Board Appoints New Schools Chief

East Providence has a new superintendent of schools.

The School Committee voted unanimously Tuesday evening in City Hall to appoint Kimberly Mercer, the deputy superintendent of schools in Pawtucket, to the position. She will start March 25. 

The vote was hardly unexpected. She was the only finalist selected by the search committee to be interviewed by the school board. 

“We got a clear recommendations for Ms. Mercer from the search committee,” said School Committee Chairman Joel Monteiro. 

He said the only approval she needs now is from the East Providence Budget Commission at its final meeting on March 28. But that is expected to be a formality with Mercer already on the job by that point.

Mercer thanked each member of the School Committee personally after her appointment. She said she is pleased by the “warm welcome” given to her in East Providence and looks forward to getting started.

She will work a week with outgoing Interim Superintendent John DeGoes before he departs. He was publicly thanked for his almost 8 months in filling that position.

"You held the school district and the School Committee together," said Monteiro. "You held down the fort."

DeGoes got several standing ovations from the School Committee and the audience after they gave Mercer her own rousing applause.