Greenfield School Committee Special Meeting - June 14th 2025

001Good evening and welcome to the Greenfield Public Schools Special School Committee meeting for Saturday, June 14th, 2025. This meeting is being recorded by Greenfield Community Television. If any other persons are doing the same, you must notify the chairperson at this time. Secretary Den, will you call the role? Mayor Disorger here. Member Martini here. Vice Chair Ston here. Chair Johnson Msad here. I'm here. Member Childs here. Member Goodwin here. We are all here. Excellent. Welcome. Um, so just to review, um, we were all here earlier, so the school committee may not need a review, but some people have joined us who weren't here earlier. So our process is, uh, candidates will be coming on the quarter hour and, um, they'll have 45 minutes. The school committee has a list of questions. We're going through one person

002at a time. I'm skipping my turn so I can continue to play my MC role. Um, at the conclusion of the school committee questions, we have been inviting the candidate to ask questions of us as well as inviting uh union representatives to ask follow-up question. Um, and the uh interviews tend to conclude around the top of the hour and then there's a break until the next candidate. Um after the second candidate tonight, um I think we on the agenda it says we vote on the candidate selection before public comment. That won't be what happens. We will take the items out of order and we'll have public comment first. Then there will be motions to appoint and a vote on the candidate. and then we will enter executive session and we will not be returning to

003public session. So any questions from the committee on the process? Okay, any questions from the community? Come on up to the microphone and ask us your question. I was going to say I know you have a list of questions you usually ask. I didn't know if you could read those prior to the person coming in or not. That's also it's quite a lengthy list. Yeah, I can see here. I'm like kind of glancing at but thank you. Yeah, you're welcome. Feel free to take a look at that between now and 7:15 if you want. Any other questions or comments? Okay. Yes, mayor. So, I was just thinking actually about for public comment, which we definitely wanted, but I wondered if people would they'd want to that would be a little bit difficult. I was thinking

004that that might be a little bit difficult if for employees speaking out if they that didn't end up being the person that was chosen. And so I was just thinking about them and you know I know I know what I was doing. You know in my mind I was putting them in we had four I was putting them in order. I was just thinking to keep the integrity of the voting thing and and for our wonderful teachers who are sitting here. That would be how I would feel about it, you know, to but maybe you don't. Oh, not a conflict at all. I was thinking about it. Not a conflict at all. I just was thinking if you had something negative to say about the person who ended up being chosen, um, that would be

005a might be a little awkward for you later on. That's what I was thinking about. That's why I was wondering what we were going to do with that part of it. And I thought I would love to, you know, you were here for the whole thing and you were here for most of them. I'd love to know what you thought. One, two, three, four, five. And I thought that might preserve your I don't know if the word what the word for that is, but you wouldn't be compromised in any way if you were if there was one person that you didn't like that we ended up selecting. I'm going to interrupt. I'm sorry. Sorry. Um, so yeah, the mayor for people who are on online is addressing members of the union who are here and

006asked to have a chance to participate in the process. And we're going to let both the public and union reps exercise their judgment about what to share and not to share in public comment just like we do at every session of the school committee. It just seemed more meaningful for people to have a chance to do have public comment after hearing from the candidates than before. So, um, any other questions or comments? Member Goodwin? I'm just in my head. I I mean, I I heard the mayor say she's like thinking four. I mean, do you have a number in your head for our process that we should be thinking of or are we just ranking all of them? It's not going to be a ranking. It's going to be a Robert's rules of order where

007people make motions to appoint someone. So really think about your top candidate and we'll work work through the process together. It's not Robert's rules of order is not an ideal process for making these types of decisions, but um it also is the nature of us as a public body. So okay, but I am concerned that many of these candidates are interviewing multiple places. Um so I think we should have a couple names in our head, I guess, as just to how to do that. I mean, we need a motion tonight on who and Okay. You know, we need some we need to off make an offer as soon as possible. So, that's the guidance that I've received. Okay. Uh, any other questions or comments? This Secretary Den, just to piggyback on what member Gman brought

008up. So, if we If we have in our mind our first choice and our second choice, if we um if we offer to our first choice and they do not accept, would we then just move on to our second choice and make the offer? Is that how it's going to go? Like we just go down the list or um I think well my the way I've been imagining it, we really it's probably too complicated for the committee to come up with a first choice and a second choice and have contingencies. So, I think we're going to assume the candidates are here because they really want this position and that we will make an offer and hopefully it will work out. If it doesn't, we will have to reconvene and um you know find an emotion

009for the next candidate. Okay. Y any other questions? Okay. All right. We have a break until I I'm sorry. I have a This is Susan Farber. I do have a question. Um I recall in previous um elections of school committee officers there can be under Robert's rules I believe a motion to suspend the rules to allow an open discussion and I'm wondering if that might be useful and allowed here. Uh thank you. Yeah that motion could be made. Um so but we'll see we'll see what happens. So we will enter the deliberations and see what members do. But I I'm going to be encouraging us to move toward towards a U motion to appoint somebody. Thank you. Any other questions or comments? All right, we have three minutes and then I'll go and retrieve our

010first candidate or fifth candidate. recording stopped. We won't have participation on Zoom until public comment at least. So, probably doesn't matter. Hey, hey, hey. [Music] Hey. [Music] Hey. Hey. recording in progress. [Music] Okay, welcome back. Um, so Mr. Joy has joined us and we have a list of questions. We're going to just go around the circle asking the questions. I'm going to skip my turn so I can be an MC. And uh afterwards, if there's time allowing, there will be an opportunity for you to ask us questions and also for you to receive a question from our union representatives who are here tonight. Okay. So, um Mayor Dorder, will you read the first question? Hi. Hello. The school committee is seeking a 1year interim superintendent to serve during the 202526 school year while we conduct

011a conduct a search for a permanent superintendent to begin in 2627. How would you approach continuing the current administration's key initiatives during this transitional year? And in what ways would you support a smooth handoff to the incoming superintendent at the end of your term? [Music] Can I assume everybody has a copy of my resume? Yes. Thank you. So, as you currently know, I'm the interim superintendent in Mson public schools right now ending in June 30th. So, perfect timing if you need me on July 1. In that scenario, I'm doing a lot of this right now. So, I'll let you know how I'm doing this. Um what I would end up doing to keep going the current administration's approach is um I'm familiar with your current superintendent in that sense and there it looks like there

012may be a couple day layover or crossover potentially an opportunity for that or even some time before or after July 1st to see what they're doing and keep things rolling. Sometimes people think of an interim superintendent as somebody who just comes in and maybe kind of keeps the ship afloat, signs the bills, makes sure things don't rock and roll, that type of scenario. I mean, I can do that as well, too. I don't think that sometimes we would have to talk, we the board, if I was the successful candidate, talk with you about what are you looking for? You know, you're looking for somebody to come in and clean house, which probably isn't the the best thing to do. You know what I mean, right? or implement new programs or takeout programs that type scenario.

013But there are a lot of good things going on. I just read I didn't read all of it. You the comprehensive district report that just was released. Boy, that is long. So I did not read all of it. I did get through get to get to go through a bunch of it and see some of the great strengths that you have going on and some areas to grow in in that sense. I do think that in some of the areas to grow and I think there's some easy wins that we could grab in this year to not let things sit for a whole year in that scenario and there's some strengths to keep going some of the initiatives that are happening in that sense. One of the things I'm doing in my current job is

014taking notes religiously and I say notes sometimes notes but then putting them up on a computer Google doc to share with the incoming superend. They have hired a new superintendent who will be starting on July 1 in Mson and he and I have already been meeting. They're hiring some principles right now. We're working around that some other positions working with the budget you name it on that. Um, and we're still going to meet in the next two two plus weeks that we have left for the current school year. Um, the smooth handoff would come by working with you. Obviously, you'll be selecting and I would anticipate you would start pretty early. It could be late fall, early winter this year in terms of that would be a good timeline for a superintendent search. Maybe have

015somebody on board in the late by late winter in that sense because people have to give notice depending on if they're coming from other positions, etc. And that would give some time for some intermittent communications non-stop till July 1st when they took over. But I would take notes for them and see what's going on in the district. Um I I think I'm a good listener. I I'm pretty observant in life. Um you know, it's it's hard sometimes when you sit here, right, I have what 45 minutes, something like that, and I have to sell myself, right? And I I think educators have a hard time sometimes doing that. Um, I don't think I think sometimes we should be humble in that sense, but at times you do have to step up and do that. I've

016had a pretty good career in life in terms of being promoted along the way. I started as a substitute teacher back in grad school. Was a teacher or vice principal in one district in the same school. Then spent a long time as the principal of Chabby High School. Then assistant superintendent there. And then was fortunate enough to run the collaborative, the lower Pine Valley Education Collaborative, and then retired young. You might wonder how can a guy like me be retired, right? I I'm so young in that sense. But um was fortunate to to get all my service time in when I was a kid actually lifeguarding. And you you hear of public service buyback. You can do some of that. So, uh that would bought time in from public service back when I was a

017kid in that scenario. So, that allowed me to get out, but I wasn't ready. I'm not ready to retire. I loved my job at the collaborative. If they would have had me, I would have stayed there. But sometimes the numbers are the numbers and some of you will always you'll get there and and you get it in that sense. But you can see since I've retired, I haven't stopped. Had the summer off, my first summer probably since I was 16 that year, which was great. spent some time with my wife and well, we always spend time together, right? But a little more time and then worked at as an assistant principal and I was fortunate last spring in late winter and spring to work in Greenfield in a couple different positions here and really got

018to like a lot of the people here and still have maintained contact with some of the people here. You have a good thing going for you here in Greenfield. Um saw that with your graduates last year at the high school graduation. people going on to do great things in life and we need everybody for what they're doing. Um, one of the things I always mention to people is yes, hey, school was good for me and it worked for me, right? But I've worked in career tech schools, Voke schools back in the day. They called them now they're career technical education. Um, if my hot water heater goes tonight, I can't fix it. I got to call somebody, right? So, we know that college isn't always for everybody, but further education and learning more is for

019people to prepare our students. So, in terms of getting ready, I would do the same thing with our incoming superintendent, getting them ready. I would have constant communications with the school committee um through the chair or however you would end up working that and wanting if we wanted individual communications or if everything ran through the chair. Different committees do different things in that scenario. But I've gotten along. I would tell everybody it's hard as I just mentioned in 45 minutes to kind of, you know, jokingly pat myself on the back. Call somebody. call my current chair right now in months and call my chair from the collaborative their references. I think people would have have good things to say to me say about me in that sense and my job would be to have a

