Kathleen Kelly has been appointed vice chairwoman of the School Committee.

The quick election of city councillor Marc McGovern as mayor – and therefore as chairman of the School Committee – at the council’s Monday morning inauguration led the way for the committee’s own election of its vice chair at their inauguration that evening.

Kathleen Kelly was elected vice chairwoman 6-1, with second-term committee member Manikka Bowman voting for herself. The initial count had Bowman voting for herself, joined by new member Laurance Kimbrough; second-term member Emily Dexter voting for seventh-term member Patty Nolan; and 19th-term member Fred Fantini, third-term member Kelly, Nolan and McGovern voting for Kelly. It takes four votes to secure an election.

Dexter and Kimbrough then changed their votes to Kelly.

Nolan said she would have been “delighted to serve as vice chair” after her dozen years on the committee, but was committed to “a quick decision so the committee could move on to important work.” Fantini has been vice chairman the past six years.

This story was posted Jan. 16, 2018, and backdated to Jan. 2, 2018, to move it closer to the events it discusses.