Two local school districts are receiving part of $1.8 million in state and federal money to support enhancing the diversity of their classroom teachers through both recruitment and retention.
Holyoke public schools and the Amherst-Pelham Regional School were both awarded grants through the District Teacher Diversification Pilot program, which will benefit about 500 individuals in 20 districts across the state.
At $367,283, Holyoke received the most money of any school district in the state to “engage in thoughtful approaches intended to increase the number of effective and diverse teachers in their schools.”
“This is a great opportunity to attempt to diversify the workforce,” said Kelly Curran, management of recruitment for the Holyoke schools, whose student population is more than 80% Hispanic.
