Ingrid Nilsson, the school district’s assistant superintendent for finance and operations, resigned earlier this month, shortly after the town voted on the budget and override. “It’s a massive loss,” School Committee Chair Abby Besse said. “She was excellent—we’re reeling.”
Nilsson came to the district in the fall of 2021 as the school business manager, which was then a part-time position but grew to a full-time one. Then Nilsson became assistant superintendent for finance in the fall of 2023. She also served as the schools’ financial representative to other town boards and committees.
Writing of her decision in an email, Nilsson said, “My husband and I made the decision to move up to our house in Vermont full time. We were already planning to downsize, and then it seemed the best decision for us to just move up there, rather than buy something else in Massachusetts.” She did not say why she had decided to leave in April rather than at the end of the school year.
Before coming to the Harvard schools, Nilsson was director of school finance for Westford. Earlier she had served on Westford’s town finance committee for 10 years. She earned a master’s degree in business administration from University of Chicago and had worked in the private sector for a number of years.
On Thursday, the School Committee’s budget subcommittee was scheduled to interview a financial management firm that might take over at least some of Nilsson’s responsibilities for the rest of the school year. Superintendent Linda Dwight said she expected to start with a contract that runs until July 1. “If it works out,” she said, “we would keep [the management company] through next year.” She noted the Carlisle school district has used a similar company for several years.
Override creates friction
The need to seek an override for the fiscal 2025 school budget had led to increased stress in the months before Nilsson’s resignation. Both Besse and School Committee member Shannon Molloy agreed there was friction between the schools and unnamed town officials, as well as the Select Board.
Besse said the last couple of years had been rough, and she was looking forward to a fresh start with a new team at Town Hall. “Just having someone neutral” would be a change for the better, she said.
“It’s a huge stressor, to be honest,” said Molloy, who did not run for reelection and whose term will end in June. She agreed it’s probably natural to have some tension between the town and the schools over budget deliberations, given that school administrators have full discretion in how school funds are spent, once the amount is set in the overall budget. But she cited an apparent lack of trust by some Select Board members toward the School Committee. “The hostility is an interesting thing to observe,” Molloy said. “… The bottom line is, it’s not in the best interests of our students.”
