Westfield School Committee member Cindy Sullivan (left) who won re-election celebrated with Tim O’Connor and Heather Sullivan on the victory of all three to the School Committee. (Photo submitted)
WESTFIELD – The School Committee will have two former members return for four-year terms with the victories of Timothy O’Connor and Heather Sullivan on Tuesday. Incumbent Cindy Sullivan will also remain on the School Committee. Jeffrey Gosselin, who served for the past four years, lost his seat in the highly contested race.
The unofficial vote tally was as follows: Timothy O’Connor received 3,517 votes (28%); Heather Sullivan 3,304 (26%); Cindy Sullivan 3,009 (24%), and Jeffrey Gosselin 2,738 (22%). Voters were asked to choose not more than three candidates for the three seats, but could vote for only one or two. 6,731 spaces were left blank on the ballots, with a total of 24 write-ins.
“I’m elated. It’s been a very challenging election season, especially for incumbents. I look forward to working with Tim and Heather, because they’re going to be great assets to the committee,” said Cindy Sullivan, who waited for results at the Tavern Restaurant, as did O’Connor and Heather Sullivan.
“I’m overwhelmed by the support. I think my financial background and prior years on the School Committee were helpful with the vote. I look forward to hitting the ground running on January 1,” said O’Connor, who was the top vote-getter on Tuesday. “I thank everybody that supported me. I will work hard for the students, teachers and administration,” he added.
Heather Sullivan, who came in second in the unofficial vote tally agreed. “I’m so excited to be back on the committee. I would like to thank all of my supporters that came out to vote. I appreciate it, and I won’t let you down,” she said.
Jeffrey Gosselin, who hoped to return to the School Committee for a second term, is an autism assistant at J.F.K. Middle School in Northampton who said he wanted to continue to be “a voice for the educator.”
Although there will now be four Sullivans out of the seven member School Committee, only two of them are related: Kevin Sullivan, who chairs the Finance sub-committee, is the brother of Mayor Brian P. Sullivan, chair of the School Committee. Cindy Sullivan and Heather Sullivan are not related to each other, or to Kevin Sullivan or Brian Sullivan.
