On Thursday night, the School Committee and Select Board will hold a joint session to appoint a vacancy left by Holly Morand, who resigned in November to take a position with Hopkinton Youth and Family Services.
Ms. Morand’s term expires June 1, 2024, at which time the appointed candidate must stand for election to continue serving. On the same date, committee member Amanda Fargiano’s term expires, and it is unknown if Ms. Fargiano intends to run again.
Five candidates have submitted applications for the position; Karen Mulik, Ashley Fogg, Christopher Masters, Jamie Wronka and Lori Nickerson.
HopNews has posted the candidate’s cover letters and resumes here.
Based on her voter registration date, Karen Mulik is a relative newcomer to Hopkinton, having lived in town just shy of two years. Though she did not provide the committees with a candidate statement, she did include her resume, which indicates she is a licensed attorney and is currently the Human Resources Director for Atkore in New Bedford. She had her own law practice from June 2015 to June 2021. Ms. Mulik received her undergrad in Psychology and Legal Studies from University of Massachusetts and her Juris Doctor from Massachusetts School of Law. Ms. Mulik was also a recent candidate for the planning board vacancy that was filled by Parker Happ.
Ashley Fogg is well known to many Hopkinton residents, having competed unsuccessfully for the school committee position in last May’s contentious election. Ms. Fogg is a lifelong Hopkinton resident and active volunteer in the schools and community. She has three young children in the school system, who she credits with providing “real insight into the issues, concerns and priorities many parents and community members may have regarding our schools“. Ms. Fogg also wrote that she thinks “the School Committee works best when we have different points of view.” Fogg received her undergrad in Applied Legal Studies from Suffolk University.
Christopher Masters is the Director of Bay State Hockey / Junior Bruins, and is the father of three, one who attends sixth grade. Mr. Masters cited his “unique perspective on the diverse needs of our students“. “Having raised three children with special needs, I am well acquainted with the complexities involved in both the general education and special education populations within Hopkinton schools,” he wrote. According to his LinkedIn profile, Mr. Masters is a graduate of Boston College with a B.A. in Communications.
Jamie Wronka has a long history of service in town, having volunteered on the HPTO, Conservation Commission, Trails Coordination and Management Committee, Upper Charles Trails Committee and the Special Education Parent Advisory Committee. Ms. Wronka’s husband, Matthew, is a member of the Planning Board. Ms. Wronka has three children; her eldest is in second grade at Elmwood and she has twin Kindergartners at Marathon. “I appreciate the balancing act of fiscal responsibility, providing value for each public funded dollar spent, and providing the high quality education that Hopkinton is celebrated for,” she wrote. Ms. Wronka is a visiting professor at Worcester State University and teaches Occupational Therapy. She has a Bachelors and Masters Degree in Occupational Therapy from the University of New Hampshire.
Lori Nickerson was a member of the School Committee from 2014 – 2017, and seeks to be reseated. She has three children in the system and cites her past experience as her primary strength. “I’d like to use my prior experience to help the Committee and the Town through this period of time when budget decisions are being made,” she stated. Ms. Nickerson is the Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Chief Human Resources Officer at Fortis Life Sciences in Waltham. She received her undergrad from Boston College and her JD from Suffolk University Law School.
On Thursday, each candidate will be allowed 2-3 minutes to make an opening statement, followed by a round of questions from members of the School Committee and Select Board. Each member will voice vote and the winner will be announced.
Members of the public are invited to attend in person at HCAM studios at 77 Main Street, and the proceedings will be broadcast live on HCAM.
I’ll be supporting Ashley Fogg. We need to correct the wrong she suffered during her last election. Life long resident, children in the school district and well educated. We need some new blood and new ideas on the school committee.
