57 Suffolk Street - Holyoke, 01040 Tel. (413) 534-2005  Fax. (413) 534-3730

Dr. Stephen K. Zrike, Jr., Receiver Judy Taylor, Web and Print Communications Director

PRESS RELEASE - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 2, 2015

Holyoke Public Schools - Dr. Stephen Zrike, Jr. Hosts First Community Event

The Holyoke Public Schools is pleased to announce that Dr. Stephen K. Zrike Jr. will begin serving as the district’s Receiver on Monday, July 6th. He will host his first community event from 2-3:30 p.m. that afternoon in the Community Room of the Holyoke Public Library, 250 Chestnut St. During this event, Dr. Zrike will kick off his Summer Reading Challenge by reading one of his favorite books aloud. All are welcome to attend this public event, and each student in attendance will be given a free book donated by Link to Libraries. Dr. Zrike looks forward to meeting Holyoke students, parents and community members.

Knowing that Holyoke is a city that is committed to improving literacy for all students, Dr. Zrike is providing an incentive to motivate all Holyoke students to complete their summer reading. Students in kindergarten through Grade 8 are being asked to return completed reading calendars to their schools on Aug. 31, and high school students are asked to do the same with their completed dialectical journals (The dialectical journals ask students to write quotes from the book they read and their reaction to that quote.).

All students returning these completed summer reading documents can enter to win a Chromebook in their school’s raffle in early September. In addition, Dr. Zrike will provide a special school-wide treat to the school that has the highest overall percentage of students returning their completed calendars or journals. For more information about Dr. Zrike’s Summer Reading Challenge, summer reading lists, reading calendars, and dialectal journals, visit: http://www.hps.holyoke.ma.us/summerlearning .

Dr. Zrike is a lifelong educator who started as a teacher prior to leading turnaround efforts at urban schools. From 2013 to June of this year, Dr. Zrike was superintendent of schools in Wakefield. Prior to that, he was chief of elementary schools for the Pilsen-Little Village Network in the Chicago Public Schools, where he

“A community working together to prepare our students for their future”

was responsible for leading the instructional improvement efforts for 26 schools and approximately 18,000 students. In addition to his experience in Chicago, Dr. Zrike also served the Public Schools as the turnaround principal of the William Blackstone Elementary School, an inquiry facilitator and leadership coach, and as principal of both the William Ohrenberger Elementary School and John Philbrick Elementary School. Dr. Zrike started his career as a fifth grade teacher in Andover Public Schools. He received his doctoral and master's degrees from the Urban Superintendents' Program at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He also holds a bachelor's degree in history from Dartmouth College.

July 6th will be the first of many opportunities during the summer for Dr. Zrike to meet with families and talk about the important work that lies ahead. In the coming weeks, announcements and information about additional meetings and events will be posted to the Holyoke Public Schools website http://www.hps.holyoke.ma.us/ and Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/holyokepublicschools .

For more information, please contact Jacqueline Reis at (781) 338-3115, (781) 605- 4419 or [email protected].

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“A community working together to prepare our students for their future”