Rezoning

Moving to separate elementary and middle schools in SY23-24

The 2023-24 school year marks Holyoke’s return to separate elementary, middle, and high schools. This decision was made after years of gathering stakeholder feedback, innovating with different programs and models, and analyzing data. The recent rezoning work allows HPS to:

  • Design schools tailored to elementary or middle school grades;

  • Staff each grade with a complete team of teachers who collaborate together;

  • Ensure program continuity for specialized special education programs and from elementary through middle school;  

  • Expand learning opportunities, including offering engaging enrichment opportunities for students and growing the dual language program; and 

  • Dedicate more resources to instruction, not operations.

School Attendance Zones

The new school attendance zones were designed to ensure efficient use of space and stable enrollment, balance student demographics across schools (especially in middle school), prioritize neighborhood elementary schools, ensure equitable access to special programs, and minimize transportation costs.

The PreK-5 elementary schools are: Donahue, E.N. White, Kelly, Lawrence, McMahon and Morgan.
The elementary schools map can be found here.

The grades 6-8 middle schools are: Sullivan, Holyoke STEM, and Metcalf Middle. The middle schools map can be found here. (Note: Once a new middle school is built in the second half of 2025, the middle schools will be Sullivan and the new school that will replace Peck. STEM and Metcalf Middle will merge into the new building.)

All current Holyoke families have been provided information about their children’s school assignments for the 2023-24 school year in a variety of ways already. If you are unsure where your child is attending school in fall 2023, please visit the enrollment webpage and follow the instructions at the top. If you need assistance, please contact enrollment@hps.holyoke.ma.us.

For families new to Holyoke: Please visit the enrollment webpage for information on how to enroll a new student.

This fact sheet from November 2022 explains details on how school assignments were made.

Learning About Our Schools

Visit the Our Schools web page for links to each HPS school. Each school’s web page contains timely news, information, and links to helpful resources.

Learning About the History of Rezoning

The History of Rezoning webpage is available here so stakeholders can learn about the extensive engagement and analytic processes that HPS went through in order to arrive at where we are today.

Thanks for being involved!

We especially want to express appreciation for the people who have been heavily involved in the rezoning process, including: 

  • The Rezoning Working Group (primarily school, district, and city leaders);

  • The Rezoning Task Force (families, community members, and staff);

  • The Cabinet team;

  • Stefany Garcia, Jasarah Burgos, and the entire FACE team;

  • The Middle Grades collaboration study team members who made recommendations on the middle school model;

  • The School Committee;

  • The Middle School Building Committee;

  • The HPS Communications team;

  • Our outreach consultants (Nayroby Rosa, Jose Bou, Kathy Anderson, Cynthia Espinosa); and

  • Our technical consultants from AppGeo (Priya Sankalia, Ashley Tardif, Russell Cohen, Kate Hickey).

We also thank everyone who has completed surveys and participated in a variety of community events and discussions to learn more.