020smooth handoff for the next person coming in so that they have everything that they're waiting for. It's not just to come in here and sit back and do nothing in that sense. It's to have things ready for that person. So those are some of the ways that I would transition and take this role on. Thank you. Member Martini. Question two. Good evening. How would you build strong relationships with parents, teachers, your administrative team, the mayor, city council, and the school committee? I do that initially by setting up meetings. You know, we talk about when people come into roles, and I would anticipate your next superintendent would do this as well to an entry plan, which I have ready to rock and roll for you, whether it's a 30, 60, or 90day entry plan. It's always

021tough because the first 60 days truly are in the summertime. And good luck getting a lot of people together, but you still can meet. I would look to meet with uh if I could individual meetings with each of the board members, the committee members, some and possibly collectively as a group and also meet with our our elected officials in the mayor, the mayor's office, business department down there, counselors, etc., fire chief, police chief. I've done this before. You can't run this I can't run this myself at all. And I don't pretend to. I can I can do a lot of things. I've had a lot of experiences, but I know that it takes a collective effort to run a school system and to run a city for that fact. If you think that you're going

022to be like the lone ranger out there, it's not going to work at all. And people have to believe in you. And I think one of the things I've done for myself and the places that I've worked with is I've been approachable in life and I've been you know open to people and getting out there and being around in that scenario parents teachers administrative teams setting collective collective membership meetings um regular group meetings in that scenario I work with the union well keeping that I've negotiated in Chiki we had nine units in that sense so I've been able to do that and have regular meetings still right now. We have regular meetings in Mson with the union that I'm with to try to head off any things that are coming through and coming down. Sometimes

023you can't always stop everything, but you can actually try that. And also being out and about and I will I'm not afraid to talk to people and have people talk to me. We may not always agree on different things, but I will listen to you and hear what you have to say and then I'll explain my point of where we come from and why we may have made certain decisions in life. And sometimes I say you have to agree to disagree. Sometimes they they don't agree to disagree with you, but um but we've at least made an effort to be respectful of people and be polite and listen and let them know what's going on. uh to maintain relationships with parents, it would be through any types of parental groups that you have. Um I

024know that that plan talked about establishing school councils and getting those kicked up and running as well. Again, um going out to events and that's I am a big believer in and I use the word co-curricular activities, not extracurricular activities, uh sports, theater, drama, band, music, the arts, you name it. Um, not everybody's going to be the star quarterback, right? We know that. There's only going to be one in that scenario, but there's a lot of different things. You have a lot of different activities for people to do and a lot of I mean, after school, when I was at the middle school last year, they would always go to the library. A lot of the kids would go to the library and there were after school activities for them. The teachers were doing great

025things. Obviously, the same at the high school as well there, too. Uh, but I'll be around. You know, I know I can't go to every soccer game or every event, but I can go to a bunch. And when you're there just standing and watching, many of you know as elected officials, right? People kind of mosey their way over to you and and they'll let you know their thoughts about something and how come you are say, "Hey, it's great that you're doing this or it's not so great that you're doing in their opinion in that sense, but not hiding." And I've never hid. I got a little feedback from my current administrative team right now that I'm working with in the sense that we were we were going over some questions and another person was interviewing

026for some other jobs and you know you always get that strength and weakness question strengths and weakness that type of scenario and he had he had said something to me about he goes well you know he goes one of your strengths is being accessible and approachable your door's always open and I'm like well that your door's supposed to be open right and he's like well no not in all places doors aren't open in that sense to go into whether it's superintendent's offices etc. So while I thought that was normal I guess you would say in my life anyway and small it's not necessarily so small. So I think there are a lot of things that all of us do that we probably have a lot of good habits all of us but sometimes we think

027they're small h small good things and other people think no hey that's really great because I haven't seen that before. So, I think I was able to I'm able to draw on a lot of the things that I've done to try to ek out just that extra percent and try to do something extra for you, for the the city of Greenfield, for the Greenfield public schools and reach everybody in that sense. Um, we have regular meetings with our public safety officials right now. We have a big one on on Monday coming up. We call them tabletop meetings. We also do quarterly meetings with the it's a select board there but it would be the mayor, the city council, the finance committee from the city side and my chair, myself and our business manager. They call

028it the tri board. So we have regular updates in terms of budget and uh if you have a budget question in here I'll I'll pop on that after but we can do that. And then what we've done is and those were big meetings quarterly. We've actually they worked out so well that we are now doing a monthly meeting. We call it a mini tri board where it's it would be the mayor, the superintendent, the business managers, and a member of the finance committee just to make sure that we're still on the right track each month. And there's no surprises because there there's never enough money, right? We know that. But there's always more needs to be spent. So, we just have to make sure that we're all open for everything. So, those are some of

029the ways that I would, you know, build strong relationships by meeting with people, keeping regular meetings, and reporting back to you what's going on and being open and in and hearing from people. Thank you, member Ston. Hi. Hello. All right. What lens do you use to ensure that there is equity in the learning experiences for all students? How would you go about ensuring that the learning experiences are equitable for all students and measuring the effectiveness of implementing an equitable curriculum and instructional practices? What data will you use to monitor progress across the district and at individual schools? Well, that's that's a loaded one right there, huh? All right. I think I've I've been pretty fortunate at the collaborative. We had hired a few years ago a DEI coordinator DIIB. We called it diversity educ inclusion

030belonging. We also added the B on that too. Obviously coming under fire everywhere right now in that scenario. But one of the things we did when we were doing that looking for our equity and what we were teaching to our students and making sure that we had a good lens on was doing walkthrough. So we had a group come in, a consultant group that was sponsored by Desi. I was fortunate enough to get a grant for that because Blackprint Consulting and they came in and worked with our leadership team initially um a lot of self-reflection looked at our curriculum but then we ended up expanding it more towards our teachers and we did walkthroughs in that scenario. Some of them they started you know very gradual. The initial start was simply walking through classrooms and

031seeing what's hanging on the walls. What posters do you have up there? What's depicted? You know, is it all white men up there or that type of scenario? What are we what are we showing? We at the collaborative, we were a career technical education school. So, we had a lot of shops, right? some of your shops some really draw one or the other different genders in that sense and trying to see are we open to people and what are we doing in that scenario in terms of learning experiences making sure things are equity I was fortunate to do years ago when I was principal of the Massachusetts Math and Science Initiative where we increased our advanced placement offerings for people because a lot of times your honors and your AP classes have have have I

032don't want to say caps, they're not caps to get in, but but ladders and hoops that you have to jump through to get in. You know, you can't take AP unless you have an 88. Okay. Well, somebody has an 87. Nope. Done. Never get in an advanced placement class, right? I mean, times are changing, we hope, in in a lot of those things. And sometimes people are strong in certain areas and may not have overall grade point averages or want to excel in an honors class, but if they didn't get, you know, a B, maybe they can't move into that next level. Breaking down some of those barriers for our students as well, too, because we all develop at different times. You know, I talk with parents all the time who wonder about their children,

033right? Generally, I've been spent a lot of time at the secondary level and wondering, are they going to make it? Are they going to drop out? What's going on? And I tell them it's not it's not a it's not a set race. Not everybody has to finish in four years, right? It's similar to going to college. You don't have to do it in four. I mean that's kind of the standard model. Listen, we have a lot of bright kid people who do in three and a half and three nowadays. And we have others who go four, four and a half, five, six in and out of community colleges, right? I've had brothers and sisters do that. Um it's not a one-sizefits-all plan for everybody. So really opening up the doors for that. Um measuring effectiveness

034is really looking at a lot of different data sets in that sense. Obviously you have to start with sometimes grades, attendance. I thought and I can only speak to what I I lived here when I was here last year for almost six months, but at the middle school I thought they did a great job of watching people's attendance and really reaching out. Uh I myself did it with a counselor. We were teamed up with a counselor. We would have parents come in and talk to them when people hit certain they had certain milestones when you hit a certain day out that type of scenario. We ended up even doing house visits. Um unfortunately I had to go to court for a visit as well too in that type of scenario. But having practices and including

035data whether it's grades, attendance, um you know different types of needs here too. we have a pretty good um e population here and making sure that they have access and to regular curriculum and that they're in the classrooms in that scenario and bringing your group together. You have a strong administrative team and they do a lot of work nice work and you saw that reflected in the kind of the cover sheet that the superintendent wrote up of some of your strengths and weaknesses of the curriculum and things that are going on there and we just have to stay on it. A lot of what you hear about is people will sometimes talk about hey you know and I'm not saying I am like this but it's like Bill Bich go do your job right just

036do it and you well you we can't assume everybody's going to do their job right that's why there are different layers right and you have from teachers right to people who help teachers to then vice principles and principles and assistant superintendents and superintendents and and a watchdog group of the school committee in that sense and and I said it politely every there's always checks and balances, right? Like in politics and that scenario. So, we always have to be working with each other. And I think that's good because more and more things always get added to your plate in life. Rarely, we can ask any of the teachers in the crowd or any of the administrators. Rarely do we ever take duties off of people's plates and say, "Hey, you got enough going on here. Let

037me take that away from you." in that sense. So things get busy and all of our desks have a lot of paper on them and and we know where we know what's there and if nobody asks us for it, it kind of stays there. But when somebody asks, you know, we'll grab that one and say, "Okay, here we go." And I think one of the things I can do is make sure I usually end up keeping I call them a little tickler file for myself of each of the schools or administrators in that scenario so that when I'm walking around, I can just check in with people and see how things are going. if if somebody hasn't gotten back to me, more in a in a friendly reminder way and and jogging somebody's memory. I

038don't think that people really try to skip out on doing what they're supposed to do. I just think that life takes over in that scenario and things always pop up in that sense. um to monitoring. We would use, you know, any types of I'm not sure familiar with all of your curriculum right now or any types of online programs that you have to monitor, but we could use that. And we would do continually check-ins. I would end up meeting regularly with principles, not only as a group, but individually with them to see what's going on and how you're progressing with your scores. Your the scores, right? I mean, whether or not we believe in MCCAST, etc., they're below the state average right now. We know all of them. in all categories. So, there's work to

039be done, but you you know, even when they're above the state average, there's still work to be done because we still want to get better. I think what I have is a one of the things you would get is I'm pretty competitive in that sense, but I think it's it's a nice competitive. I want to be I want us to be better than our neighboring towns. Oh, yeah. Like there's a little oomph in me like in that sense, you know, like all right, you know, whether we can pull more school choice students from them or offer better programs, things like that. You have the size here. You're the county seat here in Franklin County in that scenario. Situated with Greenfield Community College right here for early college access. A lot of good things can happen

040that we can offer to our constituents and our neighbors. Thank you, Secretary Den. Question four. Good evening. Wait, I'm question number four. Yes. Sorry. Yes. I'm so sorry. The district has been in ongoing discussions about redistricting and reconfiguring our schools due to lower enrollment and ongoing budgetary constraints. Discuss how you will balance what is best for students with the demands from the city to reduce school building use and manage budget cuts. Those are always many times I'll use the word contentious contentious conversations that I've had. Uh you have you talk about two different things in here. One about redistricting and another about reconfiguring. They could be one and the same but sometimes they're used separately where you're just drawing different lines just to put people in different schools. Nobody ever wants to change their schools.

