Foley, Jefferson join Select Board; Marr, Bram grab School Committee seats

May 17, 2022 lordpaluzzi

You can call Ann Marie Foley and Andy Jefferson Select Board members, while Liora Bram has now joined the School Committee.

And Amy Marr? She’s no longer School Committee chair, but with 1,093 votes, she is decidedly re-elected to her second term.

The vote comes after a hard-fought race that had multiple candidates turning out for the two top boards in town government. On Select Board, there was a rare race without incumbents, as member Peter Carlson and Doreen DeFazio both declined second runs. On School Committee, Jennifer Connelly, first elected in 2015, decided to end her career on the board.

In the end, 1,924 voters decided the green signs had it.

Foley, who has long been involved with environmental and recreational matters in town, topped the ballot for the day, grabbing 1,158 votes while Finance Committee member Jefferson came in with a respectable 938. Coming in third was political newcomer Carl Palmer with 668 votes, while Community Preservation Committee member Richard Whitney pulled in 508 votes.

Marr, who spent her first term on a School Committee wrangling COVID-19 amid budget issues, was re-elected with 1,093 votes, with Bram, formerly co-chair of the Grafton Special Education Parent Advisory Committee, drawing 890 votes. Former educator Craig Juelis came in with 790 votes while Stacie Norton Bennett had 504 votes.

All results are unofficial until certified by the Grafton Town Clerk’s office.

Speaking of, Town Clerk Kandy LaVallee was also re-elected — possibly for the last time as Town Meeting may be voting to make her job appointed rather than elected.