Hanover School Committee re-elects Miraglia as chair, reorganizes for new school year
Committee members discuss leadership rotation while assigning roles to working groups focused on academics, budget and policy for 2025-26.
HANOVER - June 23 - The Hanover School Committee re-elected Peter Miraglia as chair for the 2025-26 school year during its reorganization meeting Monday, despite discussion about rotating leadership positions.
Ryan Hall was re-elected vice chair after the committee discussed the merits of continuity versus fresh leadership following what members described as a challenging budget year.
"I think the difficult thing here is that I know I nominated Jackie and Ryan," said committee member Libby Corbo, who advocated for rotating leadership roles. "I think that we have highly qualified members here who have not had a chance to serve."
Corbo expressed concerns about maintaining the same leadership structure, referencing previous years when "it was politics and personalities" rather than principles guiding decisions.
However, both Hall and Jaclyn Jorgenson declined nominations for chair, citing bandwidth concerns and timing issues.
"I don't know that if it's right for me at this time," said Jorgenson. "All last year was budget, budget, budget, budget. And I thought it might be fun to do things in our budget, but I really appreciate that."
Hall also declined, saying the role wasn't what she was "imagining for myself this year."
Chris Tracy supported Miraglia's re-election, emphasizing the value of continuity. "I think continuity is actually a pretty good thing right now after a tumultuous couple of years in the school systems," Tracy said. "And I think he's provided steady leadership."
Miraglia acknowledged the challenging year while expressing enthusiasm for shifting focus toward educational matters. "I feel like last year was tough on everybody," he said. "I think we can find far more things in common that we get excited to work on each other with than the budget."
The committee established three working groups for the upcoming year: academic, budget and policy. Hall and Jorgenson were assigned to the academic working group, reflecting the committee's stated priority of focusing on curriculum and instruction.
"We are kind of taking a turn towards curriculum and instruction as the focus this year," Hall said. "I certainly hope that as the committee, regardless of who the chair is, that that is the focus that we take."
Miraglia and Tracy were assigned to the budget working group, while Corbo and Jorgenson will serve on the policy working group.
The committee also assigned various liaison positions, with Hall continuing as the liaison to the Special Education Parent Advisory Council (SEPAC). Corbo was selected for the student advisory council and sick leave bank representative positions.
Tracy received multiple assignments, including health and safety representative, community access and media liaison, legislative matters representative, and traffic safety committee liaison.
"I worked at the state house for a short time. Worked in Boston City Hall for a long time," Tracy said regarding his interest in legislative matters. "So comfortable in and around legislative bodies."
The committee unanimously approved authorizing Superintendent Matt Ferron to execute a contract assignment with Ingel Bus Lines, the new owners of the district's bus service provider.
Director of Finance and Operations Michael Oates explained that Joseph Ingel Bus Service has been sold to the Lucini family, who will operate under the name Engel Bus Lines while maintaining existing routes and drivers.
"They are keeping on Sam Ingel, who has been fantastic and will continue to work with," Oates said. "They're committed to keeping our drivers, our routes."
The transition occurs during the second year of a three-year contract, with the assignment allowed under existing contract terms. Oates noted that Steve Ingel plans to continue driving some routes.
"Steve himself will be driving some routes here and there," Ferron said. "He didn't want to get too far away from the students and the work that's been part of his life for his entire life."
The committee discussed the importance of moving beyond budget-focused meetings toward educational priorities. Miraglia highlighted plans for developing a strategic plan as a key initiative.
"One of my big focus would be in strategic, the strategic plan, because that has many, many spokes on it," Miraglia said. "It really should be about our vision for what we want to do over the next three years, five years as a district, as a committee."
Hall emphasized the need for the committee to learn from the previous year's challenges while maintaining focus on educational outcomes.
"I think as long as the committee is kind of open to those conversations about ways that we can improve as a committee and kind of change those things, I think that would be important," Hall said.
Other major items addressed during the meeting included:
• Assignment of Matt Ferron as North River Collaborative representative
• Establishment of ex officio roles for the chair as liaison to South Shore School Committee and town officials
• Discussion of union negotiations being placed on hold
• Confirmation that the bus contract transition maintains all existing terms and conditions
The reorganization meeting concluded the committee's formal business for the summer, with members expressing optimism about focusing on curriculum and educational initiatives in the coming school year rather than budget constraints that dominated previous meetings.