041You know that in that scenario. But reconfiguring we just did a study of that in my current job right now. We did not pull the plug to do it for July one. It's going to continue. It started late. There's never enough money. If you you Google Mson, you'll find out. We went we came in about a million over in that sense. They wanted to see what it was really going to take to run the schools level services. We we dropped every dime in there and showed them. Obviously, the money isn't there because we end up losing, as you know, ESER, right? And you have school choice and rural aid, that type of scenario. those extra funds which a lot of those are getting cut and not around as much. So, we ended up doing we

042were talking about closing a school and we did a quick and I mean it was quick but you know I say quick as in a couple of months here you might have and I know that you're already in discussions about that as well too. So you might have slightly a little more time before next July 1 for that. But you really need to hear from people because nobody's going to be short of opinions on that. you know that your parents, some of your older kids, right? Your teachers, um, everybody loves the school they're in. You could go to, you look at reports, Kappen reports, which is an education affirm. You go into inner cities, inner city Detroit, and they do surveys of parents. The parents love their neighborhood schools, love them, right? Even though statistically,

043whether it's test scores, etc., attendance, you name it, right? You have fights, violence, it's like the worst school in America. And I'm not picking on them. This is true, right? But they live a half a mile away from it. Their their teachers care about their kids. They love their schools. And that's what we get into in a lot of these scenarios where nobody wants their neighborhood school to get closed down. The reality of it is though, numbers are going down everywhere. It's not just Greenfield. It is across America. The number of public school students are going down. And you're seeing that in other districts reconfiguring or closing schools. And you're seeing colleges close right now. A lot of these small schools are not making it in this day and age. Um I think you need

044to do surveys, public forums, etc. to hear from people and be transparent. You know, we use that word a lot, transparency. Um I live I can live by that because I've done it as well, too. There are no, you know, I try to tell people there are no secrets in public education. You know, I'm not keeping anything from you. Anything you want to know, right, they can ask for and see, whether it's your salaries and your emails and you name it. I mean, I don't know sometimes how people think we're actually hiding things in that scenario because we're not. But I think if you're out and open and showing people in laying out whether it's numbers why we're talking about it, whether it's the not numbers being the student population numbers, the actual budget numbers,

045what it costs to run schools from facilities to heating and maintenance and teachers, etc. It's getting out there and hearing from people about what they want and if they have any thoughts because I'll tell you a lot of times we all think we have great ideas. But every now and then, you know, there's some bright people out there in life and they can come through and throw a wrinkle in it by even giving you a better idea and you're thinking, hey, how do we never think about that in that scenario? So, listening to people and then at times decisions have to be made, right? Sometimes they can be easy decisions that people support um when you're voting on them or they're tough decisions that you're doing because you know it's fiscally responsible. And one of

046the things that I've always pride prided myself in is I think I'm pretty moral and ethical and fiscally responsible that I'm if I was hired for this role to work with you that we are the watchd dogss of a lot of money that the city is investing in whether it's facilities in our teachers in our schools and our curriculum and not to waste that money. And if not wasting that money means doing something different that we have to do then at times maybe so be it. Decisions have to be made for that. And so it would be I would go about that by listening to people having discussions having open forums obviously working with the school committee etc. your town officials in that scenario and in coming to laying things out on paper and showing

047people here's the scenarios and here's what it's going to cost to maintain you know where we stand today here's what it would cost to do this you know what's your pleasure and I'm not saying we put it up for a vote to the citizens for every everything but we hear from people and then it would be you know obviously a vote that elected officials would have to make so we we as we said we did that we did it very quick. We didn't find and the quickness of it that our initial costs because it was only going to be one building were going to be that great because we were going to have to do we had another building that has some empty classrooms, but we were going to have to do some retrofitting like

048pulling out some rugs and doing some things. So, we were we were going to lose on the savings in that scenario, but they are still it still is in that I'll use the word tickler file for next year that they're still talking about it because the numbers don't look like they're drastically going up fast any anymore. Thank you, member child's. Question five, describe your budget process. When will it begin? How will you communicate the district's needs in order to get the necessary support to provide all students and staff the resources, training, and materials they need? I start early. I really, you could almost start right now. I could roll over. I could take your budget right now. We could roll it over and I'll tell you 85% to 90% is almost going to be the

049same, right? That's about personnel. And that's and I don't mean be the same as in not that we're not going to make adjustments, but that's going to be a rollover. If your contracts are already done, we're going to know where they're going to be placed next year. We're already know a lot of those things. I end up starting a lot of times. I I say early sometime I'll flip I'll roll over like an FY27 right now to see where we're going in that sense, but I probably wouldn't start. Well, I would work with you, but in a true world, I'd like to get schools open in that sense the month of September. That's a busy time for principles and teachers and getting things going. But then in October really starting with school committee and our

050principles and our leaders on seeing what people need and what people want. I think there are two different things there. What people want and what people need. We all want lots there. What do we need? I'm a believer in finding out what everybody's needs are. Whether it's from buildings and having principles talk with their department heads, their teachers, you name it. What's going on? Because I found that in in life when I first started being an administrator, I I think I did budgets the wrong way in my opinion is I took some money and I kind of chunked it out. This was when I was a principal of a school and chunked it out and said, "Okay, you get I'm making this up, but you got 10,000 for the English department, you got 10 for

051the science, you get 10 for the math, bang, bang, bang." Well, if you didn't need 10 for foreign language this year, you were going to spend it anyway, right? But if maybe you needed more than 10 for social studies because you were buying AP books which were huge and outrageous in cost and you might have needed 15 but you might have only needed five. So I learned really quick one year, right? like that people will spend and it's kind of human nature what they're given in that sense to find out what the needs are and then talk about do we have a rotation can we put in a rotation of buying materials whether it's curriculum whether it's books that scenario maybe this year we're buying English curriculum for all levels right because it's an expense

052and the next year we're going to do a math or something and having a rotating basis in that scenario in terms of working with the school committee keeping you posted and making There are no surprises with our business manager and your business manager and the the mayor's side in that sense. You can anti you can anticipate the majority of that budget already. You know, if I took your 26 budget, I could probably, like I said, roll over to to a 27 and we'd be pretty close to locking. There's going to be different things that you're going to want and things that we can take away or add to it, but showing people what's out there. You know, you have over 1300 students in the Greenfield public schools, right? That means there's a lot of people

053who live in Greenfield who have and I use I'm going to use the word no direct tie to the school. They don't have a a child in the school in that sense. And sometimes people wonder where's all my money going? What am I paying all these taxes for? Right? And we know the old adage, right? Hey, schools keep your home prices up, that type of scenario. But, you know, if you already own your home and you're not selling it, you're giving it to your kids, maybe it doesn't matter as much anymore and they'd rather save on taxes, right? It's letting people know what they're getting. And whether it's with public relations, whether it's with coming to the senior center here and talking, I mean, I looking at their calendar when I was standing out in

054the lobby for a little while, seems like a really nice place here. And coming out and letting people know what's going on, right? And I'm sure you do some of this anyway, whether it's coming in and singing some songs for them or serving them at lunch, etc. But having people see the value of where their tax dollars are going and because they they're busy, right? We I say that over and over again. People are busy. And if they don't have kids in the schools anymore, the best they might see is maybe they see what's going on in athletics because whether we we like it or not, and I I do love athletics, but I like all the other stuff, too. I've mentioned that before. Athletics a lot of times they say are the front porch

055of the schools because they they make the news all the time in that that scenario. but letting them know that hey there's a drama production going on that people can come see right or there's a concert or different things that are happening or that our kids want as schools match wits right or that they're taking a trip overseas with the foreign language department at the high school etc like you're you're creating great students and I would always say this every year at my graduation speeches that you know we see a lot unfortunately in the news of things that go wrong in life and you know I I do read I read a lot. I read a lot and they start to tell you not to watch the news actually as much anymore in that scenario.

