As Mayor, I will:
- Create and implement a Holyoke Dropout Prevention and Recovery Plan that focuses on early childhood education, risk factor identification, early intervention, wraparound services, and strong relationships between the school, the family, and the child. I will build off the success of Project-13, an innovative and research-driven dropout prevention program.
- Support efforts to make Dean Technical High School a world-class vocational school that prepares young people for good paying jobs. As Chairman of the Holyoke School Committee I will create partnerships between local businesses, corporations, and factories to offer internship and training opportunities. We must also expand and evolve the available shops to adapt to an emerging green economy, the technology sector, and a service-based economy. We can lower dropout rates by giving kids the practical skills they need to get good jobs, teaching kids how to balance a budget, and teaching kids how government works.
- Establish Parent Information Centers (PIC) in every school modeled after Peck School’s Full Service Community School in order to engage and involve parents at every level with the vision of expanding the model system wide. The Parent Information Centers will support existing Parent Teacher Organizations and will be staffed by volunteer parents. The Centers will ensure that parents and families feel comfortable playing an active role in their child’s education. The Center will support parents in planning year-round events, fundraising, and involving parents in their child’s education.
- Work with the Superintendent of Schools to implement a district-wide core curriculum called the “Cool Core” so that a child in a particular grade in one school is being taught the same material as a child in another school to ensure district uniformity and to mitigate the impact of student mobility and truancy.
- Work with teachers, administrators, and teachers’ unions to ensure professional development throughout a teacher’s career and to develop a fair and rigorous teacher evaluation system that rewards effective teachers in innovative ways and provides additional supports to those who are struggling.
- Recruit and attract qualified and effective teachers by creating partnerships with Holyoke Community College, Westfield State University, the University of Massachusetts, and other local colleges to provide tuition waivers and loan forgiveness programs for graduates who promise to teach in the Holyoke Public Schools for at least 5 years.
- Encourage and foster arts and music in the public schools by building off the success of the Holyoke High School Musical Production, the Holyoke Strings Program and our schools bands. Partner with local theatre companies, dance studios and artists to provide students in all schools with art and music classes at least once a week.
- Create a citywide gifted and talented program for our district’s most advanced students to make sure that all our students are being challenged and held to high expectations.
- Create a partnership between the Holyoke Public Schools and the Holyoke Police Department to reduce absenteeism by targeting school-aged children outside of school during school hours and return them to school.
- Support the work of the Holyoke Family Literacy Coalition, the Holyoke Community College Adult Learning Center and other Adult Basic Education and literacy programs to ensure that we are educating, supporting, and encouraging the entire family. I will also ensure that all children in the Holyoke Public Schools have a Holyoke Public Library card.
- Work with neighboring school districts and the state of Massachusetts to better track students that leave the Holyoke Public Schools in order to have more accurate data on graduation rates.