Five Staff Members Resign

Nathan Holesovsky like so many others who are now gone was more than a band teacher , he was a friend. He made you wanna achieve and he was always available to listen. 
No truer words have been spoken than these "uncertainty at Pioneer" . Teachers  afraid of speaking up in fear of losing their jobs, lost communication with the teachers, students and parents, the list is endless here.Not to mention the parents  not wanting them to attend this school and school choice deciding on BUHS.
Its even harder to stand by and watch a school once so strong in spirit and togetherness fall apart like a landslide and be more of a prison than a school. 
To turn the clock back is now impossible. To much has been lost and Miller has once again achieved her line of destruction.Everywhere she goes it follows. Templeton is still rebuilding and will be for years to come.
We can and will promise her this, wherever you go WE will make sure they know  about you. This has to end at Pioneer. Her destruction of schools is over. What she did to Templeton and PVRS will not go unnoticed and she will never get another chance to hurt another school.That goes for the other two as well. You destroyed our schools and you think you can just walk away? NO! The people next in line deserve to know the truth and they will. This was the final straw. As for the SC its up to us as Taxpayers to hold them accountable and vote them out .Enough of this nonsense. They have proven beyond a shadow of a doubt they are incapable of leading a damn mud puddle.

Nathan we wish you the best and may your dreams be fulfilled. You will be missed at PVRS.

NORTHFIELD — In a year when Pioneer Valley Regional School lost more than one-quarter of its classroom teachers, students say it’s losing another crucial part of the Pioneer community: Band Director Nathan Holesovsky.
Holesovsky announced his resignation on the second-to-last day of school, after being offered a job as band director at West Springfield High School that morning. According to Pioneer Principal Jean Bacon, Holesovksy was one of five staff members to resign, and one of two to resign in the final week of school.
During Holesovsky’s 13 years at Pioneer, he worked to grow band participation to about 100 students in grades 7 through 12, roughly one-quarter of the school’s enrollment. He said he applied for the West Springfield job with the same goal in mind, seeing it as an opportunity to work at a significantly larger school with more opportunity for growth.
Though the West Springfield band has only 40 students in grades 9 through 12, enrollment is about 1,200 students, he explained, which he believes could align with his dream all along.
“When I graduated from college and started teaching music, I always imagined myself in front of a large program … and not just numbers, but more opportunity for growth,” Holesovsky said.

He said he is going to try to grow the West Springfield band to 75 or 100 kids.
“It’s exciting. I’m sort of building, just like when I came to Pioneer … but when we go up, the up can be even higher.”
By contrast, Holesovsky said there’s a level of ncuertainty at Pioneer, one of many local schools plagued by declining enrollment. Experiencing a 25 percent drop in enrollment over the last eight years, he grew concerned about how the numbers may affect his band, and with his daughter Annalise having graduated from Pioneer this year, Holesovsky felt it was the right time to think about the future.
Still, his new start has also given him pause to think about his time at Pioneer teaching music, serving as head of the fine arts department and occasionally assisting John Passiglia with shop classes.
“It’s hard to say goodbye,” he said, and not just to his students, but to his fellow teachers and the community. “I’ve come to know the community, the people that support us, the businesses. That’s sort of been my world.”
Under Holesovsky’s leadership, the Pioneer middle and high school bands earned bronze and silver ratings at the regional Massachusetts Instrumental and Choral Conductors Association (MICCA) festival, won an excellence award at the Heritage Music Festival in Toronto, worked with renowned composer Frank Ticheli, and took trips to Nashville and a Celtics game, to name a few accomplishments. In 2016, Holesovsky also won the Grinspoon Award for Excellence in Teaching.
To ensure his students the opportunity to say goodbye, Holesovsky sent a mass email on June 21 announcing his resignation.
“It was really sort of an intense two days there,” he said. “I couldn’t get anything done. It was just kids streaming in all day long.”
Though his students are happy for Holesovsky, the news came as a surprise, said Justin Hubbard, 17, of Northfield, who has played tuba in the band since seventh grade.
“I was shocked because none of us really knew, and also very upset,” Hubbard said. “He’s been my band director for so long, I gained a connection with him … It sounds like the right move for him, but he’ll be very much missed at Pioneer.”
“I was very, very sad,” agreed Ella Potee, 15, of Northfield, a four-year band member who plays the sousaphone, tuba and baritone horn. “He’s a crucial member of the staff at Pioneer … It’s a big loss.”
Hubbard remembers how Holesovsky, or “Mr. H.” as his students call him, made trips fun and memorable, and encouraged students to reach their full potential.
Potee added that though she “doesn’t describe herself as a great musician,” she received endless support from Holesovsky.
“He still made me feel very valued and crucial in the band,” she said.
Even getting up early to practice marching in heavy costumes was enjoyable, thanks to him, she said.
“He always seems to make it fun and exciting when we’re doing something we don’t necessarily want to do,” Potee said. “He is truly amazing. He’s endlessly committed and is always able to expand on what we can accomplish for such a tiny school. You wouldn’t think Pioneer would have such a great a band, and it’s because of him that we do.”