The School Committee and Board of Selectmen, meeting jointly Tuesday night, appointed Sharlene Cronin of Bolton Road to fill the School Committee seat vacated last month by Mary Traphagen.
Two candidates, Cronin and Suzanne Allen of Littleton Road, had presented themselves to the two boards in upper Town Hall earlier that evening. Cronin’s educational training includes a Bachelor of Science degree in finance from Suffolk University and a master’s degree in education, leadership, and advocacy from New York University. She is director of strategic projects at EdVestors, a school improvement nonprofit that provides seed funding to teacher-led projects in Boston Public Schools.
Allen is a graduate of Northeastern University, where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in human services, and of the Yale School of Nursing, where she earned a Master of Science degree, specializing in pediatric nursing. She is a pediatric nurse practitioner in the Division of Adolescent Medicine at the UMass Medical Center in Worcester and teaches at the UMass Graduate School of Nursing.
Cronin’s appointment required two votes. First, a poll and then a formal vote to appoint. The four Select Board and four School Committee members present were asked to state their preferences in a roll-call vote. “I thought at one time that having two highly qualified candidates would be great,” said Select Board member Stu Sklar. “Now I see it’s not so great.” Select Board Chair Lucy Wallace admitted she was reluctant to choose. When it came time for a roll call, however, Cronin was the preferred candidate, 5-3. Following the poll, the boards then voted on a motion by Stu Sklar and seconded by Alice von Loesecke to make Cronin’s appointment official. This time the vote was unanimous.
Cronin’s appointment is temporary, a 10-week term that lasts only until Town Election. If she wants to continue serving on the School Committee, Cronin will then have to campaign for Traphagen’s seat, whose term expires in 2020. School Committee member Jon Green, whose term expires this year, has said he will not run again, increasing the number of open slots to two. Do Cronin and Allen plan to run? asked School Committee member John Ruark. Yes, they each answered.
