Schools

Mattessich Elected BOE Veep

Board of Education reorganizes and elects new vice president.

After welcoming two new members, the Board of Education installed a new vice president during their reorganization meeting Tuesday night.

Rich Mattessich was unanimously elected to the vice presidency during the meeting, succeeding Ann Cary, who held the slot for the past year. BOE President Julia Walker was reelected to a second term in the post. New board members Mark Friedman and Rosanne Kurstedt, who were elected last week, were both sworn-in. Cary, who was reelected last week was not present at the meeting, but was sworn into her third term during a private ceremony earlier in the day.

Mattessich used remarks following his election to praise the work of the entire board and stuck to themes he has mentioned earlier in his board career. He noted he believes that the board can work together productively in the coming year. Mattessich, who has served on the finance committee for two years, thanked the community for passing the school budget.

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 “We cannot forget about other 40-percent,” he said. “That to is a big number and suggests that more work could be done to craft and communicate a budget that is acceptable to more people.”

Walker used brief remarks after her reelection to thank her colleagues and to note the work ahead of the board.

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No public explanation was offered during the meeting for the change in vice presidents. Patch has learned the topic has been discussed behind the scenes by the board since last week’s election.

Mattessich’s election to a leadership position alongside Walker places representatives of the board’s two alliances and longetivity groups in the top slots. Mattessich, who was first elected in 2009, is seen as aligned with board members David Finn and Mitch Slater. Mattessich, Finn and Slater were all elected in part due to opposition to the redistricting of Washington School. Cary is seen as aligned with Walker and board members Ginny Leiz and Jane Clancy, who were all on the board during the Washington vote, which they supported.

The election of Friedman and Kurstedt brings the majority of the board to being in their first term.

Mattessich used his remarks to reach out to all of the board members, citing the contributions made by Slater and Finn and the experience Friedman and Kurstedt bring, along with the board experience of Cary, Walker, Clancy and Leiz.

“I feel comforted by the overall strength of the board,” he said.

Cary’s absence from the meeting was not explained with several board members saying they did not know why she was absent. Yaniro could be overheard before the meeting telling board members that she had taken the oath in his office earlier. A person answering the phone at Cary’s home Tuesday night said she was unavailable to come to the phone.

Cary emailed a statement Wednesday morning explaining that she has a cold that prohibited her from attending the meeting and coming to the phone when contacted on Tuesday evening.

"I wish Rich luck in his new role and I look forward to working with him in the coming year," Cary said in the statement.

Both of the new members focused their remarks on the themes of their campaigns.

Friedman promoted public interaction with the board, saying he would like to see more people become engaged in the school system. He said he would like to work to bring the system to the next level.

Kurstedt reiterated her campaign theme of “accessibility, accountability and advocacy,” and invited members of the public to reach out to her to continue a dialogue on issues. Kurstedt struck out on her own during the passage of routine governance resolutions by abstaining on resolutions to continue the curriculum and textbooks for classes.

Kurstedt explained that she was abstaining on the resolutions saying she did not have ample time to review the curriculums and textbooks. Kurstedt is an education consultant by profession and has worked on curriculum issues. She made academic issues and her professional background a centerpiece of her campaign.

Walker used part of the meeting to express thanks to the public for the passage of the budget.

“This board has worked so hard to get the budget to pass,” Walker said. “Westfield continues to value education. As I said before, in light of so little state aid we get, that is important. Thank you to the parents and taxpayers of Westfield, to the administration for working so hard to put the budget together, to the PTOs for getting the word out and to this Board of Education.”


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