The Boston School Committee on Wednesday voted to offer Mary Skipper, Somerville’s superintendent and a Dorchester resident, the job of overseeing the city’s 50,000 students and 122 schools.

The job offer comes 70 days before the first day of the new school year, and as an agreement between state and city officials, hammered out and finalized earlier this week, calls for overhauls in the areas of student safety and transportation, among others, in the next 46 days. Mayor Michelle Wu and city education officials earlier this week beat back an attempt by state-level education regulators to take over city schools or designate them as “underperforming.”

Skipper has said she wants to work with Somerville as the start of its school year approaches and she transitions back to Boston. The Boston School Committee designated an acting superintendent to work with her during the transition.

Once Skipper formally accepts the School Committee’s job offer, contract negotiations involving her salary and benefits, and start date will get underway, according to Boston Public Schools. Her predecessor, Dr. Brenda Cassellius, had an annual salary of $311,000.

“This is a pivotal time in Boston and BPS’ history, and nothing less than our student’s and our City’s future is at stake,” Skipper said in a statement. “I look forward to working with our families, educators, community leaders and our students to ensure every BPS student has the opportunity for a great education that sets them up for success in school and in life.”

Mary Skipper, above. (BPS handout)

The committee chose Skipper over Tommy Welch, the regional superintendent for schools in Charlestown, East Boston and the North End. The two finalists emerged from a pool of nearly three dozen candidates as part of a search spurred by Cassellius’ decision to step down by the end of the school year.

The School Committee was split between the two, with three members (Lorena Lopera, Stephen Alkins and Brandon Cardet-Hernandez) stating a preference for Welch, and Skipper had support from four (committee chair Jeri Robinson, vice chair Michael O’Neill and members Quoc Tran and Rafaela Polanco Garcia).

A press conference with Wu, Robinson and Skipper is set for Thursday morning at TechBoston Academy, the former Dorchester High School. Skipper was the founding headmaster of TechBoston, which earned praise and a visit from President Obama in 2011.

“In this moment of challenge and opportunity, Mary is uniquely prepared to drive forward the systemic reforms and immediate results our students deserve,” Wu said in a statement. “Her knowledge and relationships from serving at every level in BPS–as a classroom teacher, school leader, and longtime district administrator–and as a successful superintendent in the area, will supercharge our work.”

Before heading to Somerville in 2015, Skipper spent 17 years in Boston. BPS “raised me,” Skipper said during an interview last week with committee members, and TechBoston Academy, which focused on teaching students about science and engineering, was her home.

Skipper told the committee last week she would seek to build trust with parents through honest communication. “I heard many parents talk about feeling that they can’t trust what happens and that even if it’s not the right answer, they just want the truth,” she said.

On Wednesday evening, School Committee vice chair O’Neill defended the search process, which has drawn criticism for resulting in two finalists who are not Black or Latino. O’Neill said other cities like Boston — Dallas, Orlando, Philadelphia and Chicago — saw fewer candidates for their top education jobs. Many superintendents across the country are burnt out and ready to leave the profession, he added, and want to go into higher education, consulting or retirement. Others want to stay with their district as it emerges from the pandemic.

He also spoke with local school leaders, who he called the “front line of management” at BPS. One school leader told him they breathed a sigh of relief when they saw Skipper and Welch were the finalists. “That was the most common sentiment,” O’Neill said.

Robinson, the chair, cited the need to have a strong leader like Skipper who has worked with state education regulators, as the city and state move ahead with their agreement.

Before the vote, committee members heard from a number of supporters of both Welch and Skipper. Some of Skipper’s supporters knew her from her TechBoston days.

Karen Provenzano, who worked as a teacher alongside Skipper at TechBoston Academy, said Skipper has “indomitable grit” and she demands excellence from students and teachers. “Mary knows Boston,” Provenzano said. “She is fearless, passionate about her work.”

Skipper and her husband Peter, a retired Boston College High School religion teacher, have three children and four grandchildren, according to her biography.

Earlier on Wednesday evening, the School Committee voted to designate Dr. Drew Echelson, who was not a candidate for superintendent, to serve as acting superintendent until the next superintendent starts. Echelson is BPS’s deputy superintendent of academics and chief academic officer.

Echelson said in a statement that he will work with Skipper on a “smooth transition.”

"Mary has always been a very empathetic listener who leads with purpose, humility and an unwavering belief in our children,” he said. “I look forward to strengthening our work and leveraging much-needed reinforcements to accelerate reforms in BPS, especially as it relates to racial equity, Special Education, native language access, and improved transportation systems."