SAUGUS – The School Committee elected Vincent Serino as their new chair after Thomas Whittredge resigned to take care of his two kids, as his wife passed away last year because of breast cancer. The School Committee members remembered his accomplishments as a chair, and Whittredge told The Item about his resignation.
“Right before the election, cancer took a turn for the worse, and I got re-elected to the School Committee, and then three weeks later, my wife passed away from breast cancer on Thanksgiving Day,” said Whittredge.
According to him, although his wife, Theresa, was a very tough and “just unbelievable” woman “when it came to fight for her life,” the returned cancer spread throughout her body “after many-many battles.”
“She was probably one of the toughest people I’ve ever met,” said Whittredge.
Thomas Whittredge and his wife have two kids – Brody, 13, who is a middle school student, and Finley, a first grader with special needs — she has a rare Smith-Magenis syndrome, which is complicated by autism, and she is also non-verbal.
“I have to get babysitters that understand her syndrome and understand her, because she is also non-verbal,” said Whittredge.
After a few months of trying to fulfill both his role in the School Committee and take care of his kids, because his wife supported him in his career “and really pushed” him to “run again” for the committee, Whittredge finally decided that his own kids came first.
“I really tried to make it work, but my kids have really been through a traumatic experience, and they really need me home,” said Whittredge.
School Committee member John Hatch said he was “really lucky to have known Mr. Whittredge most of his life.” According to him, Whittredge is a very driven man, and “he is completely community oriented.”
“A lot of what Tom is, is because of his inner strength and how he is so giving to everyone,” said Hatch.
According to Hatch, Whittredge “really believes in our town and especially doing whatever he can for the kids and children of our town,” said Hatch. He also paid tribute to Whittredge’s wife, who kept him going, “she never wanted him to miss an event on her account, she wanted him to continue,” said Hatch.
“It’s amazing that he found time to do everything that he did in spite of his wife’s illness, and she was an inspiration to all of us,” said Hatch.
According to him, Whittredge’s major accomplishment as School Committee Chair were bringing in a full-day free kindergarten to Saugus, improvements in the culture and safety and quality of life of the students, and a program to bring Saugus from bottom 10% educationally to top 10% through “an aggressive 5-year plan.”
Ryan Fisher from the School Committee said that Whittredge always wanted to give 100 percent to everyone who needed it, and that he would “hang in there longer than anyone else.”
“He’ll speak his mind even if he’s the only one in the room that thinks that way, but he never lets disagreement get in the way of what matters most,” said Fisher.
According to him, as School Committee chair, Whittredge had the most difficult job in town at the most difficult time, as the last board had been fractured with infighting, and there was no manual for COVID, which hit right in the middle of a school consolidation and a superintendent search.
“He got us through it all,” said Fisher.
According to Hatch, leaving the School Committee was one of the toughest decisions that Whittredge made in recent years, “because he believed in it so much.” Whittredge said that although his first job now is to be a dad, and everything else is secondary for him, he would still like to return to the School Committee at some point in the future.
“I hate to step off the School Committee, because I enjoyed it so much, but my kids really need me home, and that’s where I need to be,” said Whittredge.
Oksana Kotkina can be reached at [email protected].
