Above: Kamali O’Meally made her case for filling the interim gap on the School Committee until a new member can be elected in May. (image from Southborough Access Media video)
Last week, the Southborough School Committee and Select Board interviewed three candidates for the vacant seat on the School Committee with an eight month term.
For the same reasons discussed the last time an interim spot was filled in 2022, the majority selected the candidate who recently served on the committee. Kamali O’Meally said that she isn’t planning to run to keep the seat when it comes back up for election in the spring.
O’Meally was the chair of the committee during the last school year. She didn’t run for re-election in May when her term expired. (Two new, unopposed members were elected, Laura Kauffmann and Alan Zulick.) Less than a month after the election, the district announced it would need to fill a seat that jus opened (vacated by Zhi Li).
Interested volunteers were invited to apply this summer, for a vote to take place at a joint meeting of the Select Board and School Committtee on September 11th. In addition to O’Meally, Yan Leigh and Kevin Robbins heeded the call.
I’m not going to get in to the details on each candidate’s interview. (For those interested, you can watch them here, at the start of the meeting.) But it is worth highlighting that O’Meally addressed the elephant in the room — the incidents at Neary that made national news and prompted a public outcry at the end of the past school year.
The former chair said the committee realized “there were gaps in the policy and so I can’t put that on to our administrative team.” She followed that it was up to the School Committee to revamp the policy. She also felt very strongly about the hiring needed “to help us as a district be able to implement these policies”.
School Committee Vice Chair Roger Challen advocated that the committee follow the same rationale as when they brought back Jessica Devine to fill Kim Tolander’s vacant seat. O’Meally would be able to hit the ground running without dealing with a learning curve. And it avoids the committee giving one of the other candidates the advantage of an incumbent in the next election. Select Board Chair Kathy Cook agreed.
Zulick disagreed with Challen about the appointment giving the candidate an unfair advantage, since interim appointments aren’t listed as an incumbent on the ballot. But others noted that the member would still have a track record to run on and be able to speak as a current member at the Candidates Night in the spring.
Select Board member Al Hamilton said he wasn’t concerned about the incumbency issue. Impressed by Leigh’s experience in education and evaluation research, he advocated for her appointment.
When the two boards voted together on a motion to appoint O’Meally, most voted in favor. Rather than voting against her, Hamilton and Zulick chose to abstain.
Members of both boards made it clear that the other two candidates would also have been good additions to the committee. They encouraged them to pull papers in March to run for the seat. (It will be a one year term to complete the rest of the regular three year term for the seat.)
Select Board Vice Chair Andrew Dennington also encouraged them to think about the vacancies on other Town committees.
O’Meally was immediately sworn in so she could participate in the remainder of the committee’s meeting that night.
