METHUEN — Veteran School Committee member Kenneth Henrick will not resign so that his friend and fellow member can remain on the board.

Henrick said yesterday that he decided not to resign the seat he won in Tuesday's election because the School Committee charter says the post would not automatically go to the next highest vote-getter, George Kazanjian.

"I think the citizens of this town deserve him. This guy is good," Henrick said of Kazanjian.

Henrick, 70, received 3,487 votes and came in sixth in the School Committee race that drew eight candidates who competed for six at-large seats.

Kazanjian, 61, placed seventh with 3,482 votes losing his bid for re-election to a third term.

Shocked that Kazanjian lost to him, Henrick said he wanted to resign and give the position to Kazanjian.

But the School Committee charter will not allow the seat to automatically go to Kazanjian because he didn't receive 20 percent of the vote. The charter would require the committee to hand pick someone to fill the slot, should Henrick resign.

"And I understand that one member, I won't mention names, has said he doesn't want Kazanjian. I don't want it to get into a nasty thing," Henrick said.

Henrick said he is on the "twilight side" and has been elected 11 times while Kazanjian is a hard worker who "has so much energy."

"I wouldn't want to see anyone replace him. They certainly couldn't get a candidate who could do a better job than him," Henrick said.

"Ken Henrick will be, and is, and has been, a very effective School Committee person," Kazanjian said.

Will Kazanjian request a recount?

"I really haven't thought about it, to be honest with you," he said.

"I would hate to have the city spend money on a recount. They don't have two pennies to rub together and we all know that," he said.

Kazanjian said leaving the School Committee will give him more time for the Conservation Commission, on which he has served since 1996.

School Committee member Robert Vogler, who placed third in this week's election, said it's time to move on.

"We have more important issues in the system," he said.

Those issues include improving test scores and renovating the high school, Vogler said.