BOSTON (WHDH) - The Boston Public School Committee voted for Mary Skipper to be the district’s next superintendent.

Skipper is the current superintendent in Somerville. Before she started at Somerville Public Schools in July 2015, Skipper worked in the Boston School District as its network superintendent of high schools and helped launch the Tech Boston Academy.

The School Committee said the deciding factor in narrowly choosing her was her experience working as a superintendent and working with the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

During public comment, Skipper’s colleagues spoke to her work in special education, an area the state says the school system needs to work on.

Skipper will be replacing Brenda Cassellius, who served as the head of the city’s school system since 2019. Cassellius announced in February she would be stepping down from the role at the end of the school year.

Skipper beat out 32 other candidates that were eventually narrowed down to her and Tommy Welch, the current Regional Superintendent of the Boston Public Schools. Skipper was voted into the position 4-3 over Welch.

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