Marking the Boston School Committee’s first leadership change in five years, Michael Loconto, of West Roxbury, was unanimously elected by his colleagues last week as the new Boston School Committee chairman. He replaces Michael O’Neill, who decided against running for the office again.
Loconto, a 39-year-old attorney and father of three BPS students, is an in-house legal counsel for Curry College and one of Mayor Martin Walsh’s first appointees to the board, which was established in 1992. His election on Wednesday came on the same day that the mayor re-appointed him and fellow member Hardin Coleman to the board for another four years.
The new chairman thanked the mayor in his remarks at the committee meeting, saying that Walsh’s “commitment to this city and the district are an inspiration to me and a model for public service,” he said. “This committee shares his vision for the Boston Public Schools as a place that provides sterling educational opportunities for all students.”