The School Committee unanimously voted Thursday, May 9 to begin negotiations with Almudena Abeyta for the superintendent position, though the path to that decision required multiple rounds of voting.
Three finalists were under consideration to succeed Mary Bourque, who is retiring this year after more than 30 years leading Chelsea schools.
Abeyta, who serves as assistant superintendent of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment for the Somerville Public schools, emerged with the strongest backing from Committee members across four separate votes. The other finalists were Anthony Parker, principal of Weston High School, and Ligia Noriega-Murphy, assistant superintendent of secondary schools in the Boston Public Schools. All three candidates received praise from Committee members for their qualifications.
“Chelsea is very lucky tonight to have three
outstanding candidates,” At-Large School Committee member Frank DePatto stated. “The city is in good hands with any of the candidates.”
The difficulty of choosing among such strong candidates was acknowledged by DePatto and District Five member Henry Wilson, who had recently joined the Committee.
“I changed my mind and then I changed my
mind again,” Wilson remarked. “Today, I did a lot of praying.”
Garcia, a District Seven School Committee member, found Abeyta’s perspective as an educator particularly compelling.
“She answered every question with calmness, urgency,
confidence, and experience,” Garcia noted.
The initial vote appeared decisive, with Abeyta receiving 5-3 support. Committee member Rosemarie Carlisle was absent due to a medical issue, leaving eight members present.
A legal review revealed a procedural error: only one candidate had been formally entered into nomination when the vote occurred. Protocol required all candidates to be nominated first.
In the corrected second round of nominations, Abeyta received four votes, Noriega-Murphy three, and Parker one. A subsequent runoff between the top two candidates resulted in a 5-3 victory for Abeyta.
DePatto, who had voted for Noriega-Murphy during nominations, moved to make the final vote unanimous in Abeyta’s favor. Despite his preference for Noriega-Murphy, DePatto expressed satisfaction with the outcome following the meeting.