MARBLEHEAD, MA — Al Williams, a former Brandeis University professor who is soon to retire as the deputy chief service officer of the state’s Executive Office of Technology Services and Security, is the newest member of the Marblehead School Committee after he was selected out of a field of eight candidates at Wednesday night’s joint Select Board and School Committee meeting.
Williams was chosen on the second ballot as he edged out Thomas Mathers, who re-applied for the opening after serving an interim role on the School Committee last year, and Glover School PTO president Sarah Magazine.
Williams will serve through the end of the term in June and said it would be his intention to seek re-election if selected.
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Williams has a background in both high school and college education and was elected to the Library Trustees Board in Bedford, where he also served on the Capital Expenditures Committee and Finance Committee.
“With Mr. Williams, I saw, and looking through the resume as well, there’s experience with a Finance Committee so there’s an understanding of the financial aspect of it as well,” said Select Board member Alexa Singer of her vote. “And also working as a high school teacher, working at the college level, working on higher education experience, with the MSBA working on building projects, were some of the things that jumped out to me.
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“Just the ability to know the finances and having the teacher background as well to add that balance, that’s where I landed for tonight.”
School Committee member Jennifer Schaeffner also supported Williams on the first ballot.
“He has a very confident way about him just answering the questions and was willing to run for re-election, which to me, was very important,” she said.
Magazine said she would have to determine whether she would run for re-election based on the next four months of the interim term, while Mathers said he would not be a candidate for re-election as he declared he would not be when he was appointed to fill a vacancy last year.
Williams said he was retiring from his state job in six months and was looking for the School Committee position to be a place where he could continue to give back to the community now that he had the time to do so.
The first round of voting ended with Williams receiving four votes, Mathers three votes and Magazine two votes.
Williams received six votes and Mathers received three votes in the second and final round of voting.4
(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at [email protected]. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)
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