Armand Wray resigns from School Committee

Date: 11/21/2011

Nov. 21, 2011

By Chris Maza

Reminder Assistant Editor

LONGMEADOW — For the third time in the last six months, the Longmeadow School Committee suffered the loss of one of its members.

School Committee member Armand Wray announced his resignation at the Nov. 14 meeting, citing professional responsibilities that prevented him from making the proper commitment to the position.

“I took a new position at my current employer,” Wray, who works for Sun Life Financial Professional Insurance Company, told Reminder Publications. “There are increased responsibilities and I was already on the road quite a bit during the summer. I felt that there wasn’t enough time for me to adequately serve the town in this capacity.

“I only know one way to serve and that’s all-in, so I came to the very emotional decision to resign,” he concluded.

School Committee Chair Jennifer Jester expressed disappointment in the resignation, but wished Wray well.

“We’re sorry to see him go, but we understand why he made this decision for his family,” Jester said. “I know he traveled an awful lot recently and I know that was hard on him and his family, plus he missed a lot of meetings, which was increasingly frustrating for him because he wants to make a difference in his community. He was a fantastic member and we will miss him.”

Wray’s departure comes on the heels of the recent appointments by the Select Board and School Committee of Owen Humphries and James Desrochers, who replaced Thomas Brunette and Gwendolyn Bruns, respectively.

Brunette resigned in June, citing professional and personal responsibilities, followed by Bruns, whose husband’s company relocated him to Vermont.

In addition to those departures, Christine Swanson recently announced she would be leaving the Select Board because her family is moving to Savannah, Ga. Robert Barkett also announced in early 2011 that he would not be running for re-election to the Select Board in order to focus on his duties as co-chair of the School Building Committee, a position he shares with Swanson.

After coming in fourth in a five-candidate race a month prior, Wray was appointed to a seat on the School Committee in July 2008, replacing Jim Nittoli, who resigned in 2007. He was elected to the remainder of Nittoli’s three-year seat the following year and served as the chair of the committee in 2010.

Wray said he still plans on being active in the community, though he has no plans to run for another public office in the future.

“Right now I’m going to coach my daughter’s basketball team and soon I’ll be coaching my son’s soccer team,” he said. “I’m still going to be active in the PTOs [parent-teacher organizations] and I’m still going to be an active participant at town meeting, but I won’t be in an elected position.”

Wray expressed gratitude to the School Committee.

“I’d like to thank everyone for their support,” he said. “Jen is a great leader who I think will keep the School Committee on the path to greatness.”

Any residents interested in applying for consideration for appointment to Wray’s vacant seat must submit an application to the Select Board’s office at Town Hall by Dec. 1 at 4 p.m. Applications are available at the Select Board’s office and on the Select Board page of the Longmeadow website, www.longmeadow.org.

The Select Board and School Committee will make a decision on whom to appoint jointly in accordance with state law on Dec. 12, after interviewing all candidates on Dec. 5.

Whoever fills the position will serve until the June 2012 town election.

“At that time, the town will vote for someone to fill a three-year seat because Armand’s term was up this year,” Jester said.

Jester added that she anticipated the process would be a smooth one, given that the town has already faced this situation this year.

“We spent a lot of time determining how to implement this process and while it’s unfortunate we have to do it again so soon, at least we know our procedures and hopefully this will move along expeditiously,” she said.