Concord School Committee's Johnston Re-Appointed as Chairman: Report

CONCORD, MA—Current Concord School Committee Chairman Wally Johnston will resume his seat for another year.

According to a report by the Concord Journal, Johnston was unanimously voted for a second year on the chair. Heather Bout, who is serving her second year on the committee, was also voted as vice-chairman.

Reports Henry Schwan, who broke the story on the Concord Journal's website.

“I accept the nomination with reservations,” Johnston said in open session before the vote. “When I was asked to serve again as chairman, I saw the hypocrisy.”

Johnston explained that statement, saying he called for change in committee leadership last year, when Kathi Snook was nominated by Johanna Boynton to serve a second straight year as committee chairwoman.

Johnston said at the time that the position of chairman should rotate every year, and by a vote of 3-2, he unseated Snook after voting for himself and receiving votes from Bout and Dan Conti.

Bout said she learned a lot in her first year on the committee, and while she said she called for change in committee leadership before last year’s vote, she said, “It makes more sense for me to serve as vice-chair, and Wally repeating gets us back on track” to have second-year committee members serve as vice-chair and third-year members as chairman.

School Committee members are elected to three-year terms.

Johanna Boynton nominated Johnston for a second-year as chairman, because she said it gets the committee back on its traditional cycle of appointments.

“Wally has served us well,” Boynton said. “We’re a young committee in terms of years served, and it’s best for us to get the best out of each other and get back in this rotation.”

You can view Schwan's full report here.

The Concord School Committee was not immediately available for comment.