The Lawrence City Council returned to public session and voted to advance the hiring process for school‑committee candidates, then recessed until the next meeting.

Chair Stephanie Fante said the interview score sheets from tonight’s candidate interviews “will be tallied up, sealed in an envelope,” and that the HR department will use average scores to recommend the two top candidates for each school committee position to the full council for a second round of interviews. The positions named by the chair were education, finance and legal.

Council procedure: A motion to return the meeting to public session from an executive session was made by Councilor Wendy Luzon and seconded by Councilor Anna Levy; the clerk called the roll and all three members present voted yes. Later, after discussing next steps for the candidate process, Councilor Anna Levy moved to recess and Councilor Wendy Luzon seconded; the recess motion passed on a unanimous roll call. The council scheduled the next session for the following day at 7:00.

What happens next: HR will tally and seal the score sheets and recommend the top two candidates by average score for each committee seat; those candidates will be scheduled for a second round of interviews before the full council. No appointments were made at tonight’s session.

The council adjourned after setting the follow‑up interviews; the meeting will reconvene at the time announced.