Who is running for School Committee in Worcester this year?
WORCESTER ― With election season just a few months away, the race to see who gets seats on the Worcester School Committee is underway.
The School Committee is arguably the second most powerful elected board in Worcester behind the City Council, overseeing a school district with approximately 25,000 students and 4,000 employees, and a budget approaching $600 million.
The School Committee members will be tasked with evaluating a new superintendent, Brian Allen, who was hired to replace the departing Rachel Monárrez in May. They will also oversee the effort to replace Burncoat High School, while grappling with uncertainty at the federal level, including a lawsuit against the Trump administration's plans to eliminate the Department of Education, in which the school district is acting as a witness on behalf of the plaintiffs.
According to the City Clerk's office, every current member of the School Committee is running for reelection, some running unopposed while others have multiple challengers.
Former Worcester Public Schools Superintendent Maureen Binienda is running for reelection. Binienda ran for the School Committee in 2023, after her contract as superintendent was not renewed. She ended up receiving the most votes of any candidate. Binienda has been a vocal critic of Monárrez, who was hired as Binienda's replacement.
The other incumbent at-large candidate is Sue Mailman, who is seeking her third term on the School Committee. A staunch ally of Monárrez, Mailman has been vocal about her desire for the committee to take more progressive positions in the district, particularly on social issues.
A new candidate for an at-large position is Adwoa Sakyi-Lamptey, who according to her LinkedIn profile is an employer relations manager at Clark University.
Molly McCullough, who has been on the School Committee since 2015, is seeking reelection as District A representative. The granddaughter of former Worcester Mayor James O'Brien and the niece of longtime state politician Thomas White, McCullough is a notable supporter of current Worcester Mayor and School Committee Chair Joe Petty, having held prominent positions on his reelection campaigns in the past. She is running unopposed.
Vanessa Alvarez is the lone candidate running in District B, according to the City Clerk's office. Alvarez, a Worcester native, was first elected to the committee in 2023. The youngest member of the current committee, she is a social worker and has been closely supported by Mailman during her first term on the committee.
Dianna Biancheria, who is easily the longest-tenured member of the committee, is running for an eighth term, having first been elected in 2009. Biancheria has been vocal about her desire for increased security and safety in the Worcester Public Schools, and has generally been supportive of Binienda's motions on the committee.
Challenging Biancheria is Feanna Jattan-Singh, who has created a website for her campaign. According to the website, Jattan-Singh is a mother of four with two students attending North High, and is aiming to increase transparency in the school department and institute different ways for parents to have their voices heard in the district. A real estate agent, Jattan-Singh previously ran for City Council in District 3 in 2023.
The lone candidate in District D is Alex Guardiola, who is seeking reelection after first being elected in 2023. Guardiola is the head of the Better Business Bureau of Central Massachusetts and has a close relationship with the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce.
The most competitive race this year will likely be in District E, which has three candidates. First, incumbent Kathleen Roy, who has first elected in 2023. After working as both a before-and-after school programming director, Roy has pushed for greater community involvement from parents and calling for greater school safety policies, often voting in lockstep with Binienda and Biancheria on committee motions.
Challenging Roy is Nelly Medina, who fell just short of beating Roy in 2023, losing out on the seat by just 97 votes. Medina works for the Worcester Education Justice Alliance and is a local advocate for various progressive causes aimed at improving the lives of disadvantaged youth.
The third candidate is newcomer Noelia Chafoya, who has been campaigning for months already, regularly attending School Committee meetings and launched a website last year to challenge Roy. A graduate of North High, Chafoya has said she wants to push for further STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) programs and career and technical education access for Worcester students.
In District F, incumbent Jermaine Johnson is running unopposed for a third term on the committee, having first been elected in 2021. A social worker and Worcester native, Johnson has served as vice chair on the committee over the past two years and has at times taken the floor to call for greater comradery from the committee, which is often divided on significant issues.
Since the mayor of Worcester also has a seat on the School Committee, the winner of the mayoral election will end up on the committee in 2025. Mayor Joseph Petty, who chairs the School Committee, is seeking an eighth term as mayor. Petty has been a big supporter of Monárrez as superintendent, and the progress that the city has made in school construction has been a key part of his mayoral campaign.
Petty will be challenged by City Councilor Khrystian King, who has been on the council since 2015. A progressive, King has been in attendance at recent school committee meetings and recently filed a petition to determine if Worcester Public Schools had any interest in the use of former Becker College buildings that were purchased by the city.
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Who is running for School Committee in Worcester this year?
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