Chatham board elects Ciccarelli president, Ross vice president in unanimous votes

Anne Ciccarelli was elected president of the School District of the Chathams Board of Education for 2026 after a board member nominated her and a second was offered; the board approved the nomination by an 8‑0 roll‑call vote. The board then elected Susan Ross as vice president, also by an 8‑0 roll call.

The reorganizational votes were part of a brief organizational period at the start of the board’s first meeting of 2026. After the leadership votes, the board approved organizational items (v1 to v2) and discussed possible changes to the March and April meeting dates to align the board calendar with the state budget schedule.

During roll calls for the leadership and organizational votes, members recorded their approvals individually: Miss Ross, Miss Allen, Mister Del Sandro, Miss Peck, Mister Ryan, Mister Smith, Miss Weber and Doctor Zhang each voted yes. No member recorded an opposing vote during these items.

The board also approved the minutes from the Dec. 8 meeting and moved through a set of routine personnel and finance agenda items later in the meeting, all by unanimous rolls calls. A change to one personnel item (a21) corrected George Ellis’s classification to custodian.

The meeting closed its public‑comment opportunities without speakers and confirmed there was no executive session scheduled for the evening.