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Esteban Marte emerged Friday as the sole Haverhill School Committee candidate for Ward 1—a seat seen as critical for minority representation as the city moves to mostly ward-based elections.
Marte, a researcher and photographer, responded to a WHAV story Friday about a lack of candidates for the seat near the deadline for taking out nomination papers. He said he would seek the seat and begin gathering at least 25 signatures from Ward 1 residents before tomorrow’s deadline.
“The area of Ward 1 has been my home ever since my family immigrated to this city from the Dominican Republic. I was raised by this community in Ward 1, which for as far as I can remember has not had adequate representation in the education system of this city. I plan to serve by giving a voice to parents of the Haverhill community, giving their children the tools needed for success and giving the educators the means to get that done,” he said in an email to WHAV.
He is a 2016 graduate of Haverhill High School. Marte said he was raised in Haverhill and has “first-hand experience” as a student of the Thomas E. Burnham, Golden Hill, Dr. Paul C. Nettle, Whittier Regional Vocational Technical High and graduated Haverhill High Schools.
He went on to graduate with a Biology degree from Suffolk University and works at Boston College as a research and teaching assistant.
Marte’s School Committee candidacy was one of several Friday surprises that included decisions by City Councilor Joseph J. Bevilacqua to retire, mayoral candidate Scott W. Wood Jr. to also pull papers for the Ward 4 School Committee seat and incumbent School Committee member Toni Sapienza-Donais to also seek the Ward 2 City Council seat. (See related story.)
The most recent effort to elect leaders by ward began in 2019 when Haverhill Mayor James J. Fiorentini said at his then re-election kickoff that 20% of the city’s population is Latino and deserves representation.
“Our City Council and our School Committee no longer represent all of our city and it’s time for ward councilors and I am proud to endorse that here tonight. It’s time to change our charter so that we have people elected in every ward and in every section of our city,” Fiorentini told supporters.
That summer, then-City Councilor William J. Macek referred to Lowell’s similar charter change driven by a 2017 suit alleging Lowell’s practice of electing a City Council and School Committee without consideration of minority neighborhoods violated the Voting Rights Act of 1965…and the 14th and 15th amendments to the United States Constitution.”
The first serious consideration of electing School Committee mostly by wards, however, came during January of 2020 during a forum, “Exploring the Possibility of Neighborhood Representation,” sponsored by Greater Haverhill Indivisible and Latino Coalition of Haverhill. Panelist Ben Forman planted the idea of also electing the School Committee by neighborhood. He pointed to research showing school committees in Gateway Cities do not reflect the same diversity as its student populations.
Another panelist, Oren Sellstrom, litigation director for Lawyers for Civil Rights who brought the suit against Lowell, said electing all representatives from anywhere in a city has the potential to dilute the vote of communities of color. Sellstrom Lawyers for Civil Rights ultimately demanded in 2021 Haverhill make changes, stopping just short of threatening outright legal action.
Later that year, 65% of Haverhill voters backed the concept in two non-binding referendum questions on the ballot.
| Campaign | |
|---|---|
| (Names are listed alphabetically under each campaign) | |
| Mayor | |
| Barrett, Melinda E. | |
| Campanile, Debra | |
| Cooper, Guy E. | |
| Eleftheriou, George | |
| Wood, Scott W. Jr. | |
| City Council-At Large | |
| Jordan, Timothy J. | |
| LePage, Colin F. | |
| Michitson, John A. | |
| Simmons, Fred A. | |
| Sullivan, Thomas J. | |
| City Council Ward 1 | |
| Basiliere, Ralph T. | |
| Veras, Alexander | |
| City Council Ward 2 | |
| Hobbs Everett, Katrina | |
| Sapienza-Donais, Toni | |
| City Council Ward 3 | |
| Ferreira, Devan | |
| City Council Ward 4 | |
| Lambert, Craig | |
| Lewandowski, Melissa J. | |
| Quimby, Kenneth E. | |
| City Council Ward 5 | |
| Morales, Michael | |
| Toohey, Shaun P. | |
| City Council Ward 6 | |
| Aguilo, Oliver | |
| McGonagle, Michael S. | |
| City Council Ward 7 | |
| Rogers, Catherine P. | |
| School Committee-At Large* | |
| Magliocchetti, Paul A. | |
| Rosa, Richard J. | |
| Ryan-Ciardiello, Maura L. | |
| School Committee Ward 1 | |
| No nominees | |
| School Committee Ward 2 | |
| Sapienza-Donais, Toni | |
| Sullivan, Gail M. | |
| School Committee Ward 3 | |
| Dilonex, Liliana | |
| Ferguson, Cheryl | |
| School Committee Ward 4 | |
| Lalumiere, Mikaela | |
| Simmons, Fred A. | |
| Thomas, Courtney | |
| Wood, Scott W. Jr. | |
| School Committee Ward 5 | |
| Hickey, Lynette | |
| Story, Jill | |
| School Committee Ward 6 | |
| Collins, Yonnie | |
| Pfeil, Chad | |
| School Committee Ward 7 | |
| Downer, Edward | |
| Grannemann, Thomas | |
| Rogers, Hunter | |
| * No election in 2023 |