Former Edgartown School Committee member Kimberly Kirk has been reappointed to the committee, following the midterm resignation of one of its members.
In November, Edgartown School Committee member Laura Seguin said she’d be stepping down from her role for personal reasons.
“Given my current job, and spending 90 days a year away from my family, I just do not have the time it takes to properly execute this position through April 2024,” she wrote in a letter to committee chair Louis Paciello dated Nov. 8.
“I believe that this role should be filled by someone with experience and an understanding of the MVYPS,” she added. “This person should have the ability to attend the many high school meetings, AISC meetings, and various subcommittee meetings.”
In a joint decision during the Dec. 18 select board meeting, Edgartown Select Board members and school committee members voted in favor of filling the new vacancy with Kirk, who’d lost her spot on the committee last year in the town election.
At the meeting, the select board and school committee, along with Island schools Superintendent Richie Smith, agreed on the potential drawbacks of appointing someone with no prior school committee experience for such a short tenure. In a unanimous vote, the select board and school committee approved the appointment until the town election, only a few months away.
“Experience is a good thing,” select board chair Arthur Smadbeck noted.
Select board member Michael Donaroma added that Kirk had also done a fine job while serving on the Boys and Girls Club committee. “She was great,” he said.
Kirk lost her re-election bid to the Edgartown School Committee last April, after voters opted to instead elect newcomer Kelly Scott.
Kirk was met with some pushback following her defeat when she refused to immediately step down from her role on the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School Committee, to which she had been appointed for a one-year term by the Edgartown committee. School officials addressed those concerns by citing the regional school agreement, which permits high school committee members to serve the remainder of their term, regardless of whether they have been re-elected to the local school board. After her term ended on May 31, Kirk was prohibited from participating in MVRHS committee decisions.
Prior to her resignation, Seguin had also served on the high school board, which means there is currently a seat vacant. It is unclear whether Kirk will resume her role on the MVRHS committee, as the Edgartown School Committee is the only entity able to decide that appointment.
After a meeting scheduled for Dec. 19 was postponed due to “extenuating circumstances,” no upcoming agendas for the Edgartown School Committee have been published.
