LYNNFIELD — School Committee veteran Phil McQueen and political newcomer Kate DePrizio won the two open School Committee seats in the town election on Tuesday, bringing the campaign for the only contested race in the election to a close.
McQueen received 697 votes, DePrizio earned 595 votes, and Brian Charville finished third, receiving 545 votes. All results as of 8:30 p.m. Tuesday were unofficial.
Town Clerk Linda Emerson said voter turnout was about average for an election with only one contested race, with 1,118 people casting a ballot.
Longtime School Committee member Tim Doyle, who has served on the committee for 18 years, announced last month that he would not run for re-election, leaving the seats open to incumbent McQueen, Planning Board Chair Charville and newcomer DePrizio.
McQueen, who is the English Department head at Lynn Classical High School, said he was feeling confident heading into the polls. McQueen ran a social media campaign with photos of dogs and other pets next to campaign signs, including a porcupine with the message “Quills for Phil.”
“It’s been a tough but good campaign, and my wife, (Deanna), and I thought it would lighten things up and create some energy,” McQueen said. “It kind of went viral and we ended up getting a lot of likes and positive comments, so it was a fun way to lighten the mood heading into Election Day.”
Charville, a graduate of Duke University and Wake Forest University Law School, has served as CEO for Ferris Development Group and Ferris Construction, LLC since March 2018.
“I ran a good campaign and like to think I did all the right things and had the right conversations with all the stakeholders,” Charville said. “I think we ended strong and support has been steady today with a lot of energy.”
An Illinois native, DePrizio chaired the Together We Grow organization, an initiative that culminated with a lopsided townwide vote at a special election in December to approve a $17 million improvement plan to add 10 new classrooms at the town’s two elementary schools.
In addition to the School Committee race, Select Board Chair Chris Barrett announced in January that he would not run for re-election. Army veteran Joseph Connell ran unopposed for the vacated Select Board seat.
Connell was the first person to cast a vote in the election, arriving at the polls right at 7 a.m.
“It was great. They have a lot of people managing all the stations and I was in and out of there in about five minutes,” he said.
Other unopposed candidates who secured seats were Donald Garrity for Board of Assessors, Page Wilkins and Amy MacNulty for Planning Board, Joseph Markey for town moderator and Russell Boekenkroeger and Andrew Kenneally for library trustees.
