The Board Will Remain Selectmen, Not Selectpeople

At least in the foreseeable future, the Foxboro Board of Selectmen will not become the selectboard anytime soon. With gender neutral titles becoming more common, selectman Jim DeVellis has been kicking around the idea of changing the position from selectman to selectperson.  

“It hit me last year when the majority of our board was women and we were calling them selectmen, it just didn’t seem right,” DeVellis said.

The issue was brought to DeVellis’ attention last year when a male senior citizen mentioned to him that most of the selectmen were women.

A title change would have to be done with a vote at town meeting and would mean going through the bylaws to change selectmen to selectboard and selectman to selectperson.

The idea proved to be unpopular with the selectmen including the two women members of the board.

“It (the title) has a little bit of history. To change it for the sake of change is a lot of effort,” Selectman John Grey said. 

Selectman Ginny Coppola said voters should be more concern with who they are voting for rather than the title.

“I appreciate the sensitivity but I have no problem being called a selectman,” Coppola said.

Reading her quote from a Boston Globe article published in June, Coppola added, “I have no problem with it remaining the Board of Selectmen. I’m a woman, but I call myself a ‘selectman.’ All it is is a title. It’s a convention. To me, it doesn’t make a difference.”

Selectman Lorraine Brue also spoke out against the change.

“It’s fine the way it is. I prefer to be called selectmen because that’s what we are,” Brue said.

With a majority of members against a change, it appears the issue has been put to rest for now.