It’s unfortunate that no journalists have been fact checking any of the many spurious claims that candidates have made in this election cycle. We feel that some of the claims (and flip-flops) from the October 27 candidate forum merit a response, so we will be sharing daily fact checks until the election. These blog posts are intended provide evidence and detail to back up our social media posts. We hope you find them helpful and informative.

As always, we must first say that Greenfield People’s Budget is an independent group and not affiliated with any campaign. However, we want local government that is transparent and responsive to the needs of regular people in Greenfield. For that reason we encourage you to vote for Adrienne Craig-Williams, Jeffrey Diteman, and Elizabeth DeNeeve. Their opposing candidates (Melodie Goodwin, Mike Terounzo, and David Moscaritolo) also claim to fight for these same values, but their votes, actions, and words in public meetings paint a different picture.

The Claim

GPS spends $3.5 million on administrator salaries (Melodie Goodwin) and we need to shift resources to instructional staff instead (Goodwin, Moscaritolo, Terounzo).

What’s the real story?

Fact: $2m or less in administrative costs

Greenfield Public Schools spend $2 million or less on administrative staff salaries across 6 school buildings and central office. That amounts to less than 8.5% of the school budget. This information is publicly available in the FY26 city budget book; but note that the actual figure is lower given that the mayor imposed a $2m cut to the superintendent’s proposed budget, and our calculations are based on the superintendent’s budget. Positions included in our calculation include all administrative salary lines: the superintendent ($171k) and administrative assistant ($69k), two personal assistant/coordinators ($138k combined), assistant superintendent ($144k) and administrative assistant ($63k), all principals and vice principals ($1.5m), and the business manager contract ($157k). Combined that amounts to a total of $1.68 million. Even if we include secretarial positions in each school building ($371k), the figure only rises to $2 million.

Some people are confused because there are additional staff who have desks at central office: namely, staff who float between schools to provide direct services to students but don’t have their own office space in school buildings.

Fact: DESE oversight requires increased administration

Greenfield Public Schools are under DESE oversight (Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education) due to pandemic-related declines in learning metrics. Administrators are responsible for the intensive reporting and compliance DESE and the federal government require in order for Greenfield schools to avoid state takeover and other penalties. Administrators also have other important responsibilities, such as grant-writing to bring in funding much greater than their own salaries (currently the responsibility of the assistant superintendent).

There have been many hot takes (including from candidates) about why reading and math scores have been so slow to recover from the major disruptions of the pandemic. We may address those in a later fact check, but whatever the cause, it is a slow, multi-year process to provide specialized interventions that can help children catch up. In the meantime, we have greatly increased reporting requirements that we cannot shrug off.

Fact: Teachers did not call for administrative cuts in 2025.

When Melodie Goodwin, Mike Terounzo, and David Moscaritolo loudly stated their support for the mayor’s $2m cuts to the school budget this spring, the teachers union stood behind the superintendent and fought the cuts. Teachers did not call for cuts to administration. Instead, they repeatedly showed up at school committee and city council meetings to defend the superintendent, Karin Patenaude, who Goodwin and Terounzo treated with terrible disrespect.

It’s not “administration vs. teachers.” We need both.

Melodie Goodwin and Mike Terounzo helped drive away Superintendent Karin Patenaude in her first year on the job, despite the fact that she was respected and beloved by our teachers. If we really want to support our teachers, we have to listen to what they say they want.

Did Goodwin, Terounzo, and Moscaritolo call for cuts to the school budget? Yes.

• Melodie Goodwin repeatedly sowed doubt and mistrust of the superintendent’s proposed school budget, as in her city council comments in April and May. The context of those meetings was that families, teachers, city councilors, and other school committee members were calling to reverse at least part of the mayor’s budget cuts. Instead of taking the opportunity to support that call for funding the schools, Goodwin only spoke vaguely about her own uncertainty about how GPS was managing their funding, calling on councilors to get better information before voting in favor of more school funding…when they would be voting in just a few minutes. (Goodwin’s allegations and suspicions of money mismanagement relate to the GPS “revolving accounts,” which have been a source of much confusion. We will address those in a follow-up fact check.)
• Mike Terounzo as city councilor voted against a partial ($300k) reversal of the mayor’s cuts to the school budget. He nevertheless repeatedly disavowed any responsibility for his vote against funding, saying in March “The superintendent makes the decisions on what happens with the money and there has been no shortage of recommendations” by those people who say they want administration cut, not teachers. He went on to claim “If those choices are made and teachers have to be cut, it’s not on us” (meaning, city council, or Terounzo himself). In April he again berated the superintendent because community members were advocating that city council fund the schools.
• David Moscaritolo was largely absent from the debate on school funding except when he gave public comment at the May city council meeting. At that time he said was “100%” for funding the schools but baselessly insinuated that the schools and the GPS business manager were corrupt. He showed his own ignorance of the revolving accounts when he said he hoped they would be spent on music, arts, and reading; those funds are government grants specifically for special education, special education transportation, and other limited uses. He called for being “fiscally responsible.”

Melodie Goodwin, David Moscaritolo, and former candidate Pamela Goodwin were the only people at May public comment who did not urge the city council to vote to fund the schools.