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Teachers, parents urge Holyoke School Committee to fix contracts, licensure and retention
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Summary
Dozens of teachers and parents told the Holyoke School Committee on April 27 that stalled contract talks, licensing barriers and insufficient pay are driving educators away and harming students; multiple speakers urged compensation tied to experience and reimbursements for licensure costs.
Dozens of teachers and parents used the public-comment period at the Holyoke School Committee’s April 27 meeting to press the board for faster progress on contract negotiations, better compensation and relief on licensure barriers for bilingual educators.
At the start of public comment, parent Isaka Aczeroth said three of their children attend Holyoke Public Schools’ dual-language program and raised two main concerns: the loss of long-serving teachers and restrictive licensure rules that he said include exams offered only in English. “Los antiguos profesores han dejado el distrito … es frustrante que este nivel de consistencia no está,” Aczeroth said, urging administrators to reconcile hiring and licensing policies with classroom needs.
Several speakers tied teacher departures to stalled talks with the district’s bargaining unit. Caleb Chambers told the committee the teachers’ contract had been expired “más de 300 días” and said roughly 30% of staff were leaving for neighboring districts; he urged the committee to adopt fair contracts to keep experienced educators in Holyoke. “Estamos aquí porque los educadores no han sido escuchados,” Chambers said.
Teachers and union leaders highlighted pay, retroactive pay and the financial burden of licensure. Rebeca Chaverry and Brandy Velachico urged the committee to identify funding for professional pay and housing and to secure retroactive pay that Velachico said had been inconsistently promised in recent months. Velachico described a timeline in which staff were told in January that retro-pay funds were not available, then in March told funds would be available through April 15, and that on April 27 the committee could still act to secure the money.
Multiple commenters criticized the district’s treatment of teachers recruited from Puerto Rico. María Pérez said many bilingual teachers are unable to pass licensure tests offered only in English and that the district’s proposed pay structure risks penalizing those hires. “Los profesores están siendo castigados … porque no pueden pasar un MTO,” Pérez said, arguing for licensing exams in additional languages or policy changes to avoid disadvantaging bilingual educators.
At the same time, some teachers defended licensure while asking pay to reflect experience and student outcomes. Morgan School teacher Wendy Blamental said she values Massachusetts licensure and noted measurable student improvement under her instruction, urging that compensation consider longevity, experience and student progress in addition to licensure status.
Speakers also raised leave policy and costs of licensure: Mary (appears as Berry) Brazo described the time and cost required to move from preliminary to professional licensure and called for district reimbursement of testing fees; Peter Dafi urged expanding sick and parental leave from five to 14 days to address staff and family needs.
Why it matters: Committee members told the public they had heard the concerns. The comments put pressure on the board as negotiations remain unresolved and as the district faces teacher turnover that parents and staff say undermines continuity for students. The committee did not take action on contracts during the public-comment portion; next procedural steps include referral of a budget-transfer proposal on teacher salaries to the finance subcommittee for review.
