Public Records Access Officer 

Holyoke Public Schools
57 Suffolk Street
Holyoke, MA  01040

(413) 534-2000, Extension 1300
Send the Records Access Officer an email

The Massachusetts Public Records Law (Public Records Law) and its Regulations provide that each person has a right of access to public information. In accordance with the amended state public records law, Chapter 121 of the Acts of 2016, the Holyoke Public School District has designated the Executive Assistant to the Receiver/Superintendent as the person responsible for responding to public records requests.

Please contact the Records Access Officer regarding public records requests for documents pursuant to A Guide to the Massachusetts Public Records Law (pdf.), as published by William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth. Records will generally be provided in electronic format within 10 business days barring an exception.  In this case, the Records Access Officer will contact the requestor with an explanation for the delay and a good faith estimate of any fees that may be charged for the production of records and a reasonable time frame for when the records will be provided, which generally will not exceed 25 business days from the initial request.

Holyoke Public Schools is accepting diploma requests from former students who graduated from the district with a Certificate of Attainment instead of a diploma because they failed to meet one or more of the MCAS graduation requirements in place at the time they completed high school.  

Massachusetts recently eliminated its MCAS graduation requirements and now allows individual school districts to establish their own course-completion requirements. New state regulations allow districts to issue diplomas to those graduates whose transcripts indicate they would have met the district’s new competency determination criteria, which include:

• A passing grade for both the grade 9 and 10 English courses, or the course equivalents as determined by the school principal and approved by the superintendent;

• A passing grade for both the Algebra 1 and Geometry courses, or the course equivalents as determined by the school principal and approved by the superintendent; and

• A passing grade in Biology or the course equivalent as determined by the school principal and approved by the superintendent.

If you believe your transcript reflects this criteria and would like to request a diploma to replace your Certificate of Attainment, please complete the form below. Our Guidance Departments will be reviewing each request individually. You will receive a response in the coming months. 

Diploma request form: English | Spanish | Haitian Creole