Appointment Letter from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

Anthony Soto was appointed Receiver/ Superintendent of Holyoke Public Schools (HPS) on July 1, 2021, after serving as the acting or interim receiver since February.  He is thrilled to work with Holyoke staff, students, families and community members to lead his hometown district.

Since 2016, Mr. Soto has served as the Chief Financial and Operations Officer at HPS. In this role, he has ensured the financial and operational health of our $125+M school system, serving 5,300 students across 12 schools.  In his first year in this position, he closed a $5 million budget gap with minimal impact at the classroom level.  Since that time, Mr. Soto has consistently developed and led his team to deliver the highest quality service to schools.  During his tenure, he was mentored by the former Superintendents to thoroughly understand the complexity and leadership required to assume the role of Superintendent.  He loves visiting classrooms, celebrating students’ successes, talking with families, and being in the Holyoke community.

Prior to coming to Holyoke, Mr. Soto worked for the Springfield Public Schools for nearly 10 years.  He began as a financial analyst and was promoted to Budget Director.  Under his leadership, he managed a team of financial analysts to support 52 schools.  Prior to Springfield Public Schools, he worked in public accounting for a big four firm, PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC), and a small regional firm.

Mr. Soto earned his undergraduate and graduate degrees in accounting from the  Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, which he attended on a scholarship.  He is a licensed Superintendent, business administrator and public purchasing official in Massachusetts.  He was a fellow in the inaugural cohort of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s Influence 100 program, which is designed to prepare participants for the role of Superintendent.  As an HPS student, he attended Kirkland, Lawrence, Peck and Dean Technical, where he was the salutatorian of the Class of 1999.

In his free time, Mr. Soto loves to spend time with his wife, Melissa; son, AJ; and French Bulldog, Brody.  He also enjoys playing fastpitch softball and engaging with the Holyoke and Springfield softball community that he has been a part of for more than 20 years.

Civic Leadership

• Influence 100 Fellow (selected by DESE, a member of the first cohort)

• Clerk/Board Member at Valley Opportunity Council

• Treasurer/Board Member at MassHire Holyoke

• Assistant Coach for his son’s baseball/basketball teams.

Achievements, Awards, and Special Recognitions

• Salutatorian at Dean Technical High School (1999)

• Bilingual in Spanish and English.

• Led Springfield Public Schools team in winning the meritorious budget award and the GFOA distinguished budget award 4 years in a row

• Life-long resident of Western Mass (mostly in Holyoke) and is especially proud to be of service to the community in which he grew up and in which he is raising his own son.

• Entry Plan (PDF)

  • En Español (PDF)

• Strategic Plan (PDF)

  • En Español (PDF)

Dr. Stephen Mahoney is Assistant Superintendent. He is responsible for driving exceptional academic achievement and ensuring positive, inclusive school environments across the district. The departments of school leadership, academics, multilingual learning, social emotional learning, and family community engagement fall under Dr. Mahoney’s purview. He also collaborates closely with the Pupil Services team to ensure coordinated delivery of academic services to all students.

Prior to assuming the role of Assistant Superintendent, Dr. Mahoney served as HPS Chief of Schools and Executive Director of School Leadership (EDSL) from 2020-2022 and Executive Principal of Holyoke High School from 2018-2020.

During his time in Holyoke, Dr. Mahoney has led a successful high school redesign that merged all high school campuses into one “Holyoke High School” to promote equitable access to the full high school experience. He oversaw the revitalization of Dean Campus as a sought-after high school option and the expansion of the high school’s dual enrollment and early college programming, with significant increases in both enrollment and diversity of program participants. He also led the district’s leadership development work in partnership with the Relay Graduate School of Education, which has greatly contributed to increased alignment and effectiveness of instructional practices across the district. 

Dr. Mahoney brings more than 35 years of experience as a teacher, coach, school leader, and district leader, with more than half of that time in Western Massachusetts. Before joining HPS, Dr. Mahoney served as a faculty member at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and Associate Director of the Harvard Teacher Fellows. From 2005 to 2015, he founded and led the Springfield Renaissance School, an award-winning urban middle and high school, from which his three sons all graduated. He was a school leader at Norwell High School in Norwell, Mass., and Santa Monica High School in Santa Monica, Calif. He also taught history, English, and math and coached boys and girls soccer and basketball. He holds degrees from Brown University (B.A., International Relations), Stanford University (M.A., Curriculum and Instruction), and Boston College (Ed.D., Educational Leadership). 

