Greenfield School Committee’s DeNeeve recognized with state honor

The Massachusetts Association of School Committees will recognize Greenfield School Committee member Elizabeth DeNeeve as an All-State School Committee member.

The Massachusetts Association of School Committees will recognize Greenfield School Committee member Elizabeth DeNeeve as an All-State School Committee member. CONTRIBUTED/ELIZABETH DENEEVE

By ANTHONY CAMMALLERI

Staff Writer

Published: 10-14-2024 4:33 PM

GREENFIELD — The Massachusetts Association of School Committees (MASC) has selected School Committee member Elizabeth DeNeeve to be a 2024 All-State School Committee Member — the first such recognition presented to a Greenfield School Committee member since 2010.

Since 1996, nine school committee members — each representing one of MASC’s nine divisions across the state – have been selected for the award each year for their significant contributions to their community or committee, either through specific action or as an inspiration and role model to their peers and constituents. Awardees are nominated by other school committee members.

“We are thrilled that Elizabeth is receiving this award, it is our first year designating someone as a liaison to the Massachusetts Association of School Committees … and Elizabeth has done a great job with that,” School Committee Chair Glenn Johnson-Mussad said. ” [DeNeeve] organized a training that happened in Greenfield about advocacy and has just been providing wonderful communication and encouragement to school committees to get involved with MASC and attend their conferences.”

DeNeeve said although she was not certain why she was nominated for the award, she suspects it could be related to her involvement in the Day on the Hill advocacy event that took place in Boston last May, where she and other Greenfield School Department members joined forces with school committee members from Gill-Montague Regional School District, Hadley Public Schools and the Mohawk Trail Regional School District to lobby for fiscal year 2025 education spending.

On Nov. 8, DeNeeve, who was first elected to serve on the School Committee in 2021, will be recognized with the state level award at an MASC awardees dinner in Hyannis. She said she hopes to continue her advocacy for state funding in the fall after the state elections Nov. 5.

Greenfield’s advocacy “does speak to the fact that for the first time, Greenfield has really stepped up to the plate being the county seat. I felt like it was really important for us to try to bring together as many school committees and our sister districts as possible so that we could advocate as a group for the things that we want to have change at the state level,” she said. “I think that our advocacy there really directly related to some major changes, and we’re going to start doing that again, but we’re going to start earlier in the fall, so that we can have talks in place with different legislators.”

The last Greenfield School Committee member to be awarded All-State School Committee membership was former committee member Doris Doyle in 2010. Although former MASC All-State School Committee members are not eligible for the award, DeNeeve said she hoped to nominate her fellow School Committee members in the future to shine light on the district’s collaboration and legislative advocacy.

“If I serve another term, I won’t receive it, but I hope that I can nominate my other fine members that I work with, who are also very deserving of it. It’s just nice to see that Greenfield is really working positively as a group, as a school committee, and making actual, measurable change,” DeNeeve said. “We’re going to be actively working to make more of an impact and bring our schools more money from the state level.”

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