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Friday, March 29, 2024

There were two things different at the start of Tuesday’s meeting of the School Committee: Mervan Osborne has taken the seat lost by Nancy Tauber in November’s election; and Fred Fantini has replaced Marc McGovern as vice chairman.

McGovern, who had two terms as vice chairman, nominated Fantini at the committee’s Monday evening inaugural meeting. He said Fantini was well-suited to serve as a conduit for the collaboration needed between the committee and district administrators while they pin down the details of the massive restructuring and construction projects lumped together as the Innovation Agenda. The vote for Fantini was unanimous.

Fantini, deputy treasurer in Arlington, has been on the committee for 28 years. In November’s election, he won 2,318 first-ranked votes, the most of any committee member.

Another thing changed about the committee meeting, although not altogether new: Ken Reeves was in charge, being the senior ranking member of a new City Council that — with only its own Monday inaugural meeting under its collective belt — has not elected a mayor who will lead it. Two years ago, a deadlocked vote from within council ranks delayed the election of a mayor nearly into a third month, and Reeves led the committee during that time, too. This is the fourth time Reeves has led the committee as a mayor-in-waiting.

Monday’s votes for mayor within the council were reported by Robert Winters’ Cambridge Civic Journal as two each for Leland Cheung (with new councillor Minka vanBeuzekom joining), Marjorie Decker and David Maher, and one each for Henrietta Davis, Craig Kelley and Denise Simmons. Maher was mayor for the past two years.

This post was updated Jan. 10, 2012, to correct that mayoral voting in the previous term extended into nearly a third month, not that the six ballots took nearly three months.