056But what we need to do is remind people there are a lot of good kids graduating every year who are going to great schools, who are going to service in the armed forces, who are going into the trades, right? Who are going into the workforce to do things that I can't do. I can run a school and I can run a school system, but I can't fix my hot water heater, right? I mentioned that. So we need to start working on the budget early in prioritizing because you know right and this will get thrown at all of us right oh what you prioritize gets money spent you know gets money put at it in that scenario well if we only had enough money to put it everywhere at times we have to make tough decisions

057but I believe in starting early communicating giving you whether it's monthly updates at school committee meetings etc and asking for your input as to where you provide. I know we have a district in improvement plan. We're have to work on obviously the school improvement plans and following some of those scenarios is where is the district looking to spend the money. So it would be starting early you know internally I can almost flip it for myself in July a little but truly putting things probably in front of you whenever you wanted but in the fall for sure. Thank you member Goodwin. Question six. This has multiple parts and two pages. The district is currently engaged in two DESIE turnaround efforts and is designated as needs assistance under Desi's tiered focus monitoring for English learner education. Please

058describe your experience working with the DESIS statewide system of support. How have you contributed to advancing the goals outlined in a district prioritization plan? What has been your role in developing and implementing individual school improvement plans? And h how have you supported school and district leaders as well as educators in doing the work necessary to meet these goals? Um I am familiar with the turnaround efforts from Desi. Um, most of your a majority of schools have had to deal with that. And I mean in cities and towns, I don't just mean Greenfield, but schools in the area. The gentleman running it was former superintendent of West Springfield who I'm familiar with. We work together at times and and I can give him a call right now and he could let me know and I he

059was in town last year when I was here doing the visits for that as well, too. um for the statewide system of support in that sense advancing our goals and our plan is you have to you have to account have people accountable in that sense so we can have great ideas of what we're doing and they can be written on paper but I like to set things up in terms of whether it's a goal and not too many goals because you can get you can get bogged down with a lot of different things but whatever the goals that we're doing who's responsible by what date should things be done by a lot of times what you'll see understand some of these plans are the goals themselves and where you where we have to go, but

060it doesn't give us a path on how to get there. And I'm not I don't want to pretend I'm overly familiar with your plan. I'm not overly familiar with the Greenfield plan right now. But by breaking it down into smaller chunks that are biteable in that sense. So by having that plan and breaking it down as to what can we do here and can this be done by certain dates and and realizing that there are busier parts of the year that happen and and time sometimes needs to be stretched because one of the one thing that's hard is we all have great ideas at least I think I have a lot of good ideas but they don't get implemented as fast right we know sometimes towns and cities and school systems are are goodsiz ships

061and they don't turn right on a dime. It takes sometimes a little while to turn and sometimes we get impatient, myself included, right about, hey, why can't we do this faster? But I'm learning that no, things do take time. So, contributing to advancing our goals would be by laying out the plan and then checking in on people and holding people accountable. And I say people being could be groups of people, schools, etc. for what they're doing. Um, I've helped develop and implement indiv individual school improvement plans and always have to do that and keep that going. And whether they're, you know, hopefully not just for one year, I generally would like a multi-year plan. And I think that would help. um if I was chosen for this role and I could help our principles do

062that and our school councils do that along with your assistants that would ease I believe the incoming superintendent and I mean next year's incoming superintendent take maybe one thing off their plate because they're going to have a little learning curve everybody will whether you hire an experienced person or a new person to the role without experience they're going to have some learning to do in that scenario and um and I've supported our school and district leaders as as well as the other educators and doing the work necessary to meet it by by finding out what people need by getting out and about and listening to people. I think if you talk to people from my my short time here last year, you'll find that I didn't sit in an office all the time. I did

063try to get out and see what's going on and hear what's going on and find out what you need. One of the biggest things I find with supporting some of this work, whether it's through financial support, um, and you hear that all day long, people want your financial support, and some things are financial, and some things are just, um, helping in giving people ideas or assisting them, whether it's with time or efforts that they're doing. In terms of money though, I always find that our teachers sometimes can be reluctant to come to administrators because they think things cost a lot of money or they think things are a lot. Like, I didn't want to ask you for that because it's a lot. And one of the things I think I've tried to open up and

064by having an open door and talking to our educators who are on the front lines, listen, they are where the rubber hits the road. I know that, right? And and our job is to support them. Whether it's myself, our principles, our assistant principles, we should be making their trying to make their life as easy as possible in that classroom for them because they're doing they're servicing our customers firsthand in that role. Quick point would be like when somebody would ask me for I didn't want to ask you for that because it was going to cost $200 and I thought that's a lot of money. Well, 200 is a lot, right? But relatively speaking, it's all relative in life. like 200 against our $27 million budget. If I think it's needy and the teacher is too

065and I can't find $200, maybe we're really in trouble if we're that tight, right, in that scenario. But it's all kind of in the eye of the beholder and and letting people know that they can ask and that we are here to support them, you know, and maybe whether it's dealing with a child who's having trouble that day in their class. when somebody has 20 kids in a classroom, we want them to be able to teach and get to work with that. So, a lot of those things, they're never going to go away. A lot of these school plans and student support plans are tied to test scores. You'll see that pretty regularly. Test scores, whether it's suspensions, discipline, things like that. Um, and we can we keep trying. I tell I tell you and

066our teachers, right? You try every day, right? Parents send us the best that they have. They don't keep the good ones at home, right? They send us the best they got. And we have to work with everybody. We're a public school system, right? We're not a private school that can filter out who comes through the doors and then raise test scores. I could raise test scores overnight, you know, whether it's SAT scores, things like that for your your schools. You know, your guidance counselors and your guidance department's great at the high school. We could make your SAT scores go up overnight, right? By not having certain people take the SAT test in that type of scenario. So, I don't I'm not saying I want to do that, right? But that's what happens. And that's why

067you see these schools in the US News and World Report, right? And these different things. You can manipulate all that type of stuff. But you know what? Sometimes we're going to take a hit and I'd have rather have average SAT scores so that I know that all my kids are taking it and they're opening up opportunities if they want to go to further their education and to go to college because you never know as I said earlier when somebody's going to progress and it's going to click. That light bulb is going to click for them. So I've I've experienced by working in as you've seen my resume in Chabe and Springfield as well and having to work with these these groups and always making progress. Thank you. I don't think we have time for the

068final multi-part question. Um if you would answer uh briefly a question from the union uh that'd be wonderful. Sure, Tara, if you have one. Hello. Excuse me. Hello. Um, we would like to know what your experiences, you did touch on this a little bit. Um, working consistently with teachers, unions, um, to have proactive communication and what would that look like? What I would end up doing with if I was the successful candidate would end up meeting with you in the summertime and seeing what's going on, how things are going, not just with teachers because I know that you represent other groups of employees as well in the district too. and then SK sched scheduling regular meetings with your leadership board, you know, specifically obviously president, vice president, but then also with the other units in

069that scenario and seeing what are you looking for. I like to when you one of your questions talked about and I'm kind of trying to look obviously at our union here and answer to them, but talked about meeting with people in groups of people at the beginning and getting out there and seeing what's going on. And my entry plan would include asking people really what do you see are the good things that are happening here? What are the strengths? Right? What are things that we can work on in that sense? And what are some strong traditions that you like in the Greenfield public schools that we can expand on and maybe share with others for public relations? Um regularly standing meetings. I would rather have us talk often and have you potentially meet with our

070and if you're not regularly meeting with your administrators, whether it's vice principles or principles in that sense in the schools. so that we can head off any things that I mentioned. Um I don't think necessarily think and I'm not looking for grievances and I think you might know that but sometimes grievances come about when we just interpret the material that's on paper differently. I read it one way versus somebody else reads another way. And I think by having open communication and contact with each other, we can resolve those really before they even hit the paper point where we have to then start doing things officially. Um, but I would, you know, anticipate a good working relationship. I think you know a little about that as well. And if you were ever to speak to the

071other unions that I've worked with, I would think that you'd hear the same thing thing too that we were meeting regularly that I wasn't ducking and I mean my responsibilities or even ducking meeting you. Uh I'm not afraid of the union and I don't think they should be afraid of me in that sense and that we should have a good relationship together. Thank you very much for coming in. Really appreciate your time. Thank you. Be in touch. Recording stopped. We are unbreaking until [Music] Hey, hey, [Music] hey. [Music] Hey, hey, hey. [Music] Hey, hey, hey. [Music] Hey, hey, hey. [Music] Hey, hey, hey. [Music] Hey, bang. Hey, hey, hey. [Music] Hey, hey, hey. [Music] Hey, [Music] hey, hey. [Music] Hey, hey, hey. [Music] Hey, hey, hey. [Music] Hey. Recording in progress. Welcome, Dr. Malone. As

072I mentioned, we'll be asking you questions one at a time. We're starting with member Martini. Question one, please. Good evening. Hi. The school committee is seeking a one-year interim superintendent to serve during the 2025 to 26 school year while we conduct a search for a permanent superintendent to begin in 2026 to 27. How would you approach continuing the current administration's key initiatives during this transitional year? and in what ways would you support a smooth handoff to the incoming superintendent at the end of your term? Hi, good evening. Uh, thank you for having me here tonight. Um, I love this city. It's beautiful. I spent some time driving around. I got out here earlier than I thought. Uh, so your question is about essentially you want to be interim superintendent. What would you do? Before I

073answer your question, I'm going to tell you the reason why I'm here. So I've been a superintendent for 15 years in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. I also served as secretary of education under Governor Deval Patrick. I've been a teacher. Prior to being a teacher, I was a par profofessional. I started at the entry level job in the Boston public schools. I've been an assistant principal. I've been a principal in the Boston public schools. And I was an area superintendent in the city of San Diego. I come here tonight with a wealth of experience. But I've been outside of education for the last three and a half years. I left education. My last post was superintendent in the Fall River public schools and I currently work for the United States Department of Labor where I'm a

074federal project officer in the Employment and Training Administration. It's connected education because we do job development and workforce training connected to community colleges etc. across region one uh which is all New England states plus New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. However, during that time, I've realized that I miss working in education. More importantly, I think I have a lot to contribute. And I think I can be value ad to districts that are looking for something like an interim superintendent to help them guide through their transitional priorities for a year and help set up the next superintendent for success. So, I have the chops to do the job. You name any component of this work, I know it. I've done it. But most importantly, I come here tonight a different person.

