MassVoter.com← New BedfordMunicipal votes · 2024–2025 term
New Bedford School Committee
How the New Bedford School Committee voted, from the School Committee's official minutes. 7 members: the Mayor, who chairs it, and 6 elected citywide. The district has posted minutes online for only four meetings of this term: January through April 2025. Covers 4 meetings, January 13 to April 14, 2025.
A monthly email on what it voted on, starting in November.
What does the School Committee do? It hires and evaluates the superintendent, sets goals and policies for the public schools, and approves the school budget.
The City Council decides the total amount the schools get; the School Committee decides how that money is spent.
Sources: Mass. General Laws c. 71 § 37 (school committees) · c. 71 § 34 (school budgets)Your New Bedford ballot: 15 quizzes, about a minute each.
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Coming up
MassVoter can’t read New Bedford’s meeting calendar automatically yet. See upcoming meetings on the official site →
Members
ChairJon MitchellMayor; Chair (by law) · Mayor (chair) · at 3 of 4 meetings
Vice-ChairChristopher CotterVice Chair (2025) · Elected citywide · at 4 of 4 meetings
Melissa CostaSchool Committee Member · Elected citywide · at 4 of 4 meetingsColleen DawickiSchool Committee Member · Elected citywide · at 4 of 4 meetingsRoss Grace, Jr.School Committee Member · Elected citywide · at 4 of 4 meetings
Jack Livramento, Jr.School Committee Member · Elected citywide · at 4 of 4 meetingsBruce OliveiraSchool Committee Member · Elected citywide · at 4 of 4 meetings"At X of Y meetings" counts the roll call at the start of each meeting in this record. Members who step out are listed on each meeting page.
Meetings
About missing minutes
Not here yet: the district has posted minutes online for only some meetings. These pages cover every regular meeting with posted minutes: January through November 2021 (plus a special meeting on September 8, 2021), March through December 2022, January through April 2025, and January, February, March, April, May and August 2026. Minutes are not posted for the December 2021, January 2022 or February 2022 meetings, for any meeting in 2023 or 2024, or for the other 2025 and 2026 meetings; special meetings, budget sessions and subcommittees in those years are not posted either. Minutes for 2020 are posted but are not on these pages yet. The district posted some 2021 minutes twice; we read both copies and they match. Where a printed roll call does not match its count, or the minutes call a vote unanimous when the roll call shows a no vote, the vote is noted; we will ask the School Committee office to confirm.
Votes where members disagreed
Most committee votes are unanimous. These are the ones where at least one member voted no or abstained, newest first.
None.
From the New Bedford School Committee’s official minutes, posted on the New Bedford Public Schools website. The minutes are scanned documents, which we read with text recognition. Every vote is a roll call with each member named; we check every count against the names and quote the exact wording. MassVoter never grades officials; votes and attendance are shown exactly as the minutes record them. Member photos: Melissa Costa, Richard Porter and Von Marie Moniz from The New Bedford Light (Eleonora Bianchi, Nov. 2025); Christopher Cotter from WBSM; Mayor Jon Mitchell from the Council on Competitiveness. William “Brad” Markey from The Standard-Times (Oct. 2023 candidate forum). Jack Livramento, Jr. from The New Bedford Light (Colin Hogan, June 2022).
How to read these pagesWhere the votes come from, how we check them against the official minutes, what isn't included yet, and how to report a mistake.About city pages →