GREENFIELD — The School Committee used an opportunity at last week’s meeting to discuss the self-evaluation the Massachusetts Association of School Committees administered over the past couple of months.
Chair Amy Proietti said six of the committee’s seven members participated and the written comments were mainly from three of them.
“I do not know who wrote the comments,” she said inside the John Zon Community Center. “I honestly don’t even remember which comments were mine, for some of them.”
The chair said a couple of comments — about work product of the superintendent, which is outside the self-evaluation’s scope, and about information from an executive session, which is not public information — were adjusted, but as little as possible.
“It is a long survey. It is available for everyone,” Proietti noted.
Member Glenn Johnson-Mussad said he thinks the self-evaluation was an excellent idea and he appreciates the efforts of everyone involved. He said it is part of the School Committee’s policy for self-evaluations to be conducted, but one has not been done for “as long as I’ve known.”
“And I think it does show some strengths,” he said. “There is a level of professionalism about our meetings and the agendas and the materials that go out, and people are very good about attending meetings and being here on time and all of that.”
However, he mentioned the apparent consensus that more respect and decorum is needed.
“Committee members are critical of each other in public, both in and outside of meetings,” Johnson-Mussad read from the evaluation. “The public does not view the committee as cohesive or able to reach decisions in a considerate and deliberate manner.
“And I did describe in my comments about having been yelled at and sworn at, publicly maligned, having members of the public write to me to express concern for me after some of the comments that I’ve received,” he added. “And I know I’m not alone in that. I know there’s members of the public who also have had difficulty in communicating with different members and not being spoken to in a respectful manner.”
Johnson-Mussad said growth is needed, but he can’t say he is particularly hopeful that will happen.
Member Elizabeth Ann Deneeve said she wanted to add that “the process of self-evaluation is often very painful and hard to do, and I commend us for doing it. And I hope that it can only serve to clear air and make things more harmonious in the long term.”
“Hear, hear,” Prioetti responded.
Reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 262.