Labarge Defeats Write-In Challenger Hayes; Moshe & Ottaviani New Framingham School Committee Members

FRAMINGHAM – All nine district School Committee seats were uncontested on the City of Framingham ballot on Tuesday, November 2, but District 9 School Committee member William Labarge was facing a write-in challenger from Framingham High parent Scott Hayes.

According to the unofficial results in District 9 from the City Clerk’s office, Labarge easily won the race.

Labarge, who was seeking re-election for his second term on the 9-member School Committee received 200 votes.

There were only 28 write in votes combined in Precincts 16 & 17.

Hayes and Labarge were both actively campaigning at the District 9 polling place Harmony Grove Elementary School most of the day Tuesday.

Labarge is a former long-term Town Meeting member.

Also on Tuesday, the voters elected two new School Committee members Jenn Moshe in District 3 and Valerie Ottaviani in District 6. Both incumbents chose not to seek re-election.

Coming off the coronavirus pandemic, where many students were in remote learning for more than a year, it was a surprise to many to see none of the School Committee seats challenged, as some parents were very vocal about decision made during the pandemic. Hayes was one of those parents who was very vocal about pandemic decisions.

School Committee Chair Adam Freudberg in District 4 and School Committee vice chair Tiffanie Maskell in District 7 were both re-elected for a third term.

District 1 School Committee member Beverly Hugo was also re-elected to a third term of 2 years.

Re-elected for second terms were District 5 School Committee member Priscila Sousa and District 8 School Committee member Jessica Barnhill.

All will be sworn in on January 1 for a 2-year term.