Cambridge Voters Elect Challengers, Oust 3 Incumbents in School Committee Race

Challengers swept the Cambridge School Committee race in preliminary results released early Wednesday, with voters ousting all but two incumbents running — Elizabeth C.P. Hudson and Richard Harding Jr., both frequent and vocal dissenters against their colleagues.

The abrupt changing of the guard reflects widespread dissatisfaction with the current district leadership amidst ongoing controversy.

This year’s race for School Committee — the seven-member board that oversees education policy in the district — saw the highest number of candidates in 20 years. Eighteen candidates, including all but one incumbent and 13 challengers, vied for six seats at the table. Cambridge’s mayor, selected by a vote of the City Council in January, automatically takes one seat.

The challengers elected include Luisa de Paula Santos, Caitlin E. Dube ’05, Eugenia B. Schraa Huh ’04, and Arjun K. Jaikumar.

Incumbents Hudson and Harding, who finished first and second in the race, have often gone against the grain in School Committee votes. They were the only two current members to vote against the CPS’s $280 million budget — both advocating for an increased focus on teacher evaluations and more paraprofessional staffing.

Santos, who received the third most votes as of Wednesday morning, is a special education paraprofessional and labor organizer who wants to increase caregiver and teacher participation in the district, a common theme in the election.

The election comes in the wake of ongoing controversy surrounding Cambridge’s superintendent search — a year-long process that concluded last month with the appointment of David G. Murphy, the previous interim superintendent. The process garnered immense backlash over the summer and became a key issue driving many challengers who said the process lacked transparency and public engagement.

In August, the Cambridge Education Association — the union representing teachers and staff in the district — released a fiery statement demanding that the search be restarted entirely, and calling for the public to elect new School Committee members.

The CEA later endorsed six challengers — including Santos, Dube, and Jaikumar — and no incumbents.

Controversy around the process reignited less than two weeks before the election, when a contract obtained by a district parent revealed that the City of Cambridge paid the firm hired to conduct the search an additional $40,000 without the knowledge of many School Committee members.

Many challengers cited the superintendent search as a just one of many instances of the failing of current members to properly engage stakeholders.

In December, Murphy recommended the closure of the Kennedy-Longfellow Elementary School, a decision that drew fire from parents in the district. The school, which served the highest percentage of “high-needs” students in the district, suffered from persistent low test scores and under enrollment. Some challengers cited the closure as another example of the district leaving people in the dark.

Almost all candidates in this year’s race said they were committed to reducing achievement gaps in the district, an issue that has persisted in Cambridge for decades. The 2024-25 Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System exam data released last month revealed a widening gap between Black and white students in both English and Math scores.

Hudson and Harding have been strong proponents of increasing teaching evaluations and focusing on test scores to help close gaps in the district.

Hudson, who will be serving her second term on the School Committee, said on a phone call early Wednesday morning that she is “thrilled” by the new slate.

“This one will be a roller coaster, but this is a fun, punchy group of people that has incredible. skills, incredible experience, and some different takes than we’ve heard before,” Hudson said.

“We get to shake off some of the dust and get going here,” she added. “We got a brand new superintendent, this is — nothing’s gonna stop us.”

This is a developing story and will be updated.

— Staff writer Ayaan Ahmad can be reached at ayaan.ahmad@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @AyaanAhmad2024.

— Staff writer Claire A. Michal can be reached at claire.michal@thecrimson.com.