School Committee appoints Montanis to board

School Committee · Meeting of January 22, 2026

IPSWICH — The Ipswich School Committee voted 6-3 Thursday to appoint Paul Montanis to its vacant seat, choosing him over finalists Andrew Bunnell and Jason Harlow after a joint session with the Select Board. Montanis will serve through the May 2026 election. Select Board member Charlie Surpitski told the School Committee "yours matter more" in deferring the final call.

The boards used a nomination-and-runoff process, suggested by the town manager, to narrow five finalists to three before the roll-call vote. Separately, the committee approved a new 504 procedural manual presented by Interim Director of Student Services Meg Finnegan, cleared three overnight field trips including a $25,000-goal racing team trip to Charlotte, North Carolina, and accepted $1,285 in gift-account donations, including $500 from Tedford's Building Materials.

In the full story:

• The Full Story
• Why It Matters
• Key Motions & Votes
• Source
• Ipswich's community access TV: School Committee meeting, January 22, 2026
• The complete report: 938 words

Source: the School Committee meeting of January 22, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.

Checked against the record: before publication this article was automatically compared with the meeting transcript.