New School Committee Chairwoman Lays Out Short Agenda

Kirsi Allison-Ampe is the School Committee’s new chairwoman.

Allison-Ampe, who is entering her third year on the committee, was nominated to the office at the committee’s organizational meeting Thursday, its first meeting since the .

Allison-Ampe, who was the committee’s sole nominee, replaces Cindy Starks, who was re-elected to the committee Tuesday, along with Jeff Thielman.

Judson Pierce was nominated vice chairman, Leba Heigham secretary, also without any competition.

Chairwoman’s Agenda

Allison-Ampe said she would like committee members to address each other more formally – “Mr.” and “Ms.” – and she is planning to open each meeting with a pertinent quote, as former School Committee chairman Joseph Curro used to do. Curro vacated his seat on the committee Wednesday morning after being elected to the Board of Selectmen the previous night.

Allison-Ampe also said she would like to reconvene the committee’s legal-service subcommittee to look at the district’s legal issues and fees. She said she would serve on the subcommittee with Pierce and William Hayner.

She also wanted to review parent-driven activities in the schools, mainly to see how they can be better supported.

In addition, Allison-Ampe was planning to start a journal club with other committee members, where the members would read a given article on education and discuss it together.