HOLYOKE — Receiver/Superintendent Anthony Soto is recommending that the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education begin the process of releasing the school district from receivership after more than eight years under state control.

In a Dec. 21 letter to Education Commissioner Jeffrey C. Riley, Soto called on the department to “begin the transition to exit receivership in a careful and highly planned manner,” according to a news release from Mayor Joshua Garcia’s office.

The communication comes after the School Committee voted unanimously in September to petition Riley to release the city’s public schools from state receivership during a special meeting. 

In October, Riley told a contingent from the Holyoke School Committee that “the climate was favorable” for ending receivership. He said he would issue a decision by springtime.

Soto, a graduate of Holyoke public schools, met with Riley in May to present improvements the district has made over the past eight years.

Among those changes, the graduation rate increased by nearly 15 points in recent years, reaching 74.9% in the 2021-22 academic year. Growth was most notable among English learners, who saw a 30-point increase in graduation rates, and students with disabilities, who saw a 27-point improvement.

In his letter, Soto outlined the turnaround plan drawn up to return Holyoke schools to local control. Recently, he stated, “the district has strengthened and systematized support to school leaders and teachers to implement strong instructional practices so that students can acquire foundational skills and access grade-level content and learning.”

In the early years of receivership, Soto wrote, “the district focused on redesigning the high school experience to decrease dropout rates and increase graduation rates, introducing standards-aligned curriculum, expanding preschool and dual language, strengthening data systems, and modernizing central office support.”

He acknowledged that the district still has challenges.

“Student achievement and growth on the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) continue to fall below the state average,” he reported, fueled in part by a “high rate of chronic absenteeism.”

Soto added that a “tight labor market and more challenging working conditions” in Holyoke have “resulted in a significant number of unfilled teaching and staff positions, a less experienced staff, and lower teacher retention rates than the state averages.”

The state education board voted to place Holyoke public schools into receivership in April 2015, citing disturbing trends in student achievement and dropout rates. Officials said then that overall student achievement in the city’s public schools was among the lowest of any school district in Massachusetts, with many of the city’s schools ranking in the bottom 10% statewide.

Holyoke’s on-time graduation rate was the lowest of any K-12 system in the state, and its dropout rate among the highest, officials added.

Soto recognized in his letter that the Holyoke school department, before receivership, “lacked many instructional and operational systems required to run a district well.”

And he emphasized that the state “should ensure that the transition to local control is done thoughtfully and in partnership with the School Committee in order to limit disruption to students, families, and staff.”

Soto, appointed in 2021, is the third receiver/superintendent to head Holyoke schools.

Holyoke is one of three school districts under state receivership, along with Lawrence and Southbridge. All three districts have remained under state control for more than five years.