New Leadership for Bloomfield School Board

Emily Smith became president of the Bloomfield School Board after former board president Mary Shaughnessy stepped down from the role at the Board’s public meeting on Tuesday night.

Shaughnessy, on the board since 2009, will continue as a board member but has stepped down from its leadership as president.

Speaking in from of a packed BOE audience at the high school’s media center, she cited personal and family reasons for leaving the presidency and said she believed her skills could be put to better use elsewhere on the board. On her 2012 campaign website, she said monitoring district operations and attending school functions as board president required at least 25 hours per week.

Shaughnessy announced she was stepping down as president at the top of the meeting. Interim business administrator James Verbist led the board in an anonymous vote. Each board member wrote down the name of their preferred president on paper and handed it to Verbist.

The first vote was a stalemate, with Shane Berger and Emily Smith receiving four votes each and one board member opting to abstain. A second vote was held immediately afterward, with Smith garnering five votes to win. 

Smith was first elected to the board in 2005 and was the board treasurer in 2008 and 2009. Smith thanked her predecessor in her first report as president and said she had big shoes to fill.