School Committee, Wenham Selectmen Name New School Committee Member

It took months of searching and two rounds of requests for candidates, but the Hamilton-Wenham Regional School Committee finally has a member to fill the vacancy left by Roger Kubel in June.

“We very much appreciated [Kubel’s] time and efforts on the school committee,” said school committee chairman Larry Swartz during a joint meeting of the Wenham Board of Selectmen and Hamilton-Wenham Regional School Committee on Wednesday. “He’s already been a little bit missed by us all, but we’re hoping that the candidate that we will select... tonight will more than ably fill his shoes.”

The two groups interviewed three candidates Wednesday -- Thomas Starr, Emily Madden and Megan McGovern -- and ultimately selected Madden from the pool of candidates by a vote of eight yeses and one abstention by Selectman John Clemenzi.

“We had three really solid candidates and any of them could step in and add value immediately on the school committee and that’s what we need,” said Deborah Evans, vice chairwoman of the school committee, during the meeting.

Kubel resigned his post in June. The original July deadline for candidates to come forward came and went, so a new September deadline was created. At that point, five individuals put their names forward, but two pulled out prior to the Wednesday interviews and vote.

Madden will fill the vacancy until the April 2016 election, during which her seat and two other seats on the school committee will be on the ballot.