Framingham To Pick New School Committee Member

FRAMINGHAM, MA — The Framingham School Committee and City Council will decide on Tuesday who will replace Karen Foran Dempsey, the District 2 School Committee member who died unexpectedly in December.

Four District 2 residents applied for the seat: Richard Finlay, Kelly Garofalo, David Gordon and Brandon Ward. The School Committee interviewed each candidate during a Feb. 17 meeting, and each of their resumes can be viewed on the district website.

During Tuesday's meeting, each candidate will get two minutes to talk about why they should be selected. Each member of the Council and School Committee will then vote for the candidate they want.

School Committee Chair Adam Freudberg has said he wanted Dempsey's replacement picked before the next fiscal year's budget process gets underway. The $147.5 million fiscal 2022 schools budget will be presented during a meeting on Wednesday, with a tentative vote on the final version by the end of March.

Dempsey, who was a fixture in city government and a leading advocate for the disabled in Massachusetts, died on Dec. 24. She was first elected to the School Committee in December 2019, which means her seat will be up for election in November. The candidate picked to replace her would have to run in the election to keep the seat beyond 2021.