Pandemic Postponement Creates Wayland School Board Vacancy

WAYLAND, MA — There's a vacant seat on the Wayland School Committee, and you can pretty much blame coronavirus for it.

A candidate who won a seat on the School Committee in the election last month can't join the board yet because of postponements related to the pandemic. Now, town officials are working together on a fix.

Christopher Ryan won a seat on the School Committee after the June 9 election after running for a seat being vacated by Nate Buffum, who didn't run for reelection this year.

Under town law, candidates who win election in Wayland take their seat following the spring Town Meeting. Normally, the election takes place right before the spring meeting. Before coronavirus, the spring election was scheduled for March 31, and Town Meeting for April 5. The town had not as of July 6 set a new date for Town Meeting.

Buffum resigned effective July 2 leaving his seat open — even though Ryan has been taking part in the meetings as a non-voting member.

School Committee Chair Jeanne Downs said that the Board of Selectmen technically have to appoint Ryan to Buffum's now-vacant seat so that he can start voting. Downs said the appointment process could be complete before the next School Committee meeting scheduled for July 15.

Wayland is not the only town where postponed Town Meetings and elections have created bureaucratic limbo. The Natick Board of Selectmen elected new leaders in early April, something that's not typically done until after the spring election. In Natick, that didn't take place until June 29, three months after it was supposed to happen.