An Oxford resident is requesting seven months of e-