075I spent the last four years figuring out who I am and what I've done. I've been blessed that I've had tremendous success at the young age in education. But that success came with a price. I'm proud to say I'm three and a half years sober as I sit here right now. I am a different person than I was four years ago. I come here tonight with one mission to serve with honor and humility and more importantly empathy for others. So could I help you? I certainly can. Looking at your question, I think this work is really about as an interim is really being the it's a it's a unique opportunity to be the school committee's person to really figure out the best aspects of the district in what areas really need focus and improvement and

076to present the school committee with a plan so that then when they hire the next long-term superintendent, there's a roadmap. So, in some ways, being an interim superintendent is kind of like being a consultant. You come in, you kick the tires, you continue the mission, you do the work, but you also really figure out how can this district improve. I noticed some things in your data, things that we can talk about later on in this interview. But this is why I'm looking at this time in my life for this kind of work. Because I said right now I don't really want to go take a job with the 5-year contract and be a superintendent for the next 5 years. Been there, done that. I've done this job 15 years. Talk most, you know, the average

077tenure of a superintendent in Massachusetts before they retire is probably like five years and they're done. I've done it 15 years and I'm only 54 years old. So, I'm going to work another 10 years in my life. But I want to do valuable things. I want to serve communities that care. I want to work with partnerships with teachers in the field. I'm a big believer in collaboration. I'm a big believer in help and support. And most importantly, I don't quit on kids. I get up every day excited to help, support, and serve. Hopefully that answers your questions. I'm sure that through my other answers, that question will get answered in depth. Thank you, Vice Chair Ston. Question two, how would you build strong relationships with parents, teachers, your administrative team, the mayor, city council, and

078the school committee? I mean, this job is only about one thing, relationships. Uh, I think the the most important word to use in in a in a response to a question such as that is genuine. Be your genuine self. Show up, model the best in behaviors, work with others, show empathy. I'm a big believer in collaborative leadership, building crossf functional teams in attending events, being a real part of the community. That's how you build relationships. It's through trust, mutual respect, uh, and and and, uh, uh, common shared values. And those shared values, of course, are all about kids in the community of adults that we build to support them in the community that supports the betterment uh, of all the developmental activities that occur within it. So I think building relationships about being honest, genuine,

079compassionate, caring, uh, and to be a good listener. When I tell you I'm a different person than I was just four years ago, I used to have a giant ego. Now I ride the orange line in the public MBTA bus to work. Think about that for a second. humility, honesty, respect for others, and most importantly, listening and not responding until you think and hear what it's like to be in someone else's shoes. Does that answer your question? Thank you member Deniv. Question three. Good evening. What lens do you use to ensure that there is equity in the learning experiences for all students? How would you go about ensuring that learning experiences are equitable for all students and measuring the effectiveness of implementing an equitable curriculum and instructional practices? What data will you use to monitor

080progress across the district and at individual schools? So, you see equity in two places. You see equity in in how you budget to support the learning in your classrooms and then you see equity in how students engage in instruction in classrooms. And really what you want across the board is really strong tier one instruction so that all kids are getting equitable access to all of the opportunities are provided uh in classrooms. I think that's most important. Uh I've been an equity crusader my entire life. Right now you guys are probably benefiting uh from the uh most recent bill uh on chapter 70. you got about 60% of your students are uh uh lowincome learners. So I think you've seen an increase in your chapter 70 funding because of that bill. I I I fought for

081that bill and we were able to get that bill passed with partnership with the MTA. That was an idea that started in Brockton in 2009 when I was superintendent there and didn't get passed until I think 2018 or 19. Think about that. The urban superintendent's worked hard on that. But that's an example of my commitment to equity. I've always worked in tough places. Why? Because that's where the equity work is. Equity is not about equality. Equity is about more than that. Equity is about ensuring that those that haven't got enough get that much more. And I don't mean about giveaways. I mean about time, learning, and resources. It's how we invest to improve all the outcomes for the students that we serve. I think when you go to look at data, when you asked about

082how will we measure equity results, you look at your data, you track it. Uh how do we assign students to schools? How do we assign students to teachers? What kind of resources are in all those classrooms? That's where you find the answers to your equity paradigm. You can solve all that simply by ensuring that every single child gets a high quality tier one instructional experience. Period. Wall-to-wall. How do you do that? You train up every single person in the building. Everyone. No excuses. You invest equally in resources, but when you see some schools that have less than others, you invest more. Equity is a is a is a a core value uh across Massachusetts. But it's also the I think the one that we look at and don't understand how much more we need to

083invest in places that have high percentage of second language learners, low-income learners, special needs students, uh or students who have had broken educational experiences. Uh true test of equity mean more time, more resources uh and investment in and in in highquality educational tools. I think when we talk about equity, we also talk about partnerships. So, I don't know what role Dees has with uh the Greenfield public schools, but they got a tremendous amount of resources that they can bring to bear to help districts improve their practices and classrooms. Western Mass doesn't start at Route 495. And I don't consider this Western Franklin County still central Mass to me, but we need to get folks out of Malden and out in the field. So, how do you do that? Ask Does that answer your question? Thank

084you, member Childs. Hello. The district has been in ongoing discussions about redistricting and reconfiguring our schools due to lower enrollment and ongoing budgetary constraints. Discuss how you will balance what is best for students with the demands from the city to reduce school building use and manage budget cuts. When was the last time you did a facility capital facility master plan? I think those are things like an interim superintendent could just come in and do present a plan to the school committee looking at all of your resources, all of your assets, looking at your, you know, you bring NASDAQ in and do your enrollment projections, you look at facility uses, and you know, you got to get economy of scale. You probably have too many buildings right now. So what does that mean? It means hard

085choices. These things aren't easy. I still have arrows in my back from when I closed a school in Swamp Scott in 2006 when I was superintendent there. Hardest decision I ever made. You know how you know how I did it? Called an all school meeting and walked right out and told everyone to their face. There was no secrets. Hardest thing I ever did. Close their beloved school. Smartest thing that community ever did though. And today they're grateful for it. Now they're moving to one elementary school. They used to have four. One central brand new building that will serve all their students. These are hard decisions, but you can only make those decisions by engaging the community, engaging uh, you know, the business leaders, all your local politicians, community members, uh, educators, parents, and um, making

086our decisions. I don't know what the status is of your buildings, but those that, you know, that's a easy fix. You just figure out we figure out a way how to do a capital master plan and then superintendent leads it. We could have that done in year one. Thank you. Member Goodwin, describe your budget process. When will it begin? How will you communicate the district's needs in order to get the necessary support to provide all students and staff the resources, training, and materials that they need? I'm going to guess you guys use a traditional budget model where each year superintendent brings forth a list of wishes and then the school committee says, "Oh, we can't do that." And then they say, "Come on, we have to do that." And turns into a big fight. Have

087you ever heard of zerobased budgeting? You've heard of it, but I guarantee you no one out here has ever done it. All right? So zerobased budgeting is the only way you can actually look at your budget and make real concrete decisions about what you can have and what you can't. But doing zerobased budgeting takes about two years because you got to spend the first year studying the budget and training people and then the second year implementing how to do it. But zerobased budgeting I bought to Brockton. This is going to blow your mind. 201 we had the uh Obama recession at that point. We were all right. We had a $10 million deficit. Now I said Brockton, you guys are thinking about the problem they had last year and you know they had another $10

088million last year. But in 2010 they had a $10 million deficit. I brought forward the idea that we're going to zero base the budget. We zero based the budget. We didn't lose one staff member. We gave out probably 600 pink slips. We didn't lose one staff member. Zerobased budgeting works, but it's complicated and it takes a long time to get right. But you need to start it soon if this is something that you think could save your operational budget, which I definitely believe it can. Fast forward, I left Brockton. I became the secretary of education for the Commonwealth, managed the entirety of of uh state's educational investment at the time was like $36 billion. I left that when I became superintendent in Fall River. Uh I brought zerobased budgeting to Fall River. Use the same

089model. Took a year to develop. Then we implemented again. We saved and you can talk to the union president there. We saved all of our teaching positions, all of our paras, uh, and we were able to build true investment in teacher salaries, uh, uh, over two consecutive contractual cycles. Zerobased budgeting works, but it's really, and I don't mean to sound like a jerk, but I know chapter 70 inside and out. You really got to understand chapter 70. It's not rocket science, but it is confusing. So, we really need to look at things that matter. Why your October one report is so important. Why do we have to track every single kid? Why do we have to make sure our reporting systems are accurate? Because your future depends on those numbers. The act that we got

090passed that's in place now, what would that be? six years ago invests in populations that are priorities in districts, second language learners, low-income students, right? So, we track, we monitor, we understand, and then we forecast and then we build our budget priorities off those forecasts. Now, zerobased budgeting is a sightbased initiative. So, we're no longer going to talk about funding the district, but you got to start talking about funding each site. So, each cost center is brought forward and built brought to the committee, but built not centrally in a room where no one's involved. But with the building leadership, when you zero base your budgets, every single FTE becomes an average FTE. So, we're not budgeting based on how many years. If you taught for 30 and you taught for 10, oh, I want more

091of those types of teachers at only 10 because they're cheaper. That's how you that's the equity equation that you pull that out. You get an FTE count. And then you build your budget, your sitebased budget by zero. We'll pull operations out and budget that separately. And when I say operations, we're talking about custodians and lunch and all those kinds of things. But your administrative and instructional costs are all built in. So you allow principles to build become the true managers that they used to be before ed reform. You bring back that power to the principal to make those decisions and come to the committee and present that. I love budgeting. Now I'm not a mathematician but I'm a details person and I believe uh and but what's your budget about? 34 million. What is it?

092Yes. was what I heard. 24 million. I think this year 26 was the ask. 24 was where we landed. Correct. Yeah. So, I'm looking at your state stats. It says you guys were about 121% of that school spending, which is pretty good. Last two districts I worked in were between 95 and 99 under the threshold. So in terms of resources, we're blessed here that the you're getting a greater share of community resources than a lot of other places. But that, you know, you should be funded at 170%. But what can we do with the 120 we're at? And then how do we work? You can't do it overnight, but how do you work over time to make sure the community understands what the needs are and what the value is so that those costs, those

093investments will go up over time increment like you you can't it's these are increments. It's not, you know, one large investment, but it's that's the start of how you do that. And that's communicating and and and and fully being transparent uh and showing all your costs. When you zerobased budget, you take out all the fat. And you say, "Oh, we've already cut to the bone. If you're using traditional budget models, I'm going to say you haven't." So, I don't know who your CFO is. You probably refer to as a school business administrator. Uh, but there would be a huge learning curve. We would spend copious amounts of time really uh getting it right and then present to the committee and then probably roll that we could roll that out with the next superintendent in uh

094the following year. But I could be very helpful to you in your budget problems. And then let's also just say advocacy on the hill, right? Franklin County needs their share. You're the only city in this county. That voice needs to be heard. Mayor question six. Hi. Hi. This is a longer one. The district is currently engaged in two desi turnaround efforts and is designated as needs assistance under DESI's tier focused monitoring for English learner education. Please describe your experience working with the Desi statewide system of support and how have you contributed to advancing the goals outlined in a district prioritization plan? And what have what has been your role in developing and implementing individual school improvement plans? And how have you supported school and district leaders as well as educators in doing the work necessary

095to meet these goals? Let's go way back. Uh I was a teacher at the first true state turnaround initiative in the Commonwealth's history. I was a teacher at the Jeremiah Burke High School in Dorchester. We were the first school in New England to lose its accreditation. I was brought in as a turnaround team. I was a history teacher. I want you to imagine I taught US history, world history. And me, I taught African-American history in a school that was 99.7% African-American. Greatest experience of my life. The best experience of my life. What did I learn about turnaround back then in 1995 to 1999? Teamwork. Effective effort, efficacy. That's what turnaround requires, no excuses, scaffolded instruction, real investments in the what has become the MTSS model. Fast forward from there when I was the superintendent in

096Brockton at the time. I think we had 18,000 students. I don't know. I think we were the we were the fourth largest district in the state, but in terms of poverty and second language learners, I think we were much higher than that. Brockton has the highest percentage of Cape Verdians anywhere in the world outside of Cape Verde. Second highest population outside of Boston of Haitian students. Arguably now you could probably say the first largest population of Haitian students because after the earthquake there, Brockton really became home base for uh Haitian migration. The question that you ask around turnaround and working to support particularly ELLL's has been something that I've been invested in heavily. I've been in part of all the state initiatives on best practices for how we do this. You know what I've come

097up with is the only one that actually works. Dual language immersion. It's complicated, but it's the best investment any district can ever make. The second best investment is to really have outstanding shelter instruction from wall to wall in every single classroom. Those practices around sheltered instruction will lead through through your your tiered system to tier 2 services and tier three and tier three services uh that that that are focused on advancing language learning, but you need outside expertise as well. So, I'm going to assume that you guys probably have a strong relationship with the local universities and expertise with some folks that really understand second language instruction perhaps looking to be helpful to the district. I'm also going to assume that we have had all the resources from the MTA and dees helping do that.

