WORCESTER — The first School Committee election to have races for district seats has led to five new faces on the board, though the faces aren’t all new to the city: Maureen Binienda, Vanessa Zuleyma Alvarez, Dianna Biancheria, Alejandro Guardiola and Kathleen Roy.
The biggest shake up was for the at-large seats with former Worcester Superintendent Binienda knocking out incumbent at-large committee members Tracy O’Connell Novick and Laura Clancey.
In February 2021, the Worcester branch of the NAACP and Worcester Interfaith, along with eight residents of color, filed a lawsuit against the district claiming that the committee’s practice of having six at-large seats was discriminatory because minority neighborhoods did not get fair representation. The group won their suit and Worcester split the school committee into six district seats and two at-large seats.
Three incumbent at-large committee members chose to run for the two at-large seats: Sue Coghlin Mailman, Clancey and O’Connell Novick. They ran against challenger Binienda, a familiar face in Worcester who served as Worcester superintendent from 2016 to 2022, when the School Committee voted not to renew her contract.
Binienda earned the most at-large votes with 11,040 votes, or nearly 34% of the vote and Coghlin Mailman claimed the second seat with 8,539 votes or around 26%. O’Connell Novick and Clancey lost their seats with 7,459 votes or nearly 23% of the vote and 5,564 votes or 17% of the vote , respectively.
Voter totals, school committee:
At-Large
- Laura B. Clancey—5,564 votes, 17% of the vote
- Maureen F. Binienda—11,040 votes, 33.86% of the vote
- Tracy O’Connell Novick— 7,459 votes, 22.88% of the vote
- Susan M. Coghlin Mailman—8,539 votes, 26.19% of the vote.
District A
- Molly O. McCullough—4,011, 100% of the vote
District B
- Vanessa Zuleyma Alvarez—1,469, 100% of the vote
District C
- Dianna Biancheria—1,990, 58.43% of the vote
- Jermoh V. Kamara—1,416, 41.57% of the vote
District D
- Alejandro Guardiola—1,005, 100% of the vote
District E
- Kathleen Roy—1,558, 51.62%of the vote
- Nelly Medina—1,460, 48.38% of the vote
District F
- Jermaine Lamont Johnson—4,005, 100% of the vote
Coghlin Mailman was running for her second term, Clancy for a third and O’Connell Novick has had two stints on the committee from 2010 to 2015 and 2019 to the present.
In the District races that were split into Districts A to F, four of the seats only had a single candidate.
District C was competitive with current at-large committee member Jermoh Kamara competing against Dianna Biancheria. Biancheria ultimately came out ahead with 1,990 votes to 1,416 votes.
District E was also contested with newcomers Nelly Medina and Kathleen Roy challenging each other for the seat. Roy won with 1,558 votes to Medina’s 1,460 votes.
Current at-large members Molly McCullough and Jermaine Johnson were the sole candidates for District A and F, respectively, and newcomers Vanessa Zuleyma Alvarez and Alex Guardiola, were the only candidates for District B and D.
Kiernan Dunlop is an award-winning journalist who has spent the past five years reporting in Worcester, New Bedford and Antigua and Barbuda. She’s been published in Bloomberg, USA Today, Canary Media, MassLive, and the New Bedford Standard Times, among other outlets. She can be contacted at kdunlop@theworcesterguardian.org
