Your Schools
East Longmeadow School Committee & Superintendent
The Only Other Body You Elect
Under this charter the voters of East Longmeadow elect exactly two things: the seven member Town Council and the five member School Committee. Every other board and commission seat in town is appointed. So of all the people who decide how your school day runs, five of them got there because residents voted for them, and their decisions do not pass through the Town Council on the way.
The five are nominated and elected at large for three year terms that start on July 1, staggered so that one seat comes up in one year and two in each of the next two. At the first meeting on or after July 1 the committee chooses a chairperson, a vice chairperson and a clerk from its own membership, each for a one year term, and it can reorganize itself at any point by a supermajority. The committee holds all the powers a Massachusetts school committee has: it sets school policy, approves the school budget, and hires and evaluates the Superintendent.
The Committee
Antonella Raschilla Manzi
Kerri Jarzabski
Aimee Dalenta
William Strother
Sarah Truoiolo
Roster from the district’s own School Committee page, reconciled against the 2025 Annual Report and the June 2, 2026 election returns.
The Superintendent
Joanne Menard
Joanne Menard is the district’s Superintendent, hired by the five elected members of the School Committee and answerable to them. The Superintendent runs the district day to day: staffing, curriculum, the school calendar, and the budget request that the committee votes before it ever reaches the Town Manager’s package. Working alongside her are Pamela Blair, Assistant Superintendent for Business, Heather Brown, Assistant Superintendent for Teaching and Learning, and Jenny Sullivan, Director of Student Support Services.
If a decision affects what happens inside a classroom, the route runs through this office and then to the committee. If it affects how much money the schools have to spend, it runs through the committee, then the Town Manager’s budget, then the Council’s vote.
The Five Schools
| East Longmeadow High School | 180 Maple Street, 413-525-5460 |
|---|---|
| Birchland Park Middle School | 55 Hanward Hill, 413-525-5480 |
| Mapleshade Elementary School | 175 Mapleshade Avenue, 413-525-5485 |
| Meadow Brook Elementary School | 607 Parker Street, 413-525-5470 |
| Mountain View Elementary School | 77 Hampden Road, 413-525-5490 |
The High School Your Town Voted to Build
On November 7, 2023 East Longmeadow held a special town election with two questions on the ballot. Question One asked voters to accept a debt exclusion to fund a new East Longmeadow High School. It passed 3,598 to 1,618. Question Two asked for a pool attached to the school, and it passed 3,240 to 1,949. 5,225 of the town’s 13,188 registered voters cast a ballot that day, a turnout of 39.6 percent, and the residents who came out committed the town to a thirty year bond.
The arithmetic behind the vote moved before it happened. At its October 25, 2023 meeting the Massachusetts School Building Authority raised its funding limits, lifting the state grant for the project from about $63 million to about $82 million and cutting the town’s share by $19 million. The town’s own Costs and Funding page put the total project at $177.5 million with a town share of roughly $95 million, and the pool at $16.7 million on top.
Filling a Vacancy on the Committee
A School Committee vacancy is not filled by the committee alone. The President of the Town Council calls a special joint meeting of the Council and the remaining School Committee members within 30 days, and the two groups together choose a replacement from among the town’s registered voters. That appointee serves only until the next regular town election.
What this seat decides
Your School Committee member
The five at large seats. School policy, the school budget, and the hiring and evaluation of the Superintendent. A petition signed by 100 registered voters obliges the committee to hold a public hearing and act within three months, and an initiative petition can put a school question in front of it the same way it can the Council.
Your school budget is voted in public by five people you elect. Learn how to be heard by them.
MassCivics last checked this page on October 20, 2026.
Sources
- Schools and districts: Massachusetts DESE, district profile, Contact Information, as of October 1, 2025.
- Town Clerk records: Town of East Longmeadow, Master Town Election Results, June 2, 2026, as of June 2, 2026.
- School district records: East Longmeadow Public Schools, School Committee, as of October 2026.