098But identifying this as a priority and then really dri drilling deeply in understanding what are we doing at intake. How are we assessing language acquisition with our prek? Do we have prek? And I don't mean half day prek. I'm talking full day prek. We built it in the chapter 70. So it's fully funded now. So every single four-year-old we put into school, we get the full chapter 70 aotment. Now, we're talking about that master plan and how we're going to grow that and grow your foundation budget because that's the future of your district. So, what are we doing? What's the uh what's the test called? WEDA or access. We get that test. We access we track every kid becomes a plan. We monitor that plan. We use the best practices in sheltered instruction. We use

099the best practices that uh that the state believes and we bring the state in to actually watch and give us feedback. We train, train, train and deliver the best instruction we can. We track data. We measure uh uh and then we code and learn and then we come back and communicate and refine our plan. This is the part of the job that doesn't end. It's an ongoing cycle because each year you're getting new and new kids in. I'm assuming your second language population has grown substantially over the last several years. So it's the structural so you can hear me talk about how everything impacts this. How you enroll kids, what kind of offerings you have. But we get kids in early. We start and then we also have other opportunities like uh extended school day,

100extended school year, second language earners. These are investments that work. uh Saturday schools work investment in resources so we have literature in every house that we're doing the parent stuff so we're teaching the parents how to read the kids as well even if they don't speak English we're doing adult ESL classes these are all the things that work uh as I told you I was in Brockton that had that highest population I went to Fall River that population is exploded in Fall River uh with uh Central and South Americans uh Fall River has the largest Azorian population in the world outside of the Azors lives in Fall River. So Fall River has always been a a a bilingual city, if you will, Portuguese and English. But what we realized is our population of of of

101uh native Spanish speakers was growing and we weren't doing uh what we need to do at intake. So we invested in a whole thing. We built the two-way dual immersion program which has been successful. There's this big write up about it. Veros uh elementary school. It's thriving. All parents want their kids in it. The ones in Brockton are thriving. Um I love this kind of work. Uh if I don't know something, I know somebody who does and I'll reach out to them to help. Uh, mayor, these are the these are the challenges, the future challenges as a city, how we um support and care for our neediest residents. Uh, and I would say that our second language populations are probably our neediest residents right now. Thank you, Member Martini. Question seven. The district's restorative practices

102committee has spent the past several months engaged in structured inquiry, collaborative reflection, research synthesis, data analysis, and program design. As a result, the team has developed a clear process and plan to launch the restorative practices learning pilot at Federal Street Elementary School beginning in fall 2025 with potential expansion to other schools or districtwide in subsequent years. Please describe your experience with restorative practices. What experience do you have launching initiatives of this scale and complexity? And how would you ensure that the district's goals promoting equitable effective alternatives to traditional discipline are embraced, implemented, and sustained across schools? Well, I mean, you can't talk about this without talking about a multi-tered system of support across all your schools because they go hand in hand. So, behaviors and modeling behaviors start in that tier one core instruction across

103all your schools. what we model in our classrooms. Outside of that, restorative practices essentially are an alternative way for us to look at how we used to be punitive in our disciplinary measures on students and now how we're trying to restore and build from a deficit and teach kids the value of you've made a mistake. How can I amend that mistake, grow from it, and move forward without dis discarding and throwing out disruptive students? I've heard in the LA since co and again, I've left education, but I've heard from colleagues that behaviors have been awful the last three years across the Commonwealth. So I think we need to really drill down and build and focus on core values, teach the behaviors that we expect to see, uh, and then have our restorative practices in place.

104You ask me my experience with restorative practices, man. I mean, I, you know, we were held accountable 15 years ago for suspension rates. Brockton had one of the highest suspension rates in the state. What did we do? We built alternative schools. We built alternative programs. I wrote the plan for all the models of various models of alternative schools for the urban superintendent network back in I want to say 2011 or 2012 to look at how we do this across all of our urban areas. Uh I think restorative practices based on um I don't know with the PBIS model what we used to do is is is is probably the nexus of of this discussion. But we know that suspension doesn't work, does it? Guess who this suspension makes feel good? Adults. It doesn't help the

105kid and it doesn't help the parent if the parents not engaged. So, we have to have alternative models for discipline. Now, granted, sometimes in schools there's some really dangerous things that happen. Sometimes some students do need to be banished to other outside educational opportunities that through I don't know your collaborative or your network or your partnerships that has to happen. But we never give up on kids. And even if you do that, you build a plan. How does that student earn the right to come back? Everyone wants to be in their home district graduating from their home high school. Um, so in terms of restorative practices, I mean, I I've had the best practitioners and I've been blessed to have the best practitioners and restorative practices uh hired in the right positions. I think that

106uh you I don't know if you guys are using the old guidance counselor model, but adjustment counselors, real social workers are the best. That's the best investment you can make. And they got to be in all schools, right? because it's not about advising on coursework anymore. It's really about advising about life skills and supporting and listening and addressing trauma and needs. Uh but accountability has to be there as well. So I think you really need to be clear about what the expectations are and then what the penalties are when those expectations aren't made because you got to have a system that everyone buys into but it's very clear. you know what we're going to be t you know lack of a better term tough on crime on the reality is when we're too tough we

107fail kids and we fail families. Uh so you have to find a you know it sounds like you guys have done tremendous amount of work in this area. I'd be interested in reading your plan and seeing how I could help uh do that. But as I said to you, um, you know, my entire career has been built around building relationships with kids, the hardest kids, and supporting them in classrooms. And then as a 54 year old man, when I walk down the street in Dorchester and I get a kid say, "Oh, there's Mr. Malone." And they pull me aside and say, "Man, I haven't seen you in 30 something years." And then they look at me and they say, "I remember what you said to me that day." And I'll be like, "What? You said

108X. That made me think." Well, yesterday I ran into a kid at the barber shop. We're talking about another kid, great basketball player. He screwed up. I failed him. He missed the last three games of his senior season. in the Burke newspaper. He wrote a story thanking me for doing that because it taught him a lesson. So tough love is also something I believe in. Never give up on a kid. But still, you got to teach those boundaries. That kid now that wrote that story thanking me. He's hugely successful now. He's got his own little I don't know social media business going in the city of Austin and he's killing it. But accountability and someone saying I'm not going to let you slide. Lessons learned. Those are the good things that happen in schools. That's

109what happens with teachers and kids. Did I answer your question? Thank you. What questions do you have for us? Well, I mean I probably have a a million questions. I You're looking for a one-year interim superintendent. Um, what are your goals? I mean, I'm assuming there's got a school committee strategic plan with some strategic priorities. Um, and if you don't, that'd be the first thing we would work on. and and we need to establish what those are and then you hold the superintendent accountable for doing. But as an interim, my job would be to come in, listen to what the needs are, pick up the plan and get right into the work. So, it's doing the the daily work of of leading schools and supporting students and teachers in schools and then trying to figure

110out how do we achieve the goals that are established by the committee and then also on top of that helping the committee understand what they really need and long-term goals for long-term success. I mean, does Greenfield want to be the best community in the Commonwealth? That's right. They do. So, how do we get there? It's identifying that and figuring it out. So my question for you is do you have a strategic plan in place right now? The district as a whole does, but we don't as a school committee have our own strategic plan. So we don't like have a consensus document on what we're expecting from the interim superintendent for this year. So to answer your question, I would just welcome a few members to share your perspective with the candidate. Yes, member childs. So,

111right now there's a lot of uh insecurity about the instability of the situation both in terms of budget and buildings. So, uh one of the biggest things we need from an interim is someone who's able to make fe people feel comfortable and secure and keep things calm while we navigate transitions. And then aside from that, early literacy is a huge focus for us. and uh behavioral issues in schools and helping those kids who still um have not recovered from the pandemic in terms of social skills and mental and emotional health. That's where I am at least. Someone else like to answer the question. Um, I think I'm I'm also thinking about just being able to know which processes are needing to continue right from where they're at and which can use a little bit of

112injection of new ideas. Um, I think refreshing relationships with city departments. Um, and ensuring that our our staff are well supported. I think those are my key goals for the year. Thank you. I'd like to offer the union a chance to ask you a follow-up question. Sure. Good evening. My name is Ann Valentine and I am the president of the union here. And our question to you is, what is your experience working with teachers unions and what would that look like? So when I was young and stupid, I had a reputation for fighting with unions. Thought you could do it all without him. But I was 30 years old and dumb. I have a vote of confidence from the school committee in Swampscott. We fought tough times budgetarily, consolidation wise. I left Swampscott, became the

113superintendent in Brockton and from the moment I entered Brockton, I said my relationship with the union is going to be my highest priority. I became the poster child for union district collaboration. So much so we traveled the country celebrating our partnership sharing with uh the MT the the the uh NEA and the AFT all across the country in that work. It was because of the Mass Teachers Association that I became Secretary of Education. That relationship I had with Brockton allowed me to become Secretary. I wouldn't have been Secretary of Education if they didn't beat down the governor's door and say, "Hi, I'm Malone." So, what changed? What changed from that time in Swampscott to that time in Brockton was the true understanding of what differentiated leadership means and more importantly what collaborative decision making means.

