improving the learning environment and improving the lives of our students. And um I'm, you know, I I can see a lot of the work because I was I was here from the beginning um from when it when it all
started. And uh you know, Holio Public Schools is a much different place than it was 10 years ago. We have a strong foundation to build off of. We got some great leaders here in the room that are ready uh to take on that challenge and and and and you know, build off of the
strong foundation that we have. Uh so again, I just want to say uh thank you for for the partnership and for everything that you all have poured into Holio Public Schools. We appreciate it. You miss Densley Williams.
Words cannot express how I feel right now. Um, war two school committee and you guys know my mantra. If you mess with kids, you mess with me. Um, as you can see, I wore my Hoyok High School cap. I wore my Dean shirt. Even though
this is war two, all of the children belong to me. And I thank you all so much for hanging in there with us. You didn't give up on us. That's that's huge. And I thank you so much for all everyone that showed up today. And and
you all know whatever I can do, don't hesitate to call on me. And thank you so much. And we're going to help the kids. And thank you for helping us get out of receiverhip. I just want to cry, but I'm happy. Thank you all and God bless you all. Bye-bye.
Thank you, Miss Lefave. Why you looking at me like that? This This is a a bittersweet moment for me. It's been um 5 years in the making when we had our initial meeting. Um then
COVID hit um then getting back to it again with that hopes of are we ever going to see the end of the end of the the tunnel, right? There are many school committee members who are no longer with us that
have also put in forth that fight um and always putting our students first. only one of them is still here but not in the capacity of school committee member but she's seated right next to you Miss Feliciano Sims I'm sorry Melisiano
um but the reason why I say it's bittersweet because yes we are the first district um to come out of receiverhip but I also feel for my colleagues in Lawrence and Southbridge and I'm hoping
that the work that we've done here can be like sort of like their path so that they can as well um come out of receiverhip and be able to celebrate that as well because they are dedicated school
committee members just like we have been all along. Yes, there are may be differences within their cities, their communities, but at the same time, their passion and dedication is exactly what we've been portraying over the years is it was
always students first. Um, I thank you. I'm still in shock and I won't believe it till July 1st. Um, but uh, thank you so much. It's an honor to get him back. So, Madam Vice Chair, hold on. Hold on.
I want to say something before. Sorry. Go ahead. I just want to say just kind of echoing what Miss Lefay was saying. We we're standing in the shoulders of giants, right? There was a lot of people who gave their blood, sweat, and tears for
the students of Holio who are not here anymore. And I'm talking about the our past school committee members. I'm talking about staff and teachers who couldn't take it anymore and they had to leave. I'm talking about the families who left because they found other places
where their children's needs were better served. And as much as that pains me to say, that was part of our growing pains. That was part of this whole process that was painful for all of us as a community. But like we always do as the
Holio community, we get together, we work together, we look at the things that we need, we work with very little resources, but that doesn't mean that we don't need anymore. Please legislators in the room, we do need more money. But it's it's that sense of community.
It is having our students, our families at the forefront, being there for them, making sure that every little decision that we make is for them with them. Not just some of us making decisions in a room, but with them going out there in
the community asking for their input. What can we be doing better? And I'm really happy to say that even though we have had really strong communication plans to be able to talk to the community, we're just starting. This
work is just beginning and there's a lot more that we need to do. We're just getting off the training wheels like the mayor was saying, but there's a lot of things that we need to do. And for anybody who will hear this now or later if they hear the recording is we need
all of you. We need everybody and we need to be able to work together for the common goal which is to serve the students of Holik to the best of our abilities to the best of everybody in the Commonwealth has to offer. That's what we should be offering our students.
So thank you so much Miss Wilson. So, sitting here, to be honest, getting ready, I I strangely thought of my parents and how proud they would be. Um,
not just of me being on the school committee, not just me being an educator now, um, but of our community. You know, my mother raised in the Flats, brought up to the Highlands, you know,
through the death of her brother. that's how they purchased the house um that uh you know the family lived in. And I think about our community and I think about the fact that there's so many of us who have started
out in lower steps than where we are. Whether it's through education, whether it's through, you know, formal education, whether it's through their career choice, whether it's through, you know, families, neighbors supporting each other. And it just makes me think of Holio and how blessed I am for being
raised in this city and choosing to live here because this is a city that comes together. And so many people came together um not just at the war memorial those many years ago. It was you couldn't get in.
It was standing room only and there's no other larger space in our community. And I want to say that you were heard then. You continue to be heard and we want to make sure that your voices, just like Dr. Rivera Cologne said, your voices are
very important to us. I'm happy there are people here today. I'm happy that people came to our last meeting. We need more community involvement whether it be through sending letters, asking information from us, you know, coming to
our meetings, coming to our community events. We need more of you. We can't do it alone. Our teachers, our, you know, pareducators, our principles, the the entire staff cannot do it alone. We need you just like we continue needing your
support. So, thank you very much. Mayor Garcia. Is there anybody else? Uh, madame vice chair, motion to take a short 15minute recess. 15 minute recess. Do we have a second?
All those in favor? I I opposed. All right, recess starts now. Thank you so much, everybody. We'll be back in 15 minutes.