The School Committee and Mayor Forgey do not have the authority to deny the people of Greenfield their right to be a part of the process. In fact it is our responsibility as parents and teachers and citizens to demand accountability from the Mayor. Mayor Forgey and the Committee can not expect this community to sit on its collective keister and trust that they are solving problems when it seems just as likely that another million dollars is being mismanaged out the window. It would be irresponsible of us not to demand answers. If the committee doesn’t know the cause of this crisis, which is apparently the case, how can they assure us that it’s not getting worse every minute? If they do know the cause – then “we the people” deserve an immediate and detailed explanation. Of course we don’t know what they know because we were shut out of the process last night.
Students, Teachers, Parents, Boy Scouts, the community of Greenfield showed up to participate, ask questions, to offer answers and to contribute brainpower and creativity to the cause of solving this problem, and we were shut out 100%. A Boy Scout troop sat front row center taking notes for their civics class. Instead of an inclusive democratic process, they were served up a heaping plate of arrogance and incompetence. Mayor Forgey stated a few times that she was commissioning a study to see what went wrong. That’s just fantastic! So in 4 or 6 months, after we’ve hemorrhaged a few million more dollars we can learn what went wrong? That’s just insane isn’t it? The QUESTION here is : why hasn’t Mayor Forgey or the School Committee initiated a correctables process to review shortfalls and other issues on a quarterly basis – to discover problems when they are small and to admit and then learn from mistakes… to get better at managing the system? Why hasn’t Mayor Forgey or the School Committee successfully engaged the teachers, the principals, the students, or the community in solving this problem? Why does it seem that the School Committee is against our teachers? It seems to me that there is something very very wrong with this picture. The people of this community showed up last night to participate in a solution and were shut out.
Marc Odato was the only committee member who stated clearly that he felt he had failed the community. I have a lot of respect for him as a leader for speaking up. But he also said that he wasn’t sure what he could have done differently and I appreciate that honesty. And I think that’s where the rest of us come in. We – meaning parents, teachers, kids – do have some answers. I’m not sure how this committee and the Mayor have become so incredibly detached from this community but I do know that it’s time we stand up and demand a lot more… especially from Mayor Forgey. Show us the numbers Mayor – show us what went wrong. It honestly seems like you’ve got something to hide.
I hope the School Committee and Mayor Forgey can be reasonable and find a radically different and inclusive approach to its process tonight. I hope each member can think for themselves, speak up, and stop looking to the Mayor (literally) for answers. You do not report to her – you report to us. This community is depending on you. Most importantly our children are depending on you. You need to get real about solving this problem or get out of our way.
