Legal questions arise at Region One meeting

Who has access to counsel? Was grievance hearing legal?

FALLS VILLAGE — The Region One Board of Education elected officers, received some very preliminary budget numbers, and engaged in protracted wrangling over board communications and a November grievance hearing, during an exceptionally lengthy regular monthly meeting Monday, Dec. 6, at Housatonic Valley Regional High School (HVRHS).

The board also passed a resolution asking attorney Jeffrey C. Pingpank, who has been investigating the August resignations of HVRHS Principal Gretchen Foster and Vice Principal Mary Ann Buchanan, to send his completed report to the new Region One attorney, Gary Brochu of Shipman and Goodwin (who was present at the meeting).

Board Chairman Judge Manning (who was re-elected) and Falls Village representative Gale Toensing went back and forth on several topics: e-mails to board members and whether or not they constitute an improper meeting, who has access to the new Region One attorney, and if the Nov. 12 Personnel Committee hearing on teacher Mary O’Reilly’s grievance was conducted properly.

Toensing said she thought the Nov. 12 hearing should be voided, but Brochu gave his opinion that the hearing was conducted properly. He also conceded that the board’s bylaws and procedures could be clearer, and added that while there might be a technical violation of the Freedom of Information Act involved, it would not void the decision that found against O’Reilly.

Toensing asked what someone with a grievance can do in such a situation to continue to make their case.  Brochu pointed out that denying the grievance allows the grievant to proceed immediately to the next level. “The only way to deny the grievant the next level is to agree.â€�

Toensing and Manning clashed over e-mails to and from board members. “We’ve asked for [legal] opinions,� said Manning. “All of them say that group e-mails constitute board business outside of a meeting.�

Brochu said that the state Freedom of Information Commission has held that communications “need not be in one place or time.� A reply to an e-mail days or weeks after the original is sent still runs afoul of the law, he said.

Toensing continued to raise objections, and an exasperated Manning said, “I’m considering blocking you [from his e-mail account].� He called her communications “objectionable, rude and inflammatory.�

“It’s unfair,� he continued. “At a public meeting there’s some back and forth.�

“So what am I supposed to do?� asked an equally irritated Toensing.

“Put it on the agenda for the next meeting,� said Manning.

The wrangling continued over who should be in touch with Brochu, who said in his experience it is almost always the superintendent who deals with the school attorney, and occasionally the board chairman.

Toensing argued for all board members to have access to the attorney. Manning disagreed, citing the cost of consulting an attorney for starters, and saying that he as chairman would contact Brochu “at the direction of the board.�

“It’s rare,� he added.

Toensing also sparred with Assistant Superintendent Diane Goncalves, asking why records showed a number of phone calls from her office to the previous Region One attorney.

Goncalves replied sharply, saying any calls to the lawyer were at the direction of Superintendent Patricia Chamberlain.

Chamberlain herself tried to calm the troubled waters, describing how she and Region One Business Manager Sam Herrick (who could not attend the meeting) often consult together before phoning the attorney.

None of this seemed to placate Toensing.

Chamberlain provided the first look at budget numbers for the Region One central office and Pupil Services. The central office budget is fairly flat, with a projected total of $920,303, which includes an increase of $14,299, or 1.58 percent.

Pupil Services, which includes special education, is a “bit more dynamic,� Chamberlain said. That translates as an increase of 3.35 percent, or $186,284, for a total of $5,752,726.

The Pupil Services section of the Region One budget went up by 2.33 percent  or $126,480 in the last budget. (That figure is a gross expense and does not include anticipated revenues, which if realized would bring the figure down to $112,547 or 2.18 percent.)

Chamberlain emphasized that these budget numbers are as preliminary as can be.

In addition to re-electing Manning as chairman (Jill Gibbons of Salisbury was also nominated, by Toensing), the board kept Phil Hart of Cornwall as vice chairman and Laura Freund of North Canaan as secretary (Gibbons was nominated, again by Toensing). Gibbons was elected board treasurer.

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