Following a 5-4 joint vote by the Select Board and School Committee on Thursday, Kyla McSweeney was appointed to fill the vacancy left on the School Committee when Adam Munroe resigned for personal reasons.

McSweeney will hold the seat until the Annual Town Election in May of 2025.

Brendan Tedstone was the only other person to be interviewed. Deborah Mihaley did not attend the meeting and Sravana Krishna withdrew from consideration.

McSweeney works for the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care as director of comprehensive system supports.

She spoke about her background, which includes positions in education as a teacher and day care director as well as program director in higher education. McSweeney earned a law degree from Suffolk University School of Law and a master’s in early childhood education from Wheelock College.

In Hopkinton, she is chair of the Cemetery Commission and a Girl Scout leader. In the last Town Election, she ran for Select Board.

Voting in favor of McSweeney were School Committee members Jamie Wronka and Susan Stephenson as well as Select Board members Mary Jo LaFreniere, Shahidul Mannan and Amy Ritterbusch. Endorsing Tedstone was School Committee chair Nancy Cavanaugh and member Chris Masters. Select Board chair Brian Herr and member Joe Clark also voted for Tedstone, a former two-term Select Board member.

All board members emphasized the strengths of both candidates. McSweeney was praised for her educational insight and knowledge of special education and the law. Tedstone was lauded for his experience negotiating labor contracts and working with town budgets.

In her opening remarks, McSweeney said she works with school districts on how to supplement grants with other resources. She said as a child care center leader, she built budgets “from the bottom up.”

She described her vision as meeting the needs of the entire school population whether they go on to Ivy League schools or into the military and work force. McSweeney also spoke about her experience working with diverse families, with many not having English as a first language and her knowledge both as a special education attorney and parent of a child on an Individualized Education Program (IEP).

As a person with a “calm demeanor,” McSweeney said it is important to not “get all upset about things” during negotiations. Instead, having the ability to develop relationships and make the other parties feel heard can increase your position in negotiations with them, she said.

The Hopkinton Teachers Association contract negotiations are coming up, and McSweeney said knowing where to draw the line financially while still being respectful of teachers will be key.

Tedstone spoke about his town service as a firefighter, Select Board member and member of the Marathon School Building Committee, noting that the latter project came in $3 million under budget. A nurse by profession, he is employed as clinical director of operations for Mary Ann Morse Healthcare Corp.

Both candidates said they would continue beyond the short-term role and would have no problem consistently attending meetings. They also said they had no political affiliations that would pressure or influence their decisions.

Playground designer chosen

The committee approved a bid of $63,825 from Beta Group Inc. to design the adaptive playground. Town Meeting in May 2024 approved the use of Community Preservation funds (though the Community Preservation Committee) totaling $100,000 for the design services through schematic design for this purpose.

Susan Rothermich, the assistant superintendent for finance and operations, noted 14 vendors requested the bid document but only three submitted proposals, one of which was deemed unresponsive for not meeting the minimum qualifications defined in the request for proposals. Beta was selected following interviews on June 17.

Positions shifted to meet needs

At the high school, the School Committee agreed to transform a vacant full-time paraprofessional position into a 0.2 full-time equivalent wellness teacher to run a section of the unified physical education program as well as a 0.2 math specialist to co-teach or support math foundations Algebra 1.

In a letter to the committee, Principal Evan Bishop said these changes are necessary to develop and implement a unified wellness curriculum “focused on physical health, mental health and social-emotional learning.”

He said a unified wellness class promotes inclusivity by ensuring all students “regardless of their physical or cognitive abilities participate in a supportive and cohesive environment.”

He noted the math position would provide more targeted intervention for students struggling in that subject.

Digital wellness incentive accepted

Other action taken at the meeting included the acceptance of a $1,000 incentive as a participating school district in the Girls’ Digital Wellness Project. Superintendent Carol Cavanaugh explained $500 each would be given to the librarians who oversaw the project.

Class of 2024 plans shared

Carol Cavanaugh presented a breakdown of the plans for the recently graduated class of 2024. Of the 280 students, 266 plan to further their education, with 263 (94%) set to head to college.

Five students are taking a gap year and then planning to attend college or are international students returning to their home country. Three students are starting full-time employment or attending prep school. One student is joining the military.

MCAS, other tests reviewed preliminarily

The superintendent, noting these are preliminary findings, said of 10th graders in English/language arts, 92.3% either met or exceeded expectations on the MCAS tests, up from 89%. Middle school students also showed an increase in MCAS writing achievement in grades 6, 7 and 8.

In writing, high school sophomores got an average of 588 on PSATs and then 631 on SATs as juniors, she noted.

She added that in the National Merit Scholarship “super competitive,” program, Hopkinton High School had 18 commended scholars and five students who were semifinalists.