Portsmouth School Committee leadership (l-r) Marge Levesque, Clerk, Richard Carpender, Chair, Sylvia Wedge, Vice-Chair.

The incoming Portsmouth School Committee was sworn in at Town Hall this evening, and the group elected new leadership. The two newly elected members, Marilyn King and Angela Volpicelli joined Sylvia Wedge, who was re-elected, and the three sitting members, Michael Buddemeyer, Richard Carpender, and Marge Levesque.

The group elected Carpender to the role of chair by a 5-2 vote, with King and Volpicelli opposed. Sylvia Wedge won the role of vice-chair unanimously, and Levesque was appointed clerk on a 4-3 vote, with Heaney joining King and Volpicelli in voting against.

In other organizational business, the committee re-affirmed their monthly meeting schedule, with the second Tuesday of the month being the primary meeting, and the fourth Tuesday optional (a decision that was made during the last session to allow for fewer meetings in the summer.)

Attorney Richard Updegrove was again appointed to represent the schools. Cheshire Kathy Melvin asked if, given these economic times, whether it might make sense to put it out to bid again, but Carpender noted that Updegrove serves on retainer, which makes him very economical. Both Wedge and Heaney also voiced their support for Updegrove and the vote was 7-0 to appoint.

The committee also discussed their planned retreat in early December. PCC, Inc. President Larry Fitzmorris asked if the retreat would be properly advertised (if he bothered to read this blog, he would have known that not only was it advertised, but I went last year and wrote it up.)

Bottom line from tonight's meeting: Carpender, who brings long school committee experience (and a lot of business smarts) to the role of chair, seems to have a workable majority with both Mike Buddemeyer and Jamie Heaney voting for him. And hopefully Volpicelli and King will get up the curve quickly. I know that two years ago, I gave Jamie Heaney a a fair amount of grief his first couple of months, but I have been very impressed by the way he has grown into the role. I hope we see the same from King and Volpicelli.

They now represent all of us and our children, and I know that they will all take that responsibility very seriously. These will be challenging times, and I join all of Portsmouth in wishing them well.