GREENFIELD — City councilors are pleading for increased transparency from the School Department amid concerns over the district’s spending, particularly on special education transportation.

This year, the School Department’s more than $878,000 special education transportation staff budget brought in $340,000 in revenue earned from providing out-of-district transportation services, according to Precinct 3 City Councilor Michael Mastrototaro, and city councilors want to know how that money is being reinvested.

On Aug. 24, Mastrototaro, who also serves on the city’s Ways and Means Committee, sent an email to Superintendent Karin Patenaude and School Committee Chair Glenn Johnson-Mussad, asking how the department allocates the transportation revenue that is collected from out-of-district services. Mastrototaro also asked how many drivers the transportation department has on staff, and the hours they generally work each day.

Responding to the email, Johnson-Mussad wrote to City Council President John Bottomley on Aug. 26, requesting that city councilors stop asking questions unless they are related to matters to be voted on by both the School Department and council.

“Researching and answering some of these questions would take significant staff time. We need to protect valuable school resources for efforts that directly impact student outcomes. It is not my view that, in our working relationship, any City Council committee member can request extensive information from [Greenfield public schools’] administration at any time. Handling those requests could distract from the important work of strengthening our curriculum and instruction,” Johnson-Mussad wrote in the email. “Going forward, can you please direct your members and the City Clerk’s Office not to make or forward these requests unless they are directly related to an issue that the City Council and School Committee have voted to work on together?”

Patenaude could not be reached for comment, despite numerous requests made between Thursday and Monday.

In an interview Thursday, Mastrototaro noted that the committee recently purchased two new vans without going through the city’s standard procurement process, a decision he said was in violation of the city charter.

“I do have concerns. I would like to know how the money is used. … There’s a lot of issues at play and I just want answers,” Mastrototaro said.

Mayor Ginny Desorgher confirmed Monday that the department’s vehicle purchases did not go through the Capital Committee’s approval.

Johnson-Mussad, in an interview Friday, said he was “confident” that the School Department followed “all procurement processes correctly” in its acquisition of vehicles. He referred to Mastrototaro’s email, containing four bullet points with questions, as a distraction from the superintendent’s responsibilities.

Mastrototaro’s questions mirrored those At-Large Councilor Wahab Minhas asked Patenaude at the Aug. 21 City Council meeting. When Minhas asked if extra transportation budget funds were used to purchase busses, Patenaude responded that she would “have to get that information to [Minhas].”

“I was a little confused about why this kind of extensive list of questions was being put forward to the superintendent,” Johnson-Mussad said. “It can’t be the case that at any moment, any city councilor can write to the superintendent and ask for an exhaustive review of any item out of curiosity. … I don’t understand right now what exactly it is that they want to do with this information that would take a substantial amount of our time.”

At-Large Councilor and Ways and Means Committee Chair Michael Terounzo said in an interview Monday that although City Council does not vote to approve the School Department’s individual budget line items, the council questions all governmental departments’ line item spending with equal scrutiny in an effort to best inform budget approval decisions.

Bottomley, in an interview Thursday, said approving departmental budgets is one of City Council’s largest responsibilities — one that he said he is “thankful” councilors take seriously.

“We can ask questions about any line item. I think if we started asking questions about curriculum, that might be another thing, but this is asking very specific financial questions,” Bottomley said. “Just getting a refusal and having the School Committee chair tell me to tell other councilors not to submit questions, that’s not acceptable.”

At a Committee Chairs meeting last week, Terounzo expressed a similar frustration with the School Department’s alleged lack of transparency in its spending. He recalled the council’s previous concerns that the fiscal year 2025 budget — a 4% increase from the year prior — allocated too large a portion of its funding to administrative positions as a reason why it needs a more thorough understanding of how the school district spends its funds.

“We need better oversight of our school budget. It’s what we talked about at the budget this year, about comments of wicked high administration, way too much administration. … We need to have these conversations now because this is what people are talking about throughout the year,” Terounzo said. “I was really hoping we were past the whole misinformation and toying and games, and apparently we’re not. I think that that should be addressed [more] quickly than not.”

Bottomley also spoke at the meeting, noting that although it is not City Council’s responsibility to review the School Department’s budget line items, he did not believe the council should be required to submit a Freedom of Information Act request to the School Department for information on the district’s spending.

Bottomley added that he planned to set up a meeting between councilors, the Mayor’s Office and School Department leadership in the future in hopes of finding ways for the two bodies to communicate more seamlessly.

“I would rather not start talking about public records requests and subpoenas, and just see if we can resurrect this old model, in which we would have communication between the City Council leadership, the school community leadership and the mayor,” Bottomley said. “We can try to get to a more civil place [with the School Department] because it’s not starting out so well.”

When asked for additional comment, Johnson-Mussad requested that City Council further explain their requests for public information.

“We really do want to have a good working relationship with City Council, and part of that relationship is mutual respect and cooperation from the beginning,” Johnson-Mussad said. “It would be really helpful if the City Council could help us understand how this relates to a decision they’re going to make and a project that we’re working on together so that we can understand why they need that information.”

Anthony Cammalleri can be reached at acammalleri@recorder.com or 413-930-4429.