Leader Staff
School chair Jeannie Cristiano told her colleagues on the school committee that her term of office as chair this year was “the honor a of lifetime.”
Cristiano said she looked forward to sitting in a chair with all of you and speaking out on issues a bit more in the coming year.
Cristiano made her mark as chair by being fiercely independent.
She could not be told what to do, and that was evident from the first meeting she presided over.
She also molded a professional friendship with Superintendent of Schools Priya Tahiliani. Cristiano came to be the most important voice on the school committee.
Her independence, above all, gave her power she might not have imagined when just starting out.
Her colleagues listened to her, and in certain instances, they followed her example – except for the mayor’s stalwarts – Millie Cardello, Mike McLaughlin, Joe LaMonica and Jason Marcus over whom he exerts a measure of mind control.