SAUGUS — On Thursday, the School Committee met for the first time since it gained two new members during the town’s elections earlier this month and elected its leaders for the coming term.
Incumbent Chair Vincent Serino, the top vote-getter during the Nov. 7 elections, was unanimously elected the board’s chair, a post Serino inherited in 2022 when former chair Tom Whittredge resigned. Whittredge, who had been the top vote-getter during the 2019 and 2021 elections, finished just 21 votes shy of Serino’s total and was unanimously elected the board’s vice-chair, a position previously held by John Hatch. Both of the motions to nominate Serino and Whittredge passed by a 4-0 margin, as both men abstained from voting for themselves.
The committee did little in terms of actual business Thursday evening, approving meeting minutes and accepting a gift, but its members did offer remarks, thanking Saugus for putting them in their posts and incumbents praising the two former members who lost their seats — Leigh Gerow and Dennis Gould. A clearly emotional Gerow offered public comment during the meeting, reaffirming her commitment to serving the district however she could. Gould too, in an interview following his defeat on election night, said he would seek to support the public schools in whatever capacity he could.
For his part, Serino seemed humbled by being elected to lead the committee again.
“It’s not about one person,” he said, adding he looked forward to working with the new members, Whittredge and Stephanie Mastrocola, a registered nurse and former Saugus Public Schools parent who finished third in the elections. “It’s about all of us.”
Certainly, the prior term was a turbulent one for the committee, which navigated the district’s rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic and, just as the pandemic seemed to subside, was faced with another crisis in the form of alleged wrongdoing by former Superintendent Erin McMahon. McMahon spent nearly ten months on paid administrative leave before the committee terminated her contract just days before the election.
The incumbents — Serino, Hatch, and Ryan Fisher — all praised Gerow and Gould’s efforts.
“Elections are a funny thing, right? You see the signs, and you read what [candidates] write in the paper, but sometimes you don’t get to know the person … make it a point to get to know the person,” Serino said. “They’re knowledgeable, they brought so much to the committee, they will be missed. But I know in my heart, I’ll see them both back up here someday again… in the not-too-distant future.”
Whittredge, who resigned from the committee in 2022 following his wife dying of Breast Cancer, thanked the community for their support and said he was ready to get to work.
With two children still in the district, Whittredge said the committee had much to do to continue improving the system.
“When you walk around the schools, we know that we got some work to do,” he said.
Mastrocola was the last to speak before the meeting adjourned and promised she would fight hard — but fight kind — to advocate for Saugus’ faculty, staff, and students.
“I will always fight for Saugus. I have had a true passion for Saugus since I moved here,” she said. “I give my best to what I do. I’ve been through the whole Saugus school system, some things I love, some things I didn’t love so much, but there’s also a lot of good. I will do a good job. I can promise you that.”