114Union President and I talked every single day. So much so, and you can call Kim Gibson right now and ask her. She became part of my leader. I was hanging out in their building more than I was hanging out in my office. I have a ridiculously strong relationship with the current administration at the MTA through my time as secretary and when I was in Fall River. When I was in Fall River, our union president essentially became part of my leadership team. The way I establish leadership teams, we meet weekly. So that's the entire central office staff plus all the principles. Why? Because that open honest collaboration is key. All decisions are only made in that room. She served on that team most of the time. Sometimes she didn't want to, but there was no secrets

115between us. None. That work extends across not only your teachers associations, but also your administrative associations. I don't you're probably not big enough to have an administrative association, but and then also you you guys represent your parents as well. Make sure they're getting their respect. most important toughest job in the school system. I was one. So, I'll give you a little example of we started this seemed like a goofy idea at the time, but we started this golden apple award thing my first year in Fall River. I was in Fall River for five plus years. And what started off as a one time a year we're going to award golden apples to all the teachers that get recommended by their peers turned into something we did three times a year because it became so popular.

116But what really changed was that teachers were understanding that we were all in this together. that collaboration, those relationships, fighting to make sure our contracts, man, we we made so much progress and I, you know, you want to find out about me, please call those two union presidents and and and and ask, but also call your leadership because they know me well. And um Max is still there. Is he the president still? Yeah, he and I know each other real well. Um, I even say we're friends, personal friends. Um, so as I got older in life, I realized you can't do this on your own. I don't write, you know, I don't write the script. It's not my will anymore. You know, I've changed my life. I live a different life now. But one of

117the values I'll carry with me forever is that important collaboration with your union. The union has to be part of every single discussion that impacts them regarding finances and security. So we talk about how do you tone it down and build that trust up because you sounds like you got some anxiety in the system. It's about those meetings to making sure that super like when I don't even know what you call them here, but you probably have a district committee. I don't even know what you would call it the superintendent. No. Yeah. No, but I'm saying like you have your elected each of your building as their building reps and then you guys all get together and you talk. You probably do that once a month or every two weeks. I need to be there

118because I need to know what what what is it? How do we solve this? district is not big enough that you should be having labor management problems. That that should not be happening. Um but it's sometimes the smaller districts are the the most challenging at times in that regard. So you got to build those relationships. You got to you got to tone down the rhetoric, build some trust, get folks to feel comfortable because that's the only way you're going to be successful doing the work. Anxiety is not a force multiplier. Feeling respected and valued is why do teachers do this work? It's not the salary. It's not the benefits. It's because they love serving children. But they want to do it in an environment where they feel respected, valued, supported, and when they have needs,

119those needs are met. One more example. I was superintendent for five years. Do you know how many grievances went to the school committee in those five years in in Fall River? Zero. Not one teacher grievance went to the school committee cuz we solved them. Some are wins for the district, some are wins for the association, but at the end of the day, a mutual win is when both sides can agree. I got some, you got some. Let's solve this, put it in writing, and we're done. I hate grievances. They should never go to the school committee. They should they if some things can't be worked out and they have to. And sometimes I would say sometimes you could like with my administrators union I would force a lot of those decisions to the committee because

120the committee needed to make a decision that we could establish and then get it into a contract. But that's just a tactical thing. We can work out all issues. Two humans can sit in a room and solve their problems. The problem is I used to have an ego. I used to think I owned it. it was my money or my thing. It's not my thing. It's our thing. So, as a superintendent engaging with the union, you put the issue on the table and you come to a resolution. You work it out. You shake hands and you move on. The dialogue has to be respectful. It can't be confrontational. And believe me, I've been confrontational in my life. But that's not who I am now. But I will say to you, the best reputation I have

121in my work is my reputation working with the unions. That and fighting for kids like you wouldn't believe. Those are my two reputations. Thank you, Dr. Malone. And thank you very much for your time with us tonight. We really appreciate you coming in. I appreciate this opportunity. I mean, I drove all the way out here. I'm figuring like, what are we going to do now? It's dinner time. Go enjoy some dinner. We got a lot of work ahead of us tonight. So, thank you so much for coming in. Can I just end with one more? Sure. I just I really want to thank you guys uh for the opportunity. I just want to be very clear with everyone. I'm not out looking for superintendencies. I have a job, but I miss the work. And doing

122something like this would excite me. Why? I live in the middle of the city of Boston in a neighborhood called Ro called called Rosundale. Love where I live, but I've always wanted to move west. And this is the most beautiful part of the state. So, if you offered me this opportunity, I'd come here and I'd live here for as long as that year lasted. I'd live between two places, but I need a place and I'd live here. And I'm on my own. My kids are older. My son's in the Marine Corps. My daughter's in college. Uh, and I'm I'm on my own and I'm looking to be helpful and I've never served uh uh um in a small city. I've done the larger cities and I've done small communities. Uh so this excites me. This

123is something that I would find enjoyable, but more importantly refreshing. But even more importantly, I think I could be very helpful to you. Not only everything that I've done and the experiences I have, but also all the relationships I can bring to bear around resources and supports uh and do it with trust and honor that you could trust me in the in the um in the duties that you would hold me accountable for. So with that, I thank you for your time. I've enjoyed this opportunity to speak with you and hope we can talk again. Thank you. Thank you. Good night. This is the latest interview I've ever had. It is an unusual time on a Saturday night. Appreciate your flexibility. I know you didn't I I understand these people in Greenfield, they don't play

124around. We are serious. We are serious here. All right. I'm leaving now. All right. Good night. See you later. All right. Um, let's see. I think first I want to fix the agenda just by making it official having some entertain a motion to move public comment on the agenda to before the vote on candidate selection. So moved. Second. Motion from member Ston and a second from member Martini. Any discussion? Quick question. Will public comment be before or after deliberation? Um, uh, the vote includes the deliberation. So, yes. Okay. Just checking because of the wording on the agenda. Yeah, good, good question. Yes. So, um, the vote on candidate selection will include the committee deliberating about the vote. Um, and that will happen if this vote passes after the public comment period. Okay. Uh, any other

125discussion? the motion to move uh public comment on up to before the vote on candidate selection. Okay. All those in favor? I motion carries and I personally would like a fivem minute break before public comment. Is there any objection to that from the public? All right, let's take five minutes. [Music] Hey, hey, hey. [Music] Hey, hey, hey. [Music] Hey, Hey, hey, hey. [Music] Recording in progress. Yes, welcome back. Uh we are now at public comment. We will start with public comment in the room. If there's anybody on Zoom who would like to make a public comment, please notify me by chat or raising your virtual hand or getting my attention some other way. Any public comment from the room? There's no sign up tonight. No, we have some other members of the public. These two

126would fight you on that. They're also members of the public, too. Also, all raise their hand at once. So, uh let's see if someone Yeah, just can decide amongst yourselves. Come up front, please. Yep. You have uh three minutes. Just say your name and where you live. My name is Anne Valentine and I live in Hatfield. Um, I just wanted to bring up two kind of generic concerns that I had. Two of the candidates expressed um, experience with closing schools, which I know is something that people are interested in learning about. Um, I I'm hoping that you heard that it was to move children into a new school. That was something that I heard. Yes, understanding how to close a school, but it's different when you move them into a new school that's waiting for

127them. Just a comment because that was said by two different candidates. Um, some of the candidates, uh, one of the candidates has some positive comments that I had the opportunity to talk to staff at the middle school and the high school. Um, Mr. Joyel, that's how you pronounce his name. Um, people have approached me with comments such as he was approachable, he was calm, he was knowledgeable. They um I'm also thinking that it would be nice if we had somebody that was stable, not really into some big changes right now, and somebody who we know and trust. Thank you, Tara. Hello, Tara Clutier. I live in Greenfield. Um I kind of want to echo what an said about Roland Joy. Um, when I heard member child's comments about um looking for calm and uh stability,

128it just made me think of Roland Joy. I worked with him at the high school last year when he was there as an intern and it felt calm. It felt like we could talk to him. We would see him in the hallways. He was talking to students. he was talking to adults. Um it feels like at such an unstable time here that that is a good match. Thank you. Any uh public comment from people on Zoom? Okay, not seeing any. Um we'll move on to the vote on candidate selection. Um I I I guess uh well I'll talk a little bit about process. Um I had been thinking just come in and have people start making motions because um when time is short sometimes we have to rely on Robert's rules of order and just

129um uh you know voting and majority wins. But maybe we can do a bit of a hybrid um a full kind of a a full consensus process may take more time than we have, but we could do a partial process of at least starting to narrow the the list of choices that we're voting from among. Um so I wondered if uh maybe we could take a a motion to suspend the rules of order and have a more informal conversation to try to narrow our list of candidates before moving to uh vote. So moved. Oh, okay. I'm gonna go with a motion from member Ston and a second from member Goodwin. Um, motion from member ston. Okay. Second. Good one. Okay. Thank you. Sure. Okay. So, I guess what I would uh propose as a a

130process would be Oh, we have to vote on it. Any discussion? Okay. Uh, all those in favor I I um did I start the recording? Yeah, I think I Yes. Okay, it's recording. Um, okay. So, we suspended the rules of order so we can have a more informal conversation. And I I think what I would suggest is that we just go around and people say who are the candidates that you're choosing among um so we can kind of get a picture and I I'll do a little bit of a tally. Um the tally isn't a vote but just to kind of see where the energy is in the room around different candidates. Um who would feel ready to begin? member Goodwin. Um, Roland Joy would be my first. My second would be Mark Goslin. And

131my third would be Moren. I'm not sure how to say her last name. Ben Bonita. Benenda. Okay. All right. Member Childs, who are you thinking about? I'm still thinking and wanting to listen more. Okay, fair enough. Member Den. My first choice is Annie Azerloza followed by Roland Joy and my third choice would be Mark Mclofflin. Member Saxton. Yeah. Member Martini, Mark Goslin, Annie Aarloza, and Roland Joy. Mayor Roland Joy would be my first choice. Um, Maren Benna would be my second choice. Mark Goslin would be my third choice. Okay. Um, so any members who haven't had a chance to share your your thoughts that you're ready to share yet? Member Stan. I think for me my first choice candidate would be Annie Azer Loza. Um, it's a little trickier with the with the other candidates,

