WJCC SB Reappoints Kelly to Board

By Amber Lester Kennedy Thursday, February 02, 2012

The Williamsburg-James City County School Board has appointed Jim Kelly to fill the vacant Jamestown District seat.

The board interviewed three candidates — Kelly, Jennifer Taylor and Tinsley Goad — in a closed session Wednesday night and announced the selection Thursday morning. Taylor is a professor of German at The College of William and Mary and Goad is the Chief Financial Officer for AdvancePath Academics, Inc.

Kelly finished a term as Berkeley District representative in the fall. Following James City County’s recent redistricting, both Kelly and Board Chair Ruth Larson were shifted to new districts. What was once Berkeley became Jamestown and vice versa.

In November, Larson successfully ran for the new Berkeley seat and officially resigned from the Jamestown seat at the start of the year. The School Board had 45 days from Jan. 1 to make an appointment.

The board chose to accept applications for the seat, host a public hearing to gather citizen input and then meet for interviews with each candidate before making an appointment. It was the same process Kelly went through to become the Berkeley District representative in 2010; at that time, he was replacing Mary Ann Maimone, who resigned to spend more time with family.

Kelly will serve until November, when he’ll run for election to the seat. If elected, he will serve until Larson’s original term expires, on Dec. 31, 2013. He will have the option to run for his own term that November.

At the board’s public hearing on Jan. 17, several citizens advocated for Kelly’s reappointment, citing the need for continuity as the board works through the budget development process this winter. In a statement, Larson thanked Kelly, Taylor and Goad for applying to serve.

“Any one of these citizens would bring expertise to the school board, but it was determined that with a $7.5 million budget shortfall, Mr. Kelly’s two years of service would prove most valuable to us at this critical juncture,” she said.

Kelly has lived in James City County for 22 years. His wife, Kelly Ann, is a teacher at J. Blaine Blayton Elementary School. They have three children, two sons attending high school and a daughter in middle school.

Kelly works at Newport News Shipbuilding, where he is responsible for responding to facility technical issues throughout the shipbuilding plant, including plant casualties, maintenance support and project implementation. He has a bachelor’s degree in marine engineering systems from the United States Merchant Marine Academy and a master’s degree in engineering management from the Florida Institute of Technology.