School Committee Notes: Hellos and Good Byes

While Food Safety Protocols and School Choice dominated the proceeds at Monday’s School Committee meeting, there were also several other topics of interest discussed by the board.

Farewell to Katherine Green

Katherine Green, the Westford School Committee’s student representative for the past year, made Monday’s meeting her last prior to graduation.

Green had concluded her internship in the Human Resources department of the school district the previous Friday and left for Disney World with fellow Westford Academy seniors the next day.

Greetings to New Crisafulli Principal

While the meeting marked the end of Green’s tenure, it also started the introduction of Sharon Kennelly as principal at Crisafulli, a role she will begin officially on July 1 to replace the departing Julie Vincentsen, who left earlier in the year.

Kennelly had served in the past as an assistant principal at Crisafulli and was a 1983 graduate of Westford Academy.

New Officers

Somewhere in between farewells and welcomes, the School Committee shuffled its officer lineup following municipal elections earlier this month.  However, just like with the election itself, the positions of chairperson, vice chairperson and clerk were ultimately uncontested.

To begin the internal elections, Angela Harkness was elected as chairperson to replace David Keele.

During an impromptu speech for the position, she talked about why she would be a good candidate and the strengths of the board as a whole.

“Everyone thinks differently, and I think one of the things that allows that to happen is being a good facilitator,” said Harkness. “Whoever serves has to have respect for the wealth of knowledge and historical perspective that I might not have…but I’ve also worked on other committees in town, and within open meeting laws, I want to do a lot to bring issues to the community through those other committees.”

Judy Culver was re-elected as vice chairperson, with Keele thanking her for the tremendous amount of assistance she gave him during his time with the gavel.

Culver accepted the nomination, citing that her time constraints are fairly limited, a necessity for anyone applying for one of the two top positions on the board, and that she had been and still is willing to do anything that the chair might not be able to do.

Erica Kohl was chosen as the clerk, rounding out the selections.