During a joint meeting between the Select Board and the School Committee, members voted to appoint Melissa Clucas to fill the vacancy left by Brian Ota. Three other candidates – Sara Fox, Yael Magen, and Mark Schwartz – also applied for the role.
The Select Board and the School Committee did a roll call vote where each person nominated one of the candidates, and the candidate with the majority (more than five nominations) was to be appointed, according to Select Board Chair Dan Fox.
Clucas won the majority of votes with School Committee Chair Al Williams and School Committee members Henry Gwazda and Kate Schmeckpeper voting in her favor. Dan Fox and Select Board members Moses Grader and Erin Noonan also voted for Clucas.
Select board member Jim Zission recused himself from the meeting that evening, so he did not vote, Dan Fox said.
Clucas, a chief financial officer and parent of three young children in Marblehead Public Schools, said she is eager to begin.
“I’m excited. I’m ready to get to work,” she said. “I’ve already met with the superintendent and the chair of the board, and I’m just looking forward to getting started.”
With a professional background in finance and accounting, Clucas brings expertise she believes will benefit the committee. She pointed to both structural and communication challenges in the district’s budget.
“There is a structural financial challenge within the Town, given Proposition 2½ and inflation costs rising at a faster rate than revenues,” she said. “But the first order of business is helping the community to understand exactly where their money is going. We need to move the conversation from ‘Why do you need more money?’ to ‘Here’s how we are investing your money to improve our schools.’”
Clucas said her goal is to encourage long-term planning and reduce year-to-year reactivity in the budget process. She cited rising health insurance costs and out-of-district tuition for special education as areas that require strategic attention.
She studied accounting and finance at Villanova University and earned an MBA from Northeastern University. She has worked in various finance and accounting roles across multiple companies.
Originally from Syracuse, New York, she and her husband have lived in Marblehead with their family for about three and a half years.
Beyond finance, Clucas said she wants to help strengthen ties between the School Committee and the community.
“It’s really important to restore long-term trust and transparency and have a collaborative relationship with the community,” she said. “That’s one of my primary focus areas as well.”
