Lewiston school committee rescinds Jan. 6 chair vote, adopts nomination rules and elects Megan Parks 5-4

The Lewiston Public Schools School Committee on Jan. 13 unanimously rescinded the committee’s Jan. 6 chair vote, agreed on a nomination-and-voting procedure for future officer elections and elected Megan Parks, at-large member, as chair in a 5-4 vote.

The committee’s workshop and discussion addressed disputed procedures used at the Jan. 6 meeting that prompted four members to leave in protest. Members debated nomination mechanics, whether to keep a vice chair, whether votes should be by roll call or secret ballot, and whether draft procedural rules should be reviewed by legal counsel before use.

The motion to rescind the Jan. 6 chair vote passed unanimously during the Jan. 13 meeting. After workshop discussion, committee members settled on a nomination process in which members may nominate candidates, nominees may accept or decline, nominations are closed, and the body holds an election. The committee debated secret ballots versus roll call votes; after public comment and internal discussion the group reached consensus to proceed with a roll-call vote for the chair election that evening. Members also agreed to drop the vice-chair position in favor of a pro tem model for presiding when the chair is absent and to return later to formalize procedural language in its policy manual.

Janet Boden, School Committee member (Ward 2), opened nominations and placed one candidate on the floor; Elizabeth Eames, School Committee member (Ward 3), nominated another. Both nominees accepted. After public comment and brief remarks from each nominee, the committee conducted a roll-call election. The vote to elect Megan Parks passed 5 to 4.

Committee members and the superintendent repeatedly cited Robert’s Rules of Order and the city charter as reference points while stressing the need to write clearer local procedural rules. Superintendent Jake Langley told the committee that local procedural rules are ordinarily adopted as policy and that such policy changes typically require two readings; members said they would proceed with the new nomination process that evening while bringing finalized language back for formal adoption.

The committee also discussed practical choices for the election procedure: whether to use ballots (which several members said can reduce perceived pressure on voters) or roll-call votes (which others, and members of the public, argued are more transparent). Members noted that a ballot process carries additional administrative steps such as ballot retention and recordkeeping, and the superintendent warned a secret ballot could raise public questions about vote counts. The committee opted to use a roll-call vote for the chair election and left more detailed rule wording — including ballot procedures and the formal role of a parliamentarian — to a subsequent policy-drafting process.

The group agreed that the school committee’s procedural rules should be restored to the district website and that any revised rules should be reviewed by legal counsel after the committee reaches internal consensus but before final adoption.

The meeting closed the governance items by noting which follow-up steps staff would take: circulate a draft of the nomination/election language for review, schedule a process to consider the parliamentarian’s role, and present revised procedural rules for a formal two-read policy adoption at a future meeting.