Superintendent Stephen Zrike Jr. to step down at end of year

Dec. 27, 2019 | Danielle Eaton
DanielleE@thereminder.com

Holyoke Superintendent, Stephen Zrike Jr., announced on Dec. 19 that he will be leaving the position at the end of the school year.
Photo courtesy: Holyoke Public Schools

HOLYOKE – After five years, Holyoke Public Schools Superintendent Stephen Zrike Jr. has announced that he will be stepping down from the position at the end of the school year.

Zrike was first appointed to the position of superintendent in June of 2015 by the commissioner of education at the time. His resignation was first announced on Dec. 19 in a statement on the Holyoke Public Schools Facebook page.

He told Reminder Publishing that one of the most significant reasons that he is leaving the position is so he can be closer to his home in Andover so he can spend more time with his family. His children, he said, are now “at an age where they want to spend more time with their father.”

He continued, “To do the job the right way requires a lot of time and energy, and Holyoke deserves that. [But] I couldn't do that without compromising my family.”

Zrike said he also felt that it was time for new leadership within the district. “I think it’s time for a new leader to take the district to the next place. I think having a new lens on the work is important,” he said. “The district is about to receive significant funds with Student Opportunity Act, and I think it’s a good time to rethink and think strategically in a way to move the district to the next level.”

In statement to the community regarding his resignation, Zrike said he’s proud of what the district has accomplished during his time. Accomplishments listed in the statement include increasing the graduation rate, decreasing the dropout rate, reducing chronic absenteeism, doubling access to pre-k programming and doubling access to dual enrollment offerings for students.

Zrike said during his tenure as superintendent, the district had also “launched themed academies at the high school level, reinvested in our career-vocational programming, expanded our dual language pathways, opened two new middle schools (STEM and Veritas) and had the majority of schools make important progress on the state’s new accountability system.”

While the district has made progress in many areas under Zrike’s leadership, he said they still have areas that need attention and improvement. “We have a lot of work to do to close the learning gap,” he said. “While we saw increases, there needs to be more to ensure the accessibility improves for students here.”

Zrike said when he took the job as superintendent he was aware there was a lot of hard, long-term work ahead.

“I knew this work, this is not a short-term turnaround effort, this is long-term,” he said. “For success it can require multiple leaders to get the district to where we want to be.”

He emphasized that he was not leaving the position for another career opportunity. “I’m not leaving because I have another position,” he said. “It was important to me to not to pursue other opportunities until I was transparent with Holyoke with where I was.”

Zrike said while he’s not sure what he will do next, he can’t imagine doing work outside of the education field. “I’m a career educator I love the work, I’m not sure exactly what I’m going to do, not sure what path I'm going to take.”

While no definitive decisions have been made as to who his predecessor will be, Zrike said he hopes whoever it is “can build on the work that’s already been started.”

“It’s not about a shift in direction,” he said. “I trust they’ll be a new leader who is invested in continuing to build relationships with students, and staff, I prided myself on that.”

He continued, “I really need someone who can capitalize on some of the infrastructure that’s been built and accelerate some of the accessibility improvements moving forward.”

Shortly after the new year, Zrike said focus groups and conversations will begin to take place as to who the next leader of the district will be. Zrike said while finding a candidate to replace him early would be ideal, “these things take time.” Ultimately, it will be current Commissioner of Education, Jeff Riley, who will make the decision as to who the next superintendent will be.

Zrike said he has “no regrets” about accepting the position, and serving as superintendent has been an “amazing experience.”

He said, while “it’s not goodbye because I still have a significant amount of time left,” he stated he was grateful for how the community embraced him despite the difficult circumstances under which he came into the job.

“I really appreciated, at those unusual and challenging circumstances, I feel like I’ve been embraced and supported [by the community],” he said.

He continued, “The folks in the community, staff, students are amazing and I’ve become a better person and educator just from experiencing it.”

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