132but I might go um Morin Benienda followed by Roland Joy because upon hearing the recommendations of our educators. Thank you. Member Childs, I think the list of names that has been brought forward is a list that I am comfortable with. Okay, great. Um, let's see. Uh I don't know if I have a ranking um exactly but I would say uh Joy and Ben and uh stand out to me. Um so the list of names that have been mentioned are Joy Goslin Biana and Azar Loza and Mclofflin. the most kind of heat or energy is around Joy uh and um then Bian and Nunda tie with Goslin and Annie and then Mlofflin and that wasn't it was too complicated to factor in people's first second and third choices but just the names the number of times

133the name was mentioned I suppose um so Um, I guess I would o open the floor if uh folks would like to um speak to one of those candidates and why they are um your choice. Member Goodwin, I think um it was hard. I mean, Mark Goslin was I started off my day with he was my first choice. But the more I I actually went home and reread Roland's stuff um before tonight's interview. And I think one of the things that he brings that none of the other candidates bring is a healing component because he's worked in our district and teachers already know him. And I think that's an important thing right now in this space of time for our district to bring that that comfort which he brings to the high school teachers and

134the middle school teachers. Others member Ston. Yeah, I um not to discount that, but I do think that there was the uh another candidate who specifically mentioned healing and was able to even just glean that from being around us. So that was um Annie Azeroa who like specifically called that out. So I just want to to name that there might that she might be another candidate who could accomplish that without any without baggage from already having been here to experience some of it. bringing a bit of more of an outsers's perspective. I'm not necessarily arguing with you, but I just wanted to name if that is a factor that there are more than one way there's more than one way to think about or approach that. Um, I think the other things that really made

135that candidate attractive to me. Um, was that I I just appreciated the sort of energy and the specificity and the conciseness with which she approached her answers. to us. Um, uh, it felt like that was a candidate who actually had more time for some Q&A back and forth and left more time open to have questions from from other folks. And I think that that's an important like that's that's a reflection even in the interview space of being able to to be have to dedicate the time to listen to others and bring them in. I really also appreciated what she spoke about in terms of student empowerment and student engagement and involvement. Um, you know, that's a a big goal and a factor of mine. So, I just wanted to to give a a a fair

136or a plea for this particular person even though I understand based on the numbers that they're unlikely to be the candidate. Okay. Any other um mayor? So, I appreciate that. I thought um she was going to be my fourth if I had to go through and she did do those things that um you spoke about um taking the time. You know, people interview in different styles. She took the time to, you know, be listening and I I saw what you're seeing. Um but I kept going I was going back to my list of what Liz Lefond had said and what I heard people saying about the you know the comm. So um we actually the strong financial management skill expertise in te technology and school law and advocating for public education. I think all of

137them did that. the communication we we heard from those that knew Roland that he communicated well with um in the two schools that he worked in. And I guess my overarching thing is would be um the known and what our um what what those who know him and and worked with him had to say. um comfortable, secure and a communicator. So I think that was a known entity. So I I would advocate for that for him. Thank you. Is there anyone who would like to advocate for Mclofflin to be one of the contenders? I know there was one person who had them on their list, but wanted to know if you wanted to speak to them. Didn't seem there was broad interest, I guess. Member Goodwin, can I add one more thing for Roland? Yep.

138He's the one who lives the closest, which is a consideration. Okay. Member Denife. Um I'm fine with Roland Joy. Um, and really all of the candidates seemed like they could perform the job adequately and had all of the experience necessary to do it. But I think that um, finding somebody who really exhibits a care and interest in Greenfield and in Western Massachusetts and in the particular nature of our community is especially important. And the only person who did that in their cover letter was Annie Azerloza, who specifically said that she was excited to be moving to Greenfield if we chose her and that she wanted to embrace uh Massachusetts and Western Massachusetts in the future. So, um I think that that's really nice. I the cover letters are easily more important to me than even

139the interview style. and she was one of the few that had the power of brevity and awareness of the space and um the listening skills. Uh the other candidates, you know, really knew how to steamroll their points. So, I think that that's something that will would really lend itself well to our district. And Roland Joy also possessed a little bit of that. So, those are the two that I'm really set on. Thank you. Anyone else wish to speak? Member Martini. Uh, I really that's I appreciate you sharing that perspective, member Teneive, because I am not a cover letter gal. I wouldn't have um uh seen it that same way. But I really appreciate that view. Um I am thinking uh greatly in terms of their interviews today. I think that uh Goslin and Azer Loza

140certainly had the strongest interviews. I appreciated Dr. Goslin's uh values when it comes to serving students with disabilities. uh as you all know that's always forefront in my mind uh and I think he gave the uh strongest answers in relation to that uh particular group of students and and Greenfield needs to serve them well. Um and uh I also listed Roland Joy because of the needs that everyone has um already noted for um creating some stability and uh calm in the district right now, especially for our staff. And as you heard me say earlier today, what I really would like to see in a year uh as an answer to one of our candidates questions uh is that our staff felt supported this year. So uh perhaps he is the best candidate as an interim.

141Um if so, however, I would uh really hope that perhaps Dr. Goslin would revisit us as a superintendent candidate. Um, I guess since we're in our informal suspended rules of order, maybe I'll I'll take a uh shot at kind of summarizing what I think I'm hearing the group uh saying. Um I think what I'm hearing is that there are number of people who would strongly advocate for Joy and a number of people who could really live with Joy and respect and appreciate some of the comments that were made during public comment about him. Um, I'm also hearing some passion and interest about um I have her first name here. Oh, M. Ms. Azer Loza. um and her ability to um show passion for the city, engage with us in a very personal way and a

142way that left time for kind of engagement back and forth um between the comm community the the members and herself. Um I also appreciated those characteristics of her. Um, I wonder if that seems like a fair summary of kind of where we are. Um, is this does anyone have anything else they would like to say or do before we enter into a motion making Robert's rules of order kind of process for um for making our decision. Uh, we'll go with member Charles and then member Goodwin. Well, I I just want to take a moment to reflect on this being a very much emergency rushed process that we really didn't get the chance to get to know people as well as we would want to. Um, and in that case, uh, Mr. does have the edge

143of being a known quantity, but at the same time, Azerloa impressed me a lot and but it it I just wish we had more time with the candidates. I wish we could do more before having to make a decision. Thank you, member Goodwin. Totally agree with that. Um, and I would like some of these candidates to hear that we would like to see them apply a year from now or or when we start the process for even a permanent superintendent because I think it's a different job. Um, the language that the candidates used who are who have served as an intram superintendent to be a bridge um is a really important job. Um, and some of them have done it a lot and others maybe once um, and some not at all. And so I

144think it's a different type of job to be an interim. Um, and there were candidates here who could definitely step up to be superintendent. Thank you. Does anyone have any questions of any other members about their perspective on any of the candidates? Just wanted to make that possibility also if anyone has an inquiry. Member Stton. I guess for for those folks for whom Roland Joy was their top candidate, their number one, why why was that? Sell sell me on this candidate so that I'm more than lukewarm. remember Goodwin? Well, he was my second and went to my first and it really has to do with everything I'm hearing in the community. Um, there's so much anxiety. I mean, last week I heard a rumor that all the elementary schools were closing. I mean, there's a

145lot of stuff going on. And so, I think unknown quantity brings like a a lowering of anxiety. And I would like our teachers to have a anxiety less summer so that they come back a little um um less tense about change. Change is really hard. Educators um live through change a lot. Um and I think he's well respected. Um people have told me um teachers in the schools that he's somebody they have respect for. So, I think that's why he jumped to my first choice. And it is hard to interview after 7:00 at night. Um, and it is hard for us to be responsive with facial and everything else after a certain time. I I would add um that uh I just am trying to hold in my mind that this strange ritual of interviews

146is not necessarily the best reflection of how someone leads daytoday. And I think both the public comments tonight and also um people whom I respect sharing me their perspective on him um makes me more enthusiastic than I would be just based on the um the w the answers tonight and um and the length of the answers to be honest. So that's that's kind of where where I am. Would there be any objection to moving towards a vote? Okay. Um U Mayor, you have a lot more experience with Robert's rules of order in these meetings, I think, than I do. Do we need to have another vote to re-enter to stop this? We suspended the rules of order. Do we need to have a We don't need a motion to to go back in. Okay. Um

147so I um in consultation with uh Liz Lefond I have prepared a motion. Um so this would allow um whoever makes the motion to just insert the name. Um so I will say uh the motion and then someone can just say the name of the candidate. Then I'll read the motion again and uh someone can make that mo can just say uh I make that motion. So the the generic motion is I move that the Greenfield School Committee appoint insert candidate name as interim superintendent of schools contingent upon standard pre-employment screenings and negotiation of an employment agreement and authorize the chair to negotiate set agreement for consideration by the committee. In other words, I would be talking with them one-on- one and then bring that back to you all uh for approval. Member Goodwin. I

148move you insert the name Roland Joy. All right. Is there a second? Second. A second for member Martini. Any additional discussion? Okay, let's vote. And for the good of the order, uh, let's have it be a, um, roll call vote. Um, Secretary Denife, Mayor Dorger, yes. Member Martini, yes. Vice Chair Sexon, yes. Chair Johnson, yes. I'm a No. Uh, member Childs, yes. Member Goodwin, yes. Motion passes with one no. Okay. Uh, thank you all for a a long day and a very copacetic process for making a difficult decision collectively. Um, I really appreciate everybody's hard work, but we have a little bit more work to do. Um, which is we need to enter into executive um session. Um, I'd like to hear a motion to enter executive session pursuant to Mass General Law Chapter 3A

149subsection 21 A2 to conduct strategy sessions in preparation for negotiations with non-UN personnel or to conduct collective bargaining sessions or contract negotiations with non-UN personnel. The committee will not return to open session. So moved. Motion from member Chaz, second from member Goodwin. Any discussion? All those in favor? I. Okay. And now we need a motion to adjourn the regular meeting. So moved. Motion from member Denise. Second from member Childs. Uh any discussion? All those in favor? I. Motion carries unanimously. We are adjourned at 9:41 p.m. [Music]