By DAN TOMASELLO
LYNNFIELD — The April Town Election will feature a contested race for School Committee.
Winchester Drive resident Kimberly Baker Donahue pulled nomination papers for a three-year term on the School Committee on Friday, Jan. 17. She will be running against School Committee Chair Kristen Grieco Elworthy and School Committee Vice Chair Jenny Sheehan for the second consecutive year. Elworthy and Sheehan defeated Baker Donahue in a one-year term race for School Committee during the April 2024 Town Election.
“When I ran for School Committee last year, I was passionate about and invested in the state of our school system and its future,” said Baker Donahue in an interview with the Villager. “That desire to become involved has not changed. In fact, it has become stronger. It is clear that there is still a lot of work to be done. In addition to already having begun working through the very difficult process of proposing a budget for next year, the current School Committee has also begun collective bargaining with the teachers’ union. I am even more determined to be a part of finding solutions that will support our educators and school leaders in their mission to help all our students, at every level, maximize their full potential in and out of the classroom, and balancing that with fiscal responsibility to the 2,400 families in our town.”
Baker Donahue is a Lynnfield native who graduated from Phillips Academy in Andover in 1995. She practices estate planning, and started the Lynnfield-based KJB Law Firm in 2010. She has served on the board of directors for the Peabody-based North Suburban Jewish Community Center (NSJCC) since 2015. She has also volunteered with Lynnfield Little League and the Lynnfield Youth Soccer Club.
“I am a proud lifelong Lynnfield resident and a product of the Lynnfield Public Schools through freshman year, and then I had the opportunity to attend Phillips Academy in Andover,” said Baker Donahue. “My experience both here and at Phillips Academy has given me a diverse educational experience, which will help shape my thinking to keep moving Lynnfield Public Schools forward. I have two sons in the Lynnfield school system, as well as a niece and a nephew. Altogether, they span elementary school (my son in second grade at Huckleberry Hill School), the middle school (my son in sixth grade and my niece in eighth grade) and the high school (my nephew, a sophomore), which drives me to fight for the best for our children at all levels, especially those that we are about to send out into the world to represent themselves and where they have come from. It’s our job to set them up for success from kindergarten through and including 12th grade.”
Baker Donahue said she would like to help address several issues facing the school system.
“One of the most immediate and biggest issues facing the schools right now is conducting fair and productive collective bargaining sessions to accomplish a result from which everyone can walk away and feel comfortable and appreciated,” said Baker Donahue. “Both sides working to come to an agreement sooner rather than later will set our teachers up to focus on what they are here to do — partner with us in raising our children and provide them with education and life lessons that they need to become productive members of society. And coming to an agreement will also set up the School Committee to focus on what I see as one of the other biggest issues facing our schools, which is making sure the needs are being met at all school levels in a fair and equitable way. By needs, I mean those of our students, teachers and staff, operational needs and capital needs. Inevitably, this will require prioritizing some things over others and making decisions about what is critical to implement in the short-term versus what could be implemented at a later date, but it is imperative to make sure that the needs in our elementary schools don’t preclude the needs in our middle school or high school and vice versa. It’s easy to say that the older kids are supposed to and are expected to advocate for themselves, but as long as they are under our roof, we still have the obligation to help solidify that foundation for their success in the real world.”
Uncontested candidates
In addition to the School Committee race, another incumbent pulled nomination papers last week.
Planning Board member Ed Champy took out nomination papers on Tuesday, Jan. 14. He is running for a second five-year term.
Select Board Chair Dick Dalton returned his nomination papers to the Town Clerk’s Office on Friday, Jan. 17 and they have been certified. Dalton, who pulled papers on Jan. 2, is running for a fourth three-year term.
Town Moderator Steve Walsh took out papers on Tuesday, Jan. 7, and is running for a second one-year term. He was elected as town moderator during the April 2024 Town Election, and succeeded former Town Moderator Joe Markey.
Board of Assessors member Richard O’Neil Jr. pulled nomination papers on Jan. 10, and is looking to serve another three-year term.
Center Village resident Karin Round took out papers for a three-year term on the Board of Library Trustees on Jan. 9. There are two seats on the Board of Library Trustees appearing on the ballot this year. While Library Trustee Faith Honer-Coakley has yet to announce whether she is running for re-election, Library Trustee Richard Mazzola is not running again.
Housing Authority Board of Commissioners member John Nunziato is the only incumbent who has yet to pull nomination papers for the April Town Election. He is eligible to run for a second five-year term.
Town Clerk Amanda Haggstrom stated in the candidates’ guide for the Town Election that office hopefuls will need to receive a minimum of 50 signatures from registered voters in order to have their name appear on the ballot.
“Be sure to submit more than the required number, 50, for certification so you do not fall short in the event of signatures not certified,” Haggstrom stated. “All signatures and addresses must be legible and written substantially as registered. If the voter’s signature is illegible, you may ask them to print their name next to the signature. The law allows a voter to insert or omit a middle name or initial and still have the signature deemed valid.”
The last day to submit nomination papers is Tuesday, Feb. 18 at 5 p.m. The last day for candidates to have their name removed from the municipal ballot is Thursday, March 6 at 5 p.m.
Due to the $63.5 million public safety buildings and Town Hall project, the Town Clerk’s Office has been relocated to the Senior Center/Lynnfield Public Schools Central Office, 525 Salem St. The Town Election will take place on Tuesday, April 8.
For more information about the April Town Election, residents can visit https://www.town.lynnfield.ma.us/town-clerk/pages/running-office-lynnfield.