UPDATE: This meeting was canceled, according to a an email from the school district.
All board members could not attend, according to the district.
Original post follows:
A subcommittee of the Derby school board is scheduled to meet tonight to discuss changing the rules to make it easier to hire relatives of the school board.
The school board’s policy committee is scheduled to meet at 6:30 p.m. in the Derby Middle School library, according to this agenda posted on the district’s website.
In June, members of the school board voted to hire chairman Kenneth Marcucio’s son as a teacher by a 5 – 1 vote, with board member Jim Gildea voting no.
The move violated the district’s nepotism policy, which states “no member of the immediate family of a Board of Education member shall be appointed to a full-time position in the school district.”
Click here for a previous story on the issue.
Some members of the school board said the rule was archaic, although the board had endorsed the policy just two years ago.
After violating the nepotism policy, the school board started to review it to decide whether it should be changed.
Nepotism policies exist to reassure the public that public employees aren’t hired based on their relatives.
It’s different than the private sector.
Anti-nepotism policies exist to prevent a public official from using the position for personal benefit or for the financial gain of his or her family.
Nepotism policies differ from district to district in Connecticut. The Derby school district currently has one of the tougher anti-nepotism policies.
Last year the school board voted to hire the superintendent’s wife as the district’s early childhood education director. Two members of the school board voted against the hire.
One of the “no” voters cited policy issues, although the district’s nepotism policy does not apply to the superintendent.
