Marion School Committee appoints member after election mixup

Jul 23, 2020
MARION — The school committee met on July 23 with the Board of Selectmen to appoint one new member, Mary Beauregard, for a three year term, fixing a June 26 election mixup. 
 
Marion's School Committee saw three write-in candidates run for two open seats on the board, which would be filled by the top two vote-getters in the election. 
 
Jody Dickerson was elected to the board with 114 votes. Margaret McSweeney was set to take the second seat, but she also won enough votes to be elected to the Old Rochester Regional School Committee.
 
According to Town Clerk Lissa Magauran, McSweeney is not allowed to serve on both committees at once, and McSweeney chose the Old Rochester Regional board.
 
That left an open seat on the Marion School Committee.
 
Due to something called “failure to allot,” the town school committee vote did not automatically pass to Bearegard, the other candidate that had run for the town school committee. Instead, Selectmen and the school committee had to appoint her to the position.   
 

Beauregard got 48 votes compared to McSweeney’s 58 votes and Jody Dickerson’s 114 votes.

Committee Chair Michelle Smith welcomed Dickerson and Beauregard as new committee members, and Sean Persico as Sippican School’s new assistant principal. 

Sippican School Principal Marla Sirois said that she had done several rounds of interviews for the position, and that Persico applied after she posted the job a second time. 

She said she was thankful that the Marion resident saw the posting, and “thrilled to have him on board.” 

Superintendent Michael Nelson said to Persico that administrators were “excited to have you even in this unorthodox time,” and that the new administrator’s background in Marion just added another level to the position. 

The new school committee members and administrator will help as the district continues with planning for the fall. It will submit an initial plan by July 31 and a final plan by Aug. 10. The school committee will meet Aug. 11 to discuss how the school will reopen. 

Nelson thanked Town Administrator Jay McGrail and Assistant Town Administrator Judy Mooney for being prompt to order supplies for the school.

“We are not one of those districts that are ordering now and worried about getting supplies in,”  Nelson said. 

The district is still looking to hire an Assistant Superintendent and Director of Student Services.