By DAN TOMASELLO
LYNNFIELD — What a difference a year makes.
According to the official Town Election results released by Town Clerk Amanda Haggstrom on Wednesday afternoon, Winchester Drive resident Kimberly Baker Donahue was elected to a three-year term on the School Committee in a landslide after receiving 1,049 votes in a three-candidate race for two seats on the school board. School Committee Chair Kristen Grieco Elworthy was re-elected to a full three-year term after finishing second in the race with 685 votes. Former School Committee Vice Chair Jenny Sheehan was not re-elected after finishing third with 655 votes.
This year’s School Committee race was a rematch of last year’s one-year term contest. During that race, Elworthy topped the ticket with 1,263 votes, Sheehan was second with 1,215 votes and Baker Donahue finished third with 781 votes.
Over the past year, the School Committee has been involved in a number of controversies ranging from bypassing a superintendent search and appointing Tom Geary to the top job last summer to the way the fiscal year 2026 budget process has been handled this winter and spring.
The official results revealed that there were 846 blanks in the School Committee race, which was higher than the 685 votes Elworthy received and the 655 votes that Sheehan earned. A number of Baker Donahue’s supporters encouraged townspeople to bullet vote for the new School Committee member.
Baker Donahue thanked the community for supporting her School Committee campaign in a Facebook post on Wednesday morning.
“Thank you for your trust and support throughout my campaign for Lynnfield School Committee,” Baker Donahue wrote. “I am truly honored to serve and grateful for the opportunity to represent you. I remain committed to the values that guided my campaign: Transparency, proactive communication, honesty, respectful dialogue and representation for all levels of education within our district. I also believe deeply in responsible, long-term financial planning — ensuring that we meet the needs of our students and educators while being fiscally responsible on behalf of the community.
“I want to acknowledge and thank Jenny Sheehan and Kristen Elworthy for stepping forward to run,” Baker Donahue continued. “It takes tremendous time and commitment to participate in the democratic process, and I respect anyone who chooses to engage in public service. I look forward to collaborating with stakeholders and fellow committee members to uplift our community, empower our educators and build a stronger district. Together, we can create a future where every student thrives.”
Haggstrom announced the preliminary Town Election results at 9:30 p.m. on Tuesday, which occurred an hour-and-a-half after the polls closed. Earlier in the day, the town wrote on its official Facebook page that: “The Secretary of State’s Office has advised the town that if a voter casts a ballot for a listed candidate and also writes in that candidate’s name, then both attempted votes for that candidate must be invalidated.”
“Only use the write-in line to vote for a candidate who is not listed on the ballot,” the town’s Facebook post concluded.
Haggstrom said during the Select Board’s meeting on Tuesday night that there were “33 write-ins that are not any candidates listed here.”
The Town Election featured a 16 percent turnout, as 1,634 out of the town’s 10,090 registered voters cast ballots.
Select Board Chair Dick Dalton, who was re-elected to a fourth three-year term on Tuesday, congratulated Elworthy and Baker Donahue on their victories. He also thanked Sheehan for her service to the town.
In addition to the contested School Committee race, seven candidates running unopposed were re-elected or elected during the Town Election.
Dalton was re-elected to a fourth three-year term on the Select Board after receiving 1,089 votes.
Additionally, there were 80 write-in votes for Select Board. Planning Board member Brian Charville received 50 write-in votes and Finance Committee member Sarah Kelley got six write-in votes.
Planning Board member Ed Champy got re-elected to a second five-year term after earning 1,118 votes.
Two political newcomers were elected to the Board of Library Trustees on Tuesday.
Canterbury Road resident Stephanie Slate was elected to a three-term on the Board of Library Trustees after receiving 1,039 votes.
Center Village resident Karin Round was also elected to a three-year term on the Board of Library Trustees after getting 1,022 votes.
Slate and Round have succeeded former Library Trustees Faith Honer-Coakley and Rich Mazzola, who both decided against running for re-election.
Board of Assessors member Richard O’Neil Jr. will be serving another three-year term after earning 1,157 votes during the Town Election.
Town Moderator Steve Walsh got re-elected to a second one-year term after being the recipient of 1,194 votes.
Housing Authority Board of Commissioners member John Nunziato was re-elected to a second five-year term after getting 1,118 votes.
After Haggstrom announced the preliminary results on Tuesday night, she swore-in Elworthy, Baker Donahue, Slate, Round and Dalton into their respective seats.
The meeting’s attendees gave all of the elected officials a round of applause.
After Dalton was sworn-in, the Select Board reorganized. Phil Crawford was elected chair. Alexis Leahy was elected vice chair and Dalton was elected clerk.
“Congratulations to everybody who got elected today,” said Crawford. “It’s how we run our town and it is fantastic we had so many get involved. I also want to thank Richard Dalton for the fantastic job he did last year, particularly in the challenging year that he had.”
Crawford said he will be discussing the Select Board’s goals and priorities for the upcoming year during the next meeting.
“We are going to bring in some of our department heads and get some updates on how everything is going, particularly with all of the construction projects,” said Crawford. “We will have our DPW director in and you can see how everything is running so far. I think everything is going very well. We have multiple projects going on that I think everybody is interested in.”