Among these candidates there is only one who has had the courage to run in a contested election: Ashley Fogg. If the Select Board was interested in healing some of the harms perpetrated by members of the HDTC and acknowledging the majority of citizens who are demanding a non-partisan local government, they would choose the candidate who has repeatedly stood up
for independent thought. I doubt very much that this is a fair fight – multiple elected officials spoke out against changing the election procedure for which Fogg was advocating. Of course, it is unsurprising that those individuals prefer not to relinquish power, or guaranteed election outcomes or even entertain alternate points of view. However, if you are going to resist every single unenrolled and independent candidate, refuse to appoint folks representing diversity of opinions to committees, you necessarily own all of the failed projects and failed policies in this town. Good leaders know when to call people in, when to share responsibility and (frankly, simply as a matter of self-preservation) when to admit wrongdoing. The Select Board has an opportunity here – it will be interesting to see what they do with it.
Edited to add… I do not recall if Nickerson ran in a contested election and my memory is Wronka withdrew nomination papers. I do not recall the other applicants running in town. Fogg is the one who ran against Morand – it seems appropriate to honor her effort in this case.
Lori and I both won seats in the 2014 election for SC in a 3 candidate contested race.
I stand corrected!
Lori Nickerson won her election to School Committee (along with Kelly Knight) in a contested race as an unenrolled and independent candidate in 2014.
It is amazing how the political culture in town has changed … let’s hope that removing caucuses from the procedure allows the unenrolled candidates to have a chance. Thank you!
That doesn’t make sense either. If she lost the election then people didn’t want her. This would be getting through the backdoor. I would let the committee decide.
I’ve been told that Fargiano, bhrath, nickerson, jacobs, cavanuagh (U), scordino, graziano and others have made the case to HDTC that they were worthy candidates and garnered their support.
I am primarily interested in current political culture but do not want misrepresent facts from the last decade.
I don’t understand why the SB has anything to do with what happened between Ashley and Darlene. The HDTC did nothing to Ashley either. I believe they released a statement say so. While both caucuses spoke against the article it passed so it’s a go. Time to move on .
I sincerely hope that the Select Board does the right thing, and appoints Ashley Fogg for the open position. She offers a fresh perspective, which is something that is sorely needed on the SC.
I agree whole heartedly with Marissa. Let’s not forget February of 2022 when Lori N., who is an attorney, by the way, filed an open meeting law violation against 2 SC members without retrieving “evidence” about the purpose of the meeting. Imagine that! A lawyer not getting her facts straight. When in doubt, ask! How embarrassing that must have been for her to dismiss step 1 which should have been getting facts from the then members of the SC. And the legal fees the town accrued because of this ridiculous and uncorroborated filing. Wronka wants to slide in without checks and balances of her ultra-leftist agenda. Fogg is the only appropriate candidate. She has guts and fortitude. And skin in the game with 3 students of her own.
I have searched high and low for the outcome of the open meeting law complaint that was filed. Our town council made the decision to read dozens of emails to formally put them in the record – it was good lawyering to cover the bases but unfortunately it left the impression that the SC did something wrong and to my knowledge this issue has never been resolved. Or. If I am mistaken, someone please share the outcome here. I think for Meg and Joe it would be fair and right to follow up on this issue. Tremendous town leaders who were harmed significantly by this unfortunate event.
Oh boy! Let the games begin….mAy tHe oDDs bE eVer iN yOuR fAvOr….
It is kind of curious how all of these people come crawling out of the woodwork to apply for this opening. Where were they during the recent election? Some cynical minds might speculate that perhaps they stayed out of the race, so as not to dilute the lefty vote too much, lest Ashley Fogg get elected. And now that they know that this Select Board and this School Committee would never in a million years give the open position to Ashley, they can safely apply. Or am I being too cynical?
Oh good. This tells me the MAGA person to avoid. Thanks for that Glen.
Just to make sure Sravan you are not spreading misinformation. I am not a “MAGA” person. And I’d appreciate if you didn’t say so, I’ve had enough of that insinuation.
And if I may be so bold to say it would best to not avoid people just because of their politics. This would be a good start in repairing the great divide in this town and country.