After the surprising resignation of Rachel Stewart, the remaining four members of School Committee plus members of the Select Board will meet to choose a replacement on April 27. Following a swearing-in by the Town Clerk, this “chosen one” will serve on the School Committee until Town Meeting in 2022.

Stewart’s resignation was announced by Chair John Henry at the end of the April 12 School Committee meeting and caused some consternation, debate, and shall we say, a conspiracy theory on the community discussion board on a social media site. Because Town Election is coming up on May 8, and there are three candidates for two open positions (both Chair John Henry and member Alex Cobb are stepping down–thank you for your service), residents questioned if one of the new candidates could simply step in a little early. The answer is no, according to Massachusetts General Law which states that a replacement must be chosen by a quorum of the Select Board (in Weston’s case, that is two of the three SB members) and the remaining School Committee members.

A call for candidates was sent out by the Town on April 19, and letters of intent are due on Monday, April 26. The position is described by town communication as follows: “The School Committee establishes the budget, develops educational policy, and hires the superintendent for the Weston Public Schools.  It is responsible, along with school administration, for collective bargaining with the unions representing School Department employees, and for the operation and maintenance of school facilities.” The Owl notes that this recent Town communication underlines the collective bargaining aspect of the School Committee, which is only in the fine print on the Schools page (Section H of the Policy Manual), undoubtedly because of the importance of negotiations in the upcoming year, and a relatively inexperienced School Committee.

The Owl will also add that candidates should be thick-skinned–after Select Board, the School Committee must take the most amount of pellet-throwing in town. Yes, editorial comment. It will seem more than obvious to state that candidates with collective bargaining or prior School Committee experience are being sought.

Letters of interest, with applicable experience outlined, should be sent to School Committee Weston Select Board, at selectboard@westonma.gov, or School Committee at schoolcommittee@weston.org by Monday, April 26 “by end of the day”, which is a little loose…the Owl would suggest hitting “send” by 5 pm.

Details for attending the joint School Committee/Select Board meeting on April 27 at 6:30 pm are here. Afterward, the regular School Committee meeting will be held at 7 pm. Go ‘cats.