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Jennifer Schaeffner will run for Select Board in the June 9 town election, opting against a third term on the School Committee and turning what had been an uncontested race into a three-candidate contest for two seats.
At the same time, former School Committee chair Sarah Fox has pulled nomination papers for one of the two School Committee seats, signaling a possible return to elected office less than a year after voters dealt her a decisive defeat.
Together, the moves add fresh intrigue to two of the town’s most closely watched races as Marblehead grapples with an estimated $7 million structural deficit for fiscal 2027, the loss of state grant eligibility tied to MBTA Communities Act noncompliance and continued fallout from years of instability in the school district.
Schaeffner, now serving her second stint on the School Committee after an earlier term from 2016 to 2020 and a return to office in 2023, would bring nearly a decade of elected experience to the Select Board.
Her entry reshapes a contest that until now had drawn just two announced candidates for two open seats: incumbent Erin M. Noonan, who is seeking reelection, and Rossana Ferrante, chair of the Recreation and Park Commission. Ferrante is not an incumbent.
Raised in Marblehead, Schaeffner attended Marblehead Public Schools and graduated from Wheaton College. She spent more than 22 years in the investment and banking industry before founding a North Shore residential real estate and property management business in 2004. Since 2022, she has served as a governor-appointed commissioner on the Marblehead Housing Authority. She was also a co-founder of the now-shuttered Marblehead Beacon news site.
As School Committee chair, Schaeffner became the public face of the board during the November 2024 teachers strike. She defended the district’s contract proposal as fair and reflective of the town’s financial constraints and rejected the Marblehead Education Association’s push for a $7.5 million Proposition 2½ override, pointing instead to failed override votes in 2022 and 2023.
Her departure leaves one of two School Committee seats open on the June ballot, alongside the unexpired seat created when Brian Scott Ota resigned in August 2025. Appointed committee member Melissa Marie Clucas and Ann Marie Jordan are already listed in that race. Fox’s decision to pull papers suggests the field may grow again.
Fox, a former School Committee member and longtime town volunteer, first joined the committee in 2019 and won election to a full three-year term in 2022. During her tenure, she chaired or co-chaired the Budget Subcommittee, Facilities Committee and Collective Bargaining Subcommittee and served on the School Building Committee during construction of the Brown School, which she completed under budget and ahead of schedule.
The Select Board race Schaeffner is entering remains one of the most consequential on this year’s ballot. Town Administrator Thatcher Kezer has outlined two budget scenarios for fiscal 2027: one with no new revenue and deep service cuts, and another that would pair a household trash fee with smaller cuts. The board is also managing Marblehead’s response to Attorney General Andrea Campbell’s lawsuit over MBTA Communities Act noncompliance after voters used a 1954 special act to overturn a Town Meeting-approved zoning plan, costing the town access to state grant funding. A revised zoning article is expected at spring Town Meeting.
Elsewhere on the unofficial candidate list, longtime Board of Assessors member John Kelley is not seeking reelection after 43 years on the board. Bryan G. Adams is the only candidate listed for that seat. A two-year unexpired term on the Cemetery Commission is contested between Sally Bull Sands and Rose A. McCarthy, and the moderator’s race is also contested, with Peter Jaffe challenging incumbent Jack Attridge.
Several other races appear filled but uncontested. The Board of Health has three candidates for three seats: incumbent Thomas R. McMahon, Julie B. Selbst and Kristin Elizabeth Dubay Horton. The Library Board of Trustees has two candidates for two seats: incumbent Katherine H. Barker and Gary J. Amberik. The Planning Board also has two candidates for two seats, both incumbents: Robert John Schaeffner Jr. and Marc J. Liebman. All five listed Recreation and Park candidates are incumbents, as are both Water and Sewer candidates. Incumbent Matthew B. Harrington is the only candidate for light commissioner. William Louis Kuker is handwritten in as the only candidate for the one open Housing Authority seat.
Candidates must return completed nomination papers to the town clerk’s office by 5 p.m. April 21 to secure a place on the ballot. Marblehead voters will head to the polls June 9 to fill 24 seats across 11 elected bodies.