Dr. Mahoney and his wife, Ruth, have been married for 31 years and have three sons: Liam, Gavin, and Eamonn, and, like Steve, are passionate soccer players and fans. Dr. Mahoney is a reader, an occasional surfer, and a fan of all things Holyoke. Go Knights and Hawks!

Mrs. Currier is responsible for oversight of special education programming and ensuring schools have the resources and supports to meet the needs of all students. Marianne began her career in the Holyoke Public Schools 20 years ago as a special education team leader at Kelly School. She moved into a supervisor position within the Special Education Department and three years later became the Director of Student Services and Special Education. After starting her family, Marianne became the assistant principal at McMahon School, where she worked for over 10 years. Prior to joining the Holyoke Public Schools, Marianne worked for the Department of Youth Services as an Educational Liaison.

Marianne holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology and Special Education from Marist College, a Master of Education degree in Early Childhood Education from Westfield State College, and a Certificate of Advanced Graduate Studies in Educational Administration from UMASS-Amherst.

Beth was formerly the Chief Administrative Officer for the Springfield Empowerment Zone Partnership (SEZP} where she supported the execution of the overall vision and strategy for nine level 4 middle schools particularly as it pertains to operations, finance, staffing, and public relations. Prior to her role as the Chief Administrative Officer, she worked in Human Resources and Payroll with the Springfield Public Schools where she gained experience with processes redesign, negotiations, labor and employee relations.

Beth holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business from Johnson State College. In addition, she holds her Senior Professional in Human Resources certification from the Human Resource Certificate Institute and has completed the Massachusetts Association for School Business Officials Licensure Program.

Jackie Glasheen is the Executive Director of School Leadership, where she supervises and manages several schools across the district. She also supports the district’s middle school design and building efforts. Ms. Glasheen was appointed to the role in July 2021.

Ms. Glasheen has a wealth of experience in the Holyoke Public Schools. Since 2010, she has served as principal of Kelly and E.N. White Schools in Holyoke. From 2005-2010, Ms. Glasheen was the vice principal for Kelly and Morgan Schools. She has also been a principal mentor. 

During her time at E.N. White, Ms. Glasheen led the school’s transition from grades K-8 to an elementary school. She also launched the school’s dual language program. Students at E.N. White have shown growth during Ms. Glasheen’s time at the school, as well, with students meeting or exceeding accountability targets on MCAS testing, based on the most recently available data.

Sarita Graveline is an Executive Director of School Leadership, overseeing multiple schools within the district. She assumed this position in July 2023. Prior to her current role, Ms. Graveline demonstrated exceptional leadership as the principal of Peck School from 2018 to 2023. With over 20 years of experience in public education, she has cultivated a wealth of knowledge and expertise in the field. As Peck principal, Mrs. Graveline created and improved systems at both the school level and across the district, including a robust and successful system of observation and feedback aligned with the Relay GSE framework. She is also a strong instructional leader with a solid understanding of Common Core standards who recognizes high-quality instruction and who encourages effective actions that teachers and institutional leaders can implement to ensure that students with the greatest level of need have access to the greatest level of resources.

Ms. Graveline earned her BA from Mount Holyoke College in 2003 where she studied psychology, education, and spanish. After working at a residential school in a suburb of Boston, she earned her M.Ed. from the University of Massachusetts in 2005. She worked for Springfield Public Schools as an elementary special education teacher supporting students with emotional disabilities. She later was named assistant principal and sole administrator at Balliet Middle School in Springfield, where she helped improve academic outcomes for students who struggled to succeed in traditional school settings.

Erin Linville joined Holyoke Public Schools in 2015 as the Chief of Strategy and Turnaround. She is responsible for ensuring effective, reflective, and urgent implementation of the district turnaround plan. She oversees the departments and functions of Communications, Enrollment, Homeless Services, Project Management, Strategy, and Transportation, and Building a new middle school. 

