Dr. Lisa Lavoie, who was described as probably the “best educated” person on the School Committee or City Council, was appointed Monday night by both boards to serve out the remaining two years of Kevin Carr's term on the committee.

In a joint meeting of the council and school committee, she won the appointment with nine votes to Sean O'Brien's six votes. Francis Vigeant received two votes.

Neither Darek Barcikowski nor Kenneth Sawicki received a vote. Heather Leclerc, who had submitted an application to be considered, did not appear at the meeting and was not nominated.

Mayor Kimberley Driscoll, who chairs the School Committee, called Lavoie “outstanding.” She spoke highly of three other candidates, but said she would vote for Lavoie because she is a “concerned parent.”

Driscoll praised O'Brien, who had worked as an intern in her office, and Vigeant, an education turn-around specialist, saying, “I want to hire Vigeant” to help the schools. She also praised Barcikowski for his business expertise.

Lavoie, who holds a doctorate and is a teacher and communications disorder specialist, said she is honored to be selected. “Now we have to get the holidays out of the way because we have a lot to do,” she said after the meeting. She will be sworn into office in January.

At the invitation of the School Committee, Lavoie sat in on the committee's regular meeting, held after the joint meeting of the City Council and School Committee. Carr, who had resigned his seat, also attended the school committee meeting. He will be sworn in next month as councilor-at-large, replacing Steven Pinto.

Lavoie was praised by Ward 5 Councilor John Ronan as probably “the best educated member of these boards.” She graduated from Harvard University and earned her doctorate at Cornell University. School Board member Jim Fleming objected to Ronan's characterization.

'The people have spoken.'

In addition to her qualifications, Lavoie came came in fourth in the November School Committee elections.

Councilor-at-large Arthur Sargent said the voters knew that Carr was probably leaving the school board, creating the vacancy.

“The voters knew what they were doing,” he said. So having placed fourth in the election means even more, he said of Lavoie.

Lavoie ran 622 votes short of winning one of three contested seats on the School Committee.

“The people have spoken,” said Ward 2 Councilor Michael Sosnowski.

O'Brien, who recently graduated from Salem State University with a major in public administration, was praised by several council and committee members for his understanding of Salem schools, his commitment to attend almost every school committee meeting and his passion for the students. He graduated from Salem High School.

Vigeant was praised for his experience in turning around schools, including two schools in Lynn.

Fleming and School Board member Dr. Brendan Walsh took issue with comments made by Sawicki. 

Sawicki said the school board had known since August that the Bentley School would be rated as a low performing school, but did not disclose it to the public until after the November election. He also said that there had been “an exodus” of top leaders from the school district because of the pending low-performance rating. He said former Superintendent William Cameron, the former principal of Bentley, and Carr had all left the district for this reason as well.

Fleming denied that any board member or the former superintendent had known about the low-performance rating of Bentley before the November election.

Walsh said the former principal at Bentley left because she had cancer and Cameron left the district because “he is a good son.” Cameron did not want it known, but he took a job in a western Massachusetts district to be close to his mother, who is ill and lives alone in Albany, Walsh said.

In other business, School Superintendent Stephen Russell announced that the Bentley school stakeholders will meet at 6 p.m. next Wednesday to begin developing a plan for turning the school around.