The decision to bypass the head of Afro-American studies at the University of Massachusetts in favor of a high school student to briefly fill a vacated seat on the Amherst School Committees has met with some sharp criticism.

At a joint meeting of the School Committee and Select Board Monday, Solomon Goldstein-Rose was chosen over seven others, including Amilcar Shabazz, to finish Steven Rivkin's term. The seat is up for re-election in April.

"I am frustrated and disappointed because the minority community in this town feels that social justice and equity issues are not being adequately addressed in the school district," said Pat Ononibaku of Tamarack Drive, who stood up and starting shouting when the decision was announced. "Mr. Shabazz has expertise in diversity and social justice, which would be an asset to the School Committee," she said in an interview Tuesday.

Shabazz received only one vote, from Irvin Rhodes, who like Shabazz is African-American.

While 63 percent of the students in the Amherst regional schools are white, 86.8 percent of the staff are white. The gap is even greater in the elementary schools, where 81.8 percent of the staff are white but only 52.6 percent of the students are.

Jacquelyn Smith-Crooks of Bay Road, a semi-retired educator, also attended Monday's meeting.

"I think race is a factor, as much as we would like ours to be a post-racial community," she said Wednesday. "If you have 45 percent or more of your consumers underrepresented on a governing board, that should raise somebody's concern."

African-American and Latino students have not done as well on standardized tests as white students. "Race and class continue to be predictors of academic success," said Marta Guevara, the director of student achievement, at a December School Committee meeting. Critics have cited higher discipline statistics for nonwhite students.

Shabazz mostly steered clear of racial issues in his remarks on Monday.

He said he would bring to the School Committee an "abundance of irony" and an expertise in dealing with budgets and politics. He offered to be a peacemaker on the committee and introduce a sense of community that has been missing in recent years.

"I feel as though I can deal with whatever disagreements may exist out there on whatever course of action you might have to take," he said.

It took three ballots for the boards to select Goldstein-Rose, an Amherst Regional High School senior, with five votes. Rhodes said Tuesday he would have rather seen a different result.

"It would have been good to have had another person of color on the School Committee," Rhodes said. "I'm not denigrating the decision at all, and I appreciate Mr. Shabazz stepping up."

Rhodes said he hopes Shabazz runs for a three-year term in the April 3 election. In addition to the seat Goldstein-Rose now holds, Rhodes' term is up for election and he is running. As of Wednesday morning, Lawrence O'Brien and Michael Aronson, who had also sought the temporary post, had taken out papers at the town clerk's office. The deadline is Tuesday at 5 p.m.

"Shabazz is a thoughtful person, incredibly experienced in administration and budgets," Rhodes said. "I will do everything in my power to persuade him to run."

Two School Committee members, Rick Hood and Katherine Appy, said they voted for Goldstein-Rose in part because he said he would not be a candidate for a full term in April.

Appy said that if a person who might run for a full term had been selected, it would have given him or her "a leg up." She also noted that it takes time to run a campaign for townwide office, and that would take away from the interim member's committee responsibilities.

Stephanie O'Keeffe, who chairs the Select Board, voted for O'Brien on the first ballot and switched to Goldstein-Rose on the second.

"He's a student and everyone else is an adult," she said. "To have an actual student is so very impressive, it seemed like a great way to fill the seat for such a limited basis." She also called Shabazz a "fantastic" candidate.

Reporter Scott Merzbach contributed to this report.