During her tenure, she has spearheaded a wide range of significant initiatives, including redesigning the high school experience to increase relevance and rigor, moving to separate elementary and middle schools to provide a more robust experience for all students, increasing access to preschool and dual language programming, and pursuing a new middle school building. She believes strongly in the district’s equity commitment: “We seek out and incorporate the voices of those impacted, with a commitment to include those who have been excluded in the past,” and works diligently to ensure that all stakeholders have a voice in the future of Holyoke Public Schools. 

Ms. Linville was formerly the Interim Executive Director and Chief of Staff of Citizen Schools Illinois and Director of Strategy and an Instructional Support Leader in the Pilsen-Little Village Network of Chicago Public Schools. Erin has also served as the Youth Director at a community center and consultant at Bain & Company. Ms. Linville holds an MBA from Northwestern University, an M.Ed. from The Broad Center for the Management of School Systems (now at Yale University), and a B.A. in Economics and Sociology from the University of Notre Dame. She holds her Superintendent and School Business Administrator licenses in the State of Massachusetts. She and her husband are the proud parents of three children, who are in Pre-K, elementary school, and middle school, and she loves it when they agree to play tennis, bike, or hike with her. 

Steven Moguel supports anti-racist, inclusion, and equity work at the district level. He oversees the Family and Engagement team, facilitates and supports DEI professional development and partnerships, and collaborates with the HPS Cabinet to establish and implement sustainable anti-racist teaching practices. 

Mr. Moguel has worked in education for 15 years, serving in various roles from paraprofessional to principal. Prior to joining the HPS Cabinet, he served for five years as the building principal at Morgan School, where he has supported a culture of equity with his staff and throughout the school. As Morgan principal, he implemented curricular change and reduced suspension rates and discipline referrals by implementing a positive-based approach that prioritizes equitable and anti-racist practices. He addressed equity work through ensuring all students had access to high quality curriculum, diversifying the staff, and addressing social injustice issues. Through these efforts, Morgan School has continued to transform into a space where staff address personal and systemic biases, openly learn about, understand, and work to transform embedded structures that have created opportunity gaps for marginalized Holyoke students.

Mr. Moguel earned his BA from SUNY Albany in 2005 where he studied psychology as well Latin and Caribbean studies. He earned his M.Ed. from Sage College while also working as a teacher's assistant. He worked for the City School District of Albany as a teacher’s assistant, teacher and later assistant principal, where she also helped improve academic and social outcomes for students.  

Christy Prosser is Executive Director of Technology and Operations. She is responsible for the development and execution of Holyoke Public School’s operational management strategy. Her role includes overseeing facilities, custodial services, maintenance, security, food service, technology, and data information systems.

Prior to joining Holyoke, she served as a Chief Technology Officer in New Hampshire Public Schools for seven years. She also worked for 20 years for Georgia Public Schools where she held multiple director roles in technology, information systems/data management, and school safety, along with two years as a Title 1 teacher in outdoor education. In total, Ms. Prosser has worked for 27 years in public education, including 25 years in district administration.

As an administrator, Ms. Prosser understands the importance of data-driven decision making and forecasting to make informed decisions that support teaching and learning with the resources needed to support learning and day-to-day operations through school operations and technology. She is committed to customer service operations and ensuring safe school environments for staff and students.

Ms. Prosser holds a M.Ed in Instructional Technology from Georgia College and State University. She is currently completing her ALM in Digital Media at Harvard University and has worked on certificate-based course work in Central Intelligence from Johns Hopkins University and the Psychology of Leadership short-course series from the University of Oxford, England.

She holds a solid belief that lifelong learning is essential to continued professional development and current trends in education.

Outside of educational work, Ms. Prosser is an avid traveler and an internationally published photojournalist, recently completing an assignment in the United Kingdom.

Rebecca Thompson, former McMahon Principal is the Executive Director of Academics. She oversees curriculum, instruction, and assessment from grades PreK-12 and reports to the Assistant Superintendent. Since 2020, Ms. Thompson has served as the principal of McMahon School, embracing HPS’ partnership with the Relay Graduate School of Education and leading her students and staff to improved outcomes for learners. For the last 15 years, Ms. Thompson has served as a teacher, instructional coach, and school leader supporting grades PreK-12. Her experience leading schools, developing big-picture systems for teaching and learning, and her attention to the individual needs of all students make her an excellent choice to take on the role of Executive Director of Academics for Holyoke Public Schools.