The election results are in, while not yet certified, and Kate Schmeckpeper and Henry Gwadza have secured the two seats up for grabs on the School Committee.
Out of the 12,156 votes cast for the five candidates, Schmeckpeper received 4,800 of the votes, equating to just shy of 40% of the total, and Gwazda received 4,332 votes, which is about 36% of the total votes.
Candidate Emily DeJoy received the next highest number of votes, with 1,586, which is 13% of the total votes. Those two seats Schmeckpeper and Gwazda have earned were Alison Taylor and Sarah Fox’s. Taylor received 789 votes, coming in with about 6% of the votes. Fox received 649 votes, which is about 5% of the total votes.
Schmeckpeper said she felt great and was “very grateful and humbled that the voters put their trust in me.”
“I just want to bring a focus back to students and education and our educators and away from hot-button political issues and return our focus to good governance and fundamental responsibilities on the School Committee,” Schmeckpeper said.
Upon finding out he would be joining the School Committee, the first thing Gwazda did was call his two daughters, 5 and 7, to celebrate. He joked that the two were allowed to stay up “a little late” Tuesday night to find out the results and added that they “reminded me to be kind during this whole process because that’s what they wanted to see.”
“I think we have a really strong mandate to go forward and make some changes on the School Committee,” Gwazda said. “I think that the feelings of the town really reflects how we feel about things. I’m so proud of everybody who worked on the campaign, and I’m just thrilled with the results.”
