GREENFIELD — The School Committee voted 6-1 to elect former Vice Chair Stacey Sexton as the new chair and 6-0, with one abstention, to elect Ann Childs as the new vice chair at a reorganizational meeting Thursday evening.
Sexton, who has served on the committee since they were elected in 2023, outlined key priorities for the school district in an interview following the meeting.
The new chair said that while surveying and talking to parents, students, teachers and community members as part of the superintendent selection process, student mental health and improved literacy emerged as common priorities.
“During the superintendent search, we did a community needs assessment process that involved community surveys, several focus groups, interviews, etc. and there is really a unified set of priorities that I think would be the envy of most school districts to have,” Sexton said. “For me, our key priorities are student mental health and behavior and literacy, and if we can just keep our eyes on the prize with those two things this year and make some meaningful change, that is going to be a winning thing for Greenfield. That’s what we need, and it’s a shared priority.”
The reorganizational meeting, which lasted for approximately 10 minutes, opened with a brief statement from School Committee member Elizabeth DeNeeve requesting that her colleagues conduct themselves with the intention to “invite harmony and collaboration.”
Childs, in her motion to nominate Sexton as chair, said she believed the candidate is a great listener.
“They have lots of great institutional knowledge. They’re good at listening to people and
facilitating things,” Childs said, adding that Sexton “would do an excellent job.”
Sexton received votes from Mayor Ginny Desorgher, who serves on the School Committee, as well as Childs, member Melodie Goodwin, themself, as well as two newly elected School Committee members — Jeffrey Diteman and Melissa McKenzie Webb.
DeNeeve, who provided the sole “no” vote for Sexton, provided the committee with a cryptic explanation for her decision and declined to clarify when contacted by the Greenfield Recorder on Friday morning.
“I would just like to say I continue to be available to apply my best energy to this committee [and] that the committee plans have changed, and so I will be voting ‘no’ tonight,” DeNeeve said at the meeting.
Moving to nominate Childs as vice chair, Goodwin described the School Committee member as a “good listener,” who has impressive research skills.
“When given a task, [Childs] goes above and beyond to find out the answers despite whatever is in her way,” Goodwin said. “I really appreciate that.”
The committee voted 6-0 in favor of selecting Childs as vice chair, with DeNeeve abstaining.
In addition to Sexton and Childs taking the helm of the School Committee Thursday evening, McKenzie Webb was elected to serve as recording secretary, with Diteman and DeNeeve abstaining from voting. Diteman clarified that he abstained because of a “lack of information.”