A Cape Cod resident with long experience in special education has been tapped to become the first female superintendent of schools on Martha’s Vineyard, following superintendent Richard Smith’s retirement in June.

Jaime L. Curley, the assistant superintendent of student services for the Old Rochester school district in Plymouth County, was selected at the end of a five-hour meeting of the all-Island school committee Thursday night.

Ms. Curley also has worked in the Dennis-Yarmouth and Mashpee districts over her 27-year career and has year-round relatives on the Vineyard.

“We’re thrilled to have someone who has such strong connections to Martha’s Vineyard and who has demonstrated leadership, humility and energy,” school committee chair Amy Houghton told the Gazette.

Ms. Curley’s references were uniformly glowing, Ms. Houghton said, and all of them made the same observation: “She has exceeded every expectation.”

A native of Sandwich, where she continues to live, Ms. Curley began her career as a teaching aide and rose to become a special education teacher, school psychologist and director of special education before taking the assistant superintendent job at Old Rochester.

School committee members were impressed by Ms. Curley’s soft-spoken confidence, her special education expertise and her experience with a superintendency that is similar to the Vineyard’s, in that it includes multiple local districts: Marion, Mattapoisett and Rochester.

The Island school superintendency covers five districts: Edgartown, Oak Bluffs, Tisbury, the up-Island school district (Aquinnah, Chilmark and West Tisbury) and the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School district, which serves all six towns.

Ms. Curley’s job in Mashpee provided experience with the Wampanoag tribe, which committee members also viewed as a plus.

But Thursday’s decision, which came after hour-long interviews with each of the three finalists for the job, was far from unanimous. Ms. Curley’s nomination received nine votes, with four committee members abstaining.

Close to half the members had initially supported former East Bridgewater superintendent Elizabeth Legault, who Ms. Houghton said is a finalist in multiple other districts that are hiring a superintendent this year.

Unlike Ms. Curley, Ms. Legault has worked as a school principal, leading both a rural school in Rhode Island and urban Massachusetts schools with many English language learners and other high-needs students.

Ms. Legault also brought experience with the Massachusetts School Building Authority, which is expected to vote later this month on whether to support the $333 million Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School building project with an estimated $78 million in funding from the state sales tax.

Committee members felt the lack of school building leadership was not a significant drawback for Ms. Curley’s candidacy and that the high school building project will not require the superintendent to be intensely involved.

The school committee also interviewed Erik Cioffi, who comes from an Island family and is the assistant superintendent of human resources for the Plymouth district, but focused its deliberations on Ms. Legault and Ms. Curley.

All three candidates had spent the day on the Vineyard, touring schools and meeting with teachers and administrators.

During their interviews Thursday evening, each was asked a series of questions that had been provided to all of them in advance.

Mr. Cioffi’s relaxed and affable approach to the interview left committee members unimpressed, they said, while Ms. Legault’s reliance on written responses struck some as inauthentic.

Ms. Legault became more animated and spontaneous during conversations that veered from the original questions, and committee members Kathryn Shertzer and Jen Cutrer said she made a dazzling impression over dinner with them Wednesday night.

“She really, truly was dynamic,” Ms. Cutrer said.

More committee members, however, preferred Ms. Curley’s quiet competence and some of the others were willing to switch their support, leading to the 9-0-4 vote.

The next step in the hiring process will be contract negotiations between the school committee and Ms. Curley, Ms. Houghton said.

The job posting listed a salary range of $185,000 to $240,000 a year.

Ms. Houghton said Ms. Curley, whose daughter plays soccer for Sandwich High School, will commute from her home on the Cape and stay with relatives on the Vineyard as needed.

“She has committed to being here as much as we need her here,” said Ms. Houghton, who noted that the high price of homes on Martha’s Vineyard has led to an increasing number of commuters from the mainland.

Ms. Curley has pledged to support the Vineyard at weekend sports events — with one exception.

“She said ‘I will wear purple for all games, except when Sandwich comes to the Vineyard,’” Ms. Houghton said.

The Vineyard also is close to hiring its next high school principal, she said.

“We’re down to two really fabulous candidates,” Ms. Houghton said. “It really is an opportunity to look to the future.”