001[Music] evening and welcome to a special school committee meeting for organizational meeting on January 2nd and it is 5:30 pm um we will start with a roll call um member Charles Childs member Deni here mayor dorer here I'm member Johnson mad and I'm here member pretti here member seon here we have a quorum and oh sorry M martini thank you thank you so much thanks everyone for being here um gctv is recording and is anyone else recording tonight thank you um so it is our special organizational meeting and with our new organizational um meeting meeting policy um the member proem the member who the most experience on the school committee is chairing and that is me until we have a chair um so our first agenda item is um the election of a chair so
002do I oh and I I need to ask also um we do have another meeting coming in at 6 so we can speak but we can not speak at length tonight so um is there a nomination for a school committee chair I would nominate Glenn Johnson mad for chair thank you and is there a second for that I would second that second okay and are there any other nominations okay let's um any members who wish to speak to the nomination of myself as chair member Priti I will be very brief um um I I think I I think how I want to put it is that for my entire time on the school committee we've had a super majority of women and one man on the committee and I guess I would say if the
003dynamic was reversed the men would never allow the woman to be chair so I would expect that the this would be a short term for member Johnson mad um and uh that is the reason why I would not support this I feel like in in a in a dynamic like this the women should be leading uh the committee thank you any other um comments yes I nominated you two times in the past and I am so thankful that member Martini has nominated you this year year I cannot think of a better person to chair this committee you are diplomatic you fair-minded you are kind and considerate and I think you take all of our views to heart and I'm really thrilled that there's a possibility to have you facilitate this experience for us for a
004year any other comments yes I made the nomination so I think I should say something but I did not uh prepare statement or anything um Glenn I appreciate your um temperament and organization and uh and your sense of humor at many of our meetings in the past um especially when things might be getting a little off track and I think that's invaluable um and I appreciate your experience um coming from other aspects of your career that I think um lend themselves to um the organization of a committee like this and uh and I also have a lot of respect for your experience uh and I appreciate what um member pretti was saying in terms of uh gender Dynamics but um for me I have to uh support the person that I think is the best
005one for the job irrespective of that and uh and that's why I made this nomination thank you any other comments mayor dorer I enthusiastically support you being the president and I'll be voting in favor thank you any other comments all right then let's vote all those in favor I all those opposed any abstentions I am abstaining the motion carries thank you very much appreciate the support um and I will strive to be a a good chair for everybody we now proceed to the nomination of school committee Vice chair is there um a nomination for school committee Vice chair member Den I would like to nominate member Martini for vice chair is there a second I'll second that and discussion any other oh any other nominations discussion member PR member Martini is a exceptional Vice chair
006very thoughtful um very measured in her approach um and I think gives a a a very um patient um perspective on things I fully support that nomination thank you any other comments okay let's move to a vote all those in favor I I all those against uh any extensions one abstention motion carries congratulations Vice chair Martini now we're on to the nomination of school committee secretary is there a nomination for school committee secretary I would nominate member Den nomination for member Den is there a second there's a second and comments member deneve has a lot of energy a lot of passion and someone who really wants to do it will do a good job thank you any other comments member martini uh member Den's uh ongoing interest in um organizing and helping the committee to
007be effective on a broader level and um getting essential Tools in place like a working calendar uh I think LED themselves well to the role and if you're willing to take on the time um that it entails then I would very happily support that nomination thank you member Martini any other comments let's vote all those in favor of electing member Den as Secretary of the school committee say I hi hi hi any um against any abstentions one abstention the motion carries congratulations secretary Den um now we're on to the chair comments portion of the agenda and I just want to uh acknowledge and thank you all for the kind comments about my leadership I do hope that I can be a good school committee member for the whole community and to listen to everybody on
008the committee um whether I agree with everything or not um I think that the community has really spoken to us in many ways um about what they want from us you really want us to be focused on student outcomes you want the children in in Greenfield to get a good education and I think everybody on this committee will work really hard to make that happen um you also want us not just to do the work it takes within the within the committee um what's within our role but also to be good advocates for for funding from the city and also from the state um to get the resources that every student in Greenfield needs and I think we're we're going to do that then there's also the way that you want us to work and
009I think we're hearing that folks want Community engagement they want respect they want listening um and they want it to be done not just as a checking the box but from a committee that that really cares and is really listening and is really involved out there and I think that we will do that together um so one thing that I aware of is that this committee is now all people who work for a living and that's really great it gives us um important perspective I think on the lives of many of the Working Families who are raising children in this district and it also means that what you all have taken on in in running for school committee and being on here means adding to what's already A busy life of having having a job
010and in in many cases also having children so I I guess I just wanted to to acknowledge that that this is a committee of workers and um that we'll strive to do do our best to prioritize this work and to uh get get the business done that needs to get done um at the same time as people are managing a lot of other things and I just wanted to say that um so uh with that I think we're done with the business of this meeting so I would hear a motion to adjourn so moved is there a second second second okay all those in favor I I all those against any abstentions it's unanimous we are adjourned at 5:40 PM other meetings will be longer