Reading Schools' CFO Receives Distinguished Service Award

READING, MA — The Massachusetts Association of School Business Officials, a non-profit that provides professional development for financial officials in public school districts, honored Reading Public Schools CFO Gail Dowd with the John F. Conway Distinguished Service Award.

The award recognizes the accomplishments of MASBO members relative to enhancing the effectiveness of a school district in addressing its educational mission. It was established in 2005 and comes with a $1,000 contribution to the district in honor of the recipient.

Dowd led a successful $4.15 million override ballot question that was supported by taxpayers in 2018. The question was supported by over 60 percent of voters, leading to the first successful override in Reading in over 15 years, MASBO said.

Dowd also introduced fiscally innovative and creative efforts, including restructuring and reorganizing the central office, improving procurement guidelines and tightening up fiscal practices, to eliminate unnecessary spending.

"During the last few years, the savings from Ms. Dowd's efforts have been re-invested into other infrastructure projects and have provided much needed funding to strengthen learning and teaching in the Reading School District, which included updated technology hardware and infrastructure, job embedded professional development that allows for continuous improvement in curriculum and instruction, well maintained facilities conducive to learning, and a self-supporting food service program," MASBO said in a statement.

Dowd's team has developed a strong relationship with the community, MASBO said, resulting in a transparent budget process and many teaching and learning initiatives, including curriculum framework implementation, technology integration, early childhood education and extended day programs.

She was also heavily involved in the town's pandemic response, including serving on the town's Incident Command Team.

"Ms. Dowd practices the highest moral and ethical values. She has earned a high level of trust with the community and with her colleagues. She is not afraid to give a critical analysis of a situation if it is in the best interest of students and the mission of the Reading Public Schools. Her long-term vision for continuous improvement, congenial personality, strong communication skills, exemplary analytical knowledge, and leadership skills are all key qualities that make her worthy of this recognition," the organization said.