Joint Meeting To Fill Marblehead School Committee Vacancy Planned

MARBLEHEAD, MA — Members of the Marblehead Select Board and School Committee are planning to hold a joint meeting on Jan. 23 to fill the months-long vacancy on the School Committee.

School Committee Chair Sarah Fox said at Thursday night's meeting that the Jan. 23 meeting is pending the availability of the finalists for the vacancy.

The vacancy, which occurred when Emily Barron resigned from her position in October after she said she realized she unknowingly violated a conflict-of-interest provision within the town, was to be filled in early December, but that joint meeting was postponed when a member of the Select Board was unavailable and Select Board Chair Moses Grader determined "the policy is really to schedule a time when all members can meet."

Grader said he was concerned with having an even number of votes between the boards resulting "in a stalemate which would waste everyone's time."

He said the logistics of trying to find a date that worked for all members of both boards, as well as the candidates, made it too difficult to reschedule the joint meeting around the holiday season.

The candidates and their applications can be found here.

The person who is chosen should the joint meeting be held on Jan. 23 will serve out the final five months of what was Barron's term before being eligible to run for re-election in June.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)