Six for School Committee

The School Committee and City Council will get together tomorrow night to pick a new School Committee member for James O'Donnell's seat. There are six candidates, and it appears to be a pretty good crop (We're having links issues this afternoon, so if you want to read a story about it, check out both the Sentinel and the Telegram. Links to the papers are on the right).

Of the bunch, for the sake of consistency, we would likely back Yvette Cooks, who ran for School Committee in 2005 and was the next-highest vote-getter (yes, the only other vote-getter on the ballot).

Simply, we feel the best way to fill these positions whenever possible is to take the person who finished first among the also-rans. We particularly feel that way about the upcoming opening on the City Council when Steve DiNatale steps down to become state rep.

The council in particular can send a message on how it views the DiNatale opening by picking Cooks. Considering the quality of some of the candidates, Cooks might not be the most obvious choice. However, she wants the job enough to have run for it last go-around and has at least some voter aproval behind her.