Holt Public Schools introduce new programs to better students

HOLT, Mich. (WILX) - The Holt Public School District hopes keeping class sizes small and providing more specialized learning will improve student achievement.

Some of the issues schools currently face are a result of remote learning from the COVID pandemic. Holt school leaders hope new resources can reverse the learning loss and put students back on the path to academic success.

“How do we provide more students opportunities to work in small groups?” asked Steve Netzel.

Netzel is a parent in the Holt community and like any parent, he wants to see his kids succeed in school. He also serves as Holt’s Director of Curriculum Development.

Netzel hopes more federal money will help the district pay for more teachers, provide more personalized education by implementing small group sessions after school, decrease classroom size and add more learning opportunities during the summer.

“If we had some smaller class sizes, we feel like we could work more closely to our students,” Netzel said. “We could provide more small group instruction, more one-on-one mediation.”

These challenges aren’t just facing Holt but many Michigan school districts. Netzel said remote learning from the pandemic is still impacting many students.

“We know that some of the students that needed the moral support is that they needed more time in school because they missed that,” said Netzel.

He hopes these new programs will help students improve both socially and academically.

“We believe if we do it right it could close some of those learning opportunities for students too,” said Netzel.

Holt schools are working to improve the district’s reading and math scores. And will also focus on social and emotional support for its students.

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