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09/23/2017 11:25 AMThe Town Council has given the Board of Education (BOE) and Superintendent's office an Oct. 13 deadline to respond to questions investigating certain BOE actions which the council intends to have reviewed by the Office of the Chief State's Attorney's public integrity unit.
In addition, the council has invited the BOE to discuss the issues at a special meeting at 6 p.m. on Oct. 17, ahead of the Town Council meeting that night.
The council's questions for the BOE key in on a BOE practice that council member Al Rose said has been an issue since 2011 -- whether the BOE chairman can assume the "will of the board" to act unilaterally on decisions without a full BOE vote. The seven members elected to the BOE serve four-year staggered terms (depending on the biennial municipal election year, three open seats or four open seats will be on the ballot). Following elections, BOE members select officers for Chair, Vice-Chair and Secretary.
Most recently, following information brought to light by Freedom of Information (FOI) requests made by a citizen, Victor Pietrandrea, the council is questioning whether the town's former education chairman, Phillip Dahlmeyer, was authorized to approve payment of approximately $3,500 to Superintendent of Schools Scott Schoonmaker for five unused 2016-17 vacation days. The authorization was made without first seeking a full BOE vote, and no contract language exists allowing for such pay.
Dahlmeyer resigned from the BOE this summer, due to moving out of state. As previously reported, at the Aug. 17 BOE meeting, newly-named interim BOE chair Colby O'Rourke read a statement from the board's attorney supporting the Superintendent's right to receive a check for his unpaid vacation days. The attorney's statement also interpreted BOE bylaws to support Dahlmeyer's action to sign off on the decision as the will of BOE, without requiring a full board vote.
On August 31, the BOE held a special meeting, with five of six members present, and voted 4-1 to support a motion to ratify the agreement pay the Superintendent for the five unused vacation days.
The council is also asking for more explanation from the BOE on a 2015 vote to extend the Superintendent's contract by one year with a three percent salary raise; without apparent discussion within that vote to address a significant change to health insurance coverage. The change took out the Superintendent's non-union administrator's premium insurance payment share cost, replacing it with insurance coverage paid 100 percent by the BOE. The cost savings to the Superintendent result in more than the three percent salary increase approved by the board.
As directed by the Town Council on Sept. 5, Town Attorney Pat Young formulated a draft letter to the State's Attorney's office specifying the items being called into question. The council reviewed the draft letter at the Sept. 19 Town Council meeting. As part of the discussion, Councilman Al Rose (R) suggested forwarding to the letter's nine questions to the BOE, as well as possibly sending some additional input from attorney Young on the authority of a board chairman.
"Most of these problems are with board chairs acting alone; and they gave away thousands and thousands of dollars, the further you get into it," said Rose. "The vacation time was minor compared to some of the stuff that's been done by board chairs with no vote. And [former Town Attorney] John Gesmonde told [the BOE] that, in this room, in 2011."
Councilman Anthony Candelora (R) said he still felt the council should stick to its intentions of Sept. 5 and send questions drafted by attorney Young directly to the State's Attorney's office for review. He also noted some of the information specified in attorney Young's draft letter indicate additional questionable decisions made by past BOE chairs.
"It also appears [that] other contract changes that were made unilaterally to financially benefit individual employees without the board approval, totaling thousands of dollars," said Candelora. "So I think we need to maybe revamp this letter a little bit, and provide all that information to one area, and do what we originally said and send it Hartford."
Deputy Mayor Joseph Faughnan (D) agreed, saying he felt the goal of the Sept. 5 decision was to "...take the issue out of the political arena of the town, hand it over to an independent agency, and let them make a decision."
Faughnan also noted that he disagreed with language in the draft letter characterizing the BOE's actions as an "illegal act" and further stated he will not sign a letter carrying that language.
"I'm not going to make any conclusions, I'm not going to make any accusations of wrong-doing that are not proven. That's what we made the [State's Attorney] referral for," said Faughnan.
Councilman Dan Armin (D) asked whether the BOE should be given time to conduct its own investigation, which he said he'd been told was underway.
"But it might not be the same scope as what we're asking for," said Councilwoman Rosemarie Angeloni (R).
"I think that things were done incorrectly, and that [the BOE] have an obligation to investigate what went wrong, and change whatever policies and procedures," said Armin, adding, "...and I also understand that this has happened before; so maybe in my idealistic view it's unrealistic that they do correct things. I'll give it a month, see what they come up with, see what they change, and see what they put in writing and put in policy."
"That's the thing -- it gives them a month to find the problems and correct them," said Rose.
"Corrective action is all we're looking for," said Armin.
"There'd be no sense sending anything [to the State's Attorney] if they correct them," Rose said, adding, "First, they have to admit they did something wrong."
Following the discussion, the council voted eight in favor, with one abstention, to forward the questions to the BOE with the Oct. 13 deadline.
Abstaining from the vote was Democrat Vincent Mase Sr., sworn in earlier that night as an interim council member to fill a seat vacated by Chris Manna, who resigned due to moving to Branford. The term Mase fills expires Nov. 14, 2017.