With the election over and the four new members of the Bristol Warren School Committee chosen by voters, attention will now turn to which member from Warren’s three representatives will be voted upon by their peers to become the next chairperson of the nine-person committee.

That decision, along with the next vice chair, secretary, and treasurer, will all be decided when the new amalgamation of the school committee is seated for their first meeting on Monday, Nov. 28.

Although no one reached out to has been forthcoming in terms of who they are planning on voting for, each member who is potentially in line for the top leadership position on the committee did speak about the situation when asked.

Tara Thibaudeau
Tara Thibaudeau, who currently serves as the committee’s vice chair after winning a seat in 2020, and is the Recreation Director in Warren, said she was optimistic about the new makeup of the school board.

“I’m very excited for the people that were elected,” she said. “I’m excited about Jessica [Almeida] because she has the financial knowledge that Sheila [Ellsworth] had, so that’s definitely a positive to have someone who is strong financially. And Kyle [Jackson] in Warren, he’s from Warren, his dad was actually my athletic director when I was in high school and was actually my class advisor, so I’ve known his family for a long time and his commitment to the town of Warren. And Carly [Reich] is back and Adam McGovern is also a great addition, another Bristolian with strong ties to the community…I’m really optimistic.”

When asked if Thibaudeau coveted the leadership position, she confirmed her interest.

“I do want to be chairman,” she said. “My priorities, I am a super organized person and already have a plan…My thing is really promoting transparency in the community, sharing the presentations, and getting that information out to the public…I think that I have run enough committees and organizations in town with enough people with diverse backgrounds and opinions and philosophies that I can do this. I think my experience speaks for itself.”

Thibaudeau said that in the past couple years, the district has put in place a good superintendent in Dr. Ana Riley, a sound financial leader in Tony Ferrucci, and that has resulted in budgetary and administrative stability which should result in more cohesion among the school committee and their process.

“I don’t want to micromanage,” she said. “We are headed in the right direction, and our administration is solid this year. I want to see that continue. I do trust the administration.”

When asked about the school committee’s often tumultuous voting history in recent years — with many controversial votes ending in 5-4 decisions where Thibaudeau, herself, has been a swing vote on multiple occasions, she said that she was optimistic that the committee will look at all issues with an open mind.

“I don’t know how any one vote is going to go because I don’t know what the issue that is going to be coming before us,” she said. “Adam is open minded and he looks at the whole picture. I do the same, although it may look like I do a 5-4 split. Kyle is the same way. I’m optimistic that the tides have changed a little, and we have a different superintendent in place…With this new superintendent in place we haven’t seen as much controversy among us.”

Nicky Piper
Nicky Piper, who won her race for school committee in 2020 after serving four years as the chair of the Bristol Warren Education Foundation and amassing over a decade of experience with the National Academy for Advanced Teacher Education, also confirmed her interest in the leadership position.

“I would like to be chair,” she said. “To me, the leadership, they set the tone of the committee. And that’s most important right now because I feel the tone of the committee has been problematic, at least in how it’s been covered and seen among the general public.”

Piper said that, at the subcommittee level, “People actually work really well together and get stuff done,” but at the main committee level, things can get more contemptuous due to its often more performative nature in front of the public.

“I think the tone of the leadership on the committee is really important to sort of set the tone for how we all work together,” she said.

Piper said that the next chairperson, regardless of who it is, is set up for success because of the district’s new strategic plan that is now in place to set a vision for success moving forward — a strategic plan that was agreed upon unanimously by the committee.

“That strategic plan was built using a truly diverse cross section of community stakeholders,” she said. “I think that this committee is already 10 steps ahead because we have a road map in place. I think the important thing will be focusing on that and using that as our guidepost and avoiding distractions. Then I really do think if we can do that, we can achieve a ton.”

Piper said that she would be an effective chair because she has always sought to leave her own agendas out of the process.

“I believe in the two years I’ve been on the committee, I have behaved respectfully and have never brought my own personal agenda to the table. I have certainly had issues I believed in passionately and wanted to move forward, but I used the processes and policies and structures already in place to move my values forward,” she said. “I am comfortable having uncomfortable conversations and I have experience leading boards that have been productive and respectful.”

Piper also cautioned that regardless of whoever becomes chair, her approach to working with them will remain the same, and hopes the same for her colleagues on the committee.

“I’d like to move away from this idea of ‘two sides,’” she said. “I just want to get to a place where we can build a committee where disagreement is okay and we can harness the benefit of different opinions coming to the table rather than it being seen as a disadvantage.”

“The chair, at the end, is one of nine,” she continued. “They have the same number of votes as any other member. A good chair should make every single committee member feel like they have a voice, and should work on helping move the district forward. That should come with the input of all committee members. It shouldn’t be something that operates in isolation.”

Kyle Jackson
The newest Warren representative to the board, Kyle Jackson is technically eligible to become the next chair same as Thubaudeau or Piper, but he didn’t exactly jump up and down with his hand waving in the air when asked if he felt he wanted the job.

“It's not out of the question, but I think right now, I’d like to get my feet a little wet before going from brand new to the committee to being the chairperson,” he said. “That might be a little much.”

Jackson said that Thibaudeau had reached out to him and wanted to talk about her potential for becoming the next chair, which he said he was open to hearing about.

“She says she has a plan and a vision for if she became a chairperson,” he said. “So I said, well, I’d love to hear it.”

Jackson said he didn’t know who he would vote for in terms of the leadership position, but he said regardless of who gets the role, he hopes they will lead in a way that promotes a turn away from the divineness that was seen in recent years, and was a big reason for why he ran for the committee seat in the first place.

“My hope is whoever becomes the new chairperson, that they're going to find some common ground with the rest of the committee and that they're going to lead with positivity and respect and with the intention of working with the rest of the members as a team and try to avoid divisiveness. Because the last couple years have been very divisive,” he said. “It's a chance for us, with some new members on the committee, to try and work together to reset and figure out how we're going to work together and make decisions that are in the best interest of the students and the teachers of the district.”