Recent letters to the editors by members of the Democratic Town Committee and other partisans were outright lies and what’s worse, were done without regard to the damage done to the integrity of the Board of Education and total disregard for their mission, which is to promote and support a top shelf education for our students. One letter writer, the DTC Chairwoman, is the same person that ignored a 22 year agreement about political signs on public property, claiming in an email to her RTC counterpart that no such agreement existed. As the RTC Chairman in 2002 and 2004, I was there when the agreement was made, and that agreement was respected, until 2024 and the new DTC regime. Hence, the most recent refusal to respect a long held tradition and courtesy as well as state law is sadly not surprising.
What I am about to write can easily be verified.
First, a First Selectman has a right and responsibility to step in when a Board of Education fails to fill a vacancy on the board, which they clearly failed to do. This authority commences after 30 days. In fact, they were well over 90 days without doing their job. I told BOE members of both parties that reached out or came to see me that I preferred to have them work this out on their own and not involve my office. They were unable to do that.
Finally, the Republican members of the BOE, after three months, told me they were in agreement on one candidate, but that out of the six Republican candidates interviewed, the one that was unacceptable to them was the only one the Democrats wanted. This is the first time anyone can remember that a political party in Town ignored the time honored tradition of respecting the will of the opposing party when that party had a resignation and spot to fill. So much for cooperation and community spirit!
So I followed state law and posted notice of a special Board of Selectmen meeting with the required 24 hour notice so that I could fulfill my obligation.
Upon seeing the posted notice, the BOE Democrats posted their own meeting notice, ignoring the 24 hour legal requirement by stating it was an “emergency”. They then voted on a person they knew would act as the “fifth” Democrat despite her voter registration as a Republican. Anyone doubting that just look at her public statements, and her letter criticizing me where she stated she “would be open to caucusing with Republicans so she could find out their views.” She actually said that.
At the BOS meeting, we voted to appoint the person that we were told was the choice of the BOE Republicans. That person was then sworn in by the Town Clerk. I also announced at the meeting where we voted on the replacement that I received a letter from a lawyer hired by the BOE Democrats threatening to sue us if we did what the law actually allows us to do. When the BOS followed the law, the BOE Democrats threatened to sue the us and to do so with Greenwich tax dollars and without the consent of half of the BOE, namely their Republican counterparts.
The Democrats even ignored the preeminent education scholar in Connecticut, someone who actually represents them, when Tom Mooney told them that the First Selectman had the right to step in after 30 days. There is case law supporting this. The BOE Democrats have yet to uncover any case law supporting their position.
Moreover, when the press contacted a member of the State of Connecticut Freedom of Information Commission, that person opined that it looked like, in his opinion, the Democrats violated state law in that there was no emergency that warranted violating state law.
As I have stated several times, I personally don’t care who chairs the BOE. I have worked with many a Democratic chairman as well as Republican ones and the only thing that mattered was the public good. So, why did the BOE Democrats choose this fight over a chairmanship that doesn’t even carry with it a tie breaking vote ability? That question would be best asked of the BOE Democrats, a group that has politicized a board, perverted the process, ignored state law, ignored their own BOE by-laws, and decades of precedent and common courtesy.
What I do care about is respect for the process, and integrity. The BOE Democrats’ actions and partisan letters ignoring the facts have done real harm to the public’s confidence in their ability to serve. I sincerely believe they should consider resigning their positions of public trust that they have violated.
I hope they can publicly reverse this course they have taken, which is not supported by law and tradition. That would be the right thing to do, for both the Board of Education and the students who should be the main focus of their time.
Regarding the veracity of what I just wrote, the facts are very easily located and are black and white. As Casey Stengel used to say, “you could look it up.”
