Politics & Government

Six Seeking Curro's Former School Committee Seat

The committee is planning to select its new member immediately after interviews on Thursday, May 3.

Six people are in the running for .

They are:

  • Karen Bjorkman, of George Street
  • David Brecht, of Norfolk Road
  • James Flanagan, of Trowbridge Street
  • Len Kardon, of Tanager Street
  • Andrew O’Brien, of Hillside Avenue
  • Paul Schlichtman, of Mystic Street

A seventh person applied but did not meet the basic qualifications, as he or she was not a registered voter, according to School Committee chairwoman Kirsi Allison-Ampe.

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The six applicants will be interviewed by the School Committee at a special meeting from 8 to 10 p.m. Thursday, May 3 in the committee’s room on the sixth floor of . Each applicant will be given the opportunity to make a three-minute opening statement and one-minute closing statement.

The committee is planning to choose its new member that night, via majority vote.

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The new member will fill the seat, , until the Town Elections next April, when an election will be held for the one year remaining on the seat.

, a Hardy School parent, and O’Brien, who has two kids at Ottoson, ran for the School Committee .

Flanagan finished a solid third behind incumbents Jeffrey Thielman and Cindy Starks, both of whom were re-elected. He received 2,433 votes, about 850 less than Starks in second, but roughly 1,000 more than the fourth-place vote getter, Matthew Pallett.

O’Brien finished fifth in the six-candidate field with 1,049 votes.

Schlichtman is a former School Committee member who served as president of the Massachusetts Association of School Committees in 2004, according to his online profile. He also has a long history in education, both as an educator and advocate.

Kardon is listed as the treasurer of the Arlington Special Education Parents Advisory Council and on the steering committee of the advocacy group FYArlington.

O’Brien, Schlichtman and Kardon are all Town Meeting members, from precincts 16, nine and 20, respectively.


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