Holyoke school board meeting focuses on Youth Connections
“Connection” was the word of the evening at the Holyoke School District Board of Education meeting on May 2, where two district staff and four students delivered a report to the board on the Youth Connection program in which they’ve been participating. Those presenting included Ashley Clayton, high school counselor; Carly Daniel, Dean of Students at Holyoke Elementary School; Victoria Baeza and Brandon Adler, both sixth-graders at the Elementary; and Nicole Schlachter and Aleida Millan, students at Holyoke High School.
The group started with an overview of Youth Connections, an initiative that seeks to ensure students have the emotional resources they need to thrive. It focuses on the “social and emotional ecosystem”; and the ability of schools to engage students, staff and stakeholders of the community in that ecosystem.
A key component of that ecosystem, they noted, is learning environments, which involve students feeling safe, being fed and making sure they have all the essentials they need. Another important aspect is systems of support, which includes help with academics, social and emotional supports, and a focus on career-connectedness. The students reported that they’ve done a lot of work with learning environments and systems of support, but “haven’t yet done as much work linking all those things.” The next step is empowering students to have their own voice in what’s going on, and then to open partnerships with families and the community.
“Youth Connection is designed to support those furthest from opportunity,” Daniel said. “So that’s what these guys have spent a lot of time doing this year is identifying who’s not connected at school; what their needs are; and how we can bring those people in so that our school is an inclusive, positive place for everybody.”
Clayton and Daniel came up with three goals for the initiative. The first is one they can do “district wide,” and it is to increase the engagement and connection to the English language learners community. The second goal is to increase sixth graders’ feelings of preparedness for the transition out of elementary school.
“As we did our surveys, one of the areas that sixth graders really did not feel great about was their preparedness to come over to junior high,” the team noted. “Some of that could just be nerves, we don’t know. We’re going to explore that more next year.”
The third goal is to increase the ability of students and staff to use mental health maintenance skills. In their surveys, the Youth Connection team received considerable feedback from staff saying they wanted more training in that area. Students who responded in the surveys said they knew what those skills were, but they didn’t always feel confident that they could independently use them yet.
According to Adler, some of the highlights at the team meetings were performing and analyzing “empathy interviews” to find the system’s strengths, as well as discussing weaknesses they could see and finding possible solutions. They discussed strengths they want to continue developing, and gave students a voice and an opportunity to represent their peers. They analyzed survey data to determine best next steps, and worked to align learners in the graduate profile, which some students at the elementary did not know or recognize.
The team particularly wants to focus on helping newer ELL students and new students from other cultures to find trusted adults at school. They found that supportive relationships and school connectedness is a strength for the school overall, but lower among newer ELL students. They reported that a lot of students get close with teachers and feel they have trust with them, but there are also students who don’t put themselves out as much, so they don’t get a more personal connection with the teachers and don’t always feel they have a trusted adult they can turn to when facing challenges.
“These kids did a fabulous job of articulating how it looks in Holyoke and opportunities they get, and they did a great job of getting that student voice of what they’re wanting, and what they’re feeling like they need,” District Superintendent Kyle Stumpf said. “So it’s been really great, and some of the work I’ve been doing as part of this grant is building the partnerships like we did with [the Homegrown Talent Initiative]; with our business partners; and also to take what the kids are gathering from the other students and then connecting us with school counselors [and] police agencies, so we can take their goals at the end of the year and build a plan for the next three years of how we get our community involved.”
Third-quarter finances
Budget and Finance Director Ben Rahe gave a financial report on the third quarter.
“We don’t anticipate anything major the rest of the year,” he said, “though we do have a few large expenses we haven’t taken out yet. We put money aside for the track and we haven’t done that yet; we’re still collecting bids. We’re still looking at an additional administration vehicle, and we’ve got one more lease payment that’s due on some buses at [First Pioneer National Bank], so those are some of the larger things.”
He noted that the board is considering adding between $30,000 and $50,000 to the reserve, and that everything else should be typical operating expenses, mostly salary and benefits.
“The majority of the revenue the rest of the year is going to be either from state equalization or from property taxes,” he said. “We have about $240,000 to $250,000 in grant revenue to collect, but we’ve put in our reimbursements for a lot of that so we should be seeing that either this month or next in that last quarter.”
The only other expenses involved things that proved unexpected. Bus repairs accounted for $30,000 to $40,000 in costs this year, with $20,000 being spent on tire replacements alone.
“It’s just been one of those years where stuff seems to happen,” Rahe said. “Just like everybody with their homes, our utilities and energy bills are skyrocketing. Technically we’re utilizing less, but we’re actually spending more. But, overall, I think we’re probably going to be in a good position at the end of the year.”
Drug screening for nicotine
Angela Powell, principle of Holyoke JR/SR High School, is pushing for nicotine to be added to what can be included in random drug screen tests.
“I think this is our new epidemic with our students,” she said. “I think we’re seeing it younger and younger; it’s a very big concern of mine and I think this far surpasses kids drinking or doing other things.
“There are a lot of studies that show it does have adverse effects on development of the brain, so that’s very concerning to me.”
She also is eager to have sensors put in the high school’s bathrooms to help prevent smoking on the grounds and she hopes to have those installed for the next school year.
Student success
Savannah Burris, a 2019 Holyoke High School graduate, shared her postgraduate journey with the board and expressed gratitude for the district’s role in her success as a student.
“To the board members, I hope you are left with the confirmation that the time and effort you are putting into the school district is incredibly meaningful,” Buress said. “I hope your staff is encouraged knowing that what they’re doing every day is making an amazing impact on the students they are teaching, guiding, and mentoring.
“As I look to graduate on Thursday and get pinned as a registered nurse, I will stand with pride and be proud of the person I’ve become, and will be reflecting on my time at HHS.”