Charles Miles (top left) was appointed as the newest member of the School Committee on July 8.
Photo credit: SHCTV15
SOUTH HADLEY — The Selectboard and School Committee hosted a joint meeting on July 8 to interview candidates for a vacant School Committee position.
Charles Miles, Cristina Jardine and Tracy Kennedy applied to fill the vacancy of Jackson Matos, who announced his resignation through a letter at the May 1 School Committee meeting.
After being reelected for another one-year term at the April 8 Town Election, School Committee Chair Eric Friesner read a letter of resignation from Matos during the May 1 meeting.
Part of the letter read, “Back-to-back cardiac incidents, not caused by either of my elected positions, have forced me to reassess my obligations and stressors that are affecting my personal and family life.”
Matos resigned from the School Committee back in 2022 after surviving a heart attack. He rejoined the committee in 2024 after a vacant seat opened and the School Committee unanimously approved the appointment.
Friesner continued to read, “The reprioritization led to seeking new housing and that search to a new home led me and my family to relocate to Springfield, Massachusetts. This move makes me ineligible for service on the School Committee and as a Town Meeting member.”
During the joint meeting, the Selectboard and School Committee voted to appoint Charles Miles to the School Committee.
Miles served on the South Hadley School Committee from 2019 to 2021 and he resigned after a year and a half of the coronavirus pandemic. He has also served on Capital Planning Committee, Bylaw Review Committee and Implementation Committee.
Besides serving on multiple South Hadley committees, Miles served in the United States Army.
Miles stated why is he interested in serving on the School Committee again and said, “I’m a strong believer in public education and in public service in general. When this opening came about, I decided it was time to reach back out.”
Miles also said he has not decided about serving in this role beyond the upcoming election.
“I have given it a lot of thought. My intent right now is to fill out the rest of this term and then make this decision,” Miles said.
Since last serving on the School Committee, Miles said he has more time and flexibility to serve on subcommittees due to him now being self-employed.
Even though the School Committee position vacancy left by Matos was filled, another vacancy was presented before the joint meeting.
The School Committee hosted a meeting on July 8 before its joint meeting with the Selectboard to announce the resignation of Daniel Vieu from the committee.
Vieu was at the meeting and he explained that he is moving out of South Hadley but stated, “I want to say thank you to the community for allowing me the opportunity to serve you.”
Friesner explained that with the resignation of Vieu, there will be another appointment in “about 30 days,” and hopes that the other two candidates apply for the School Committee again.
He said, “All three [were] great candidates so whoever’s not appointed tonight, it would be wonderful to see your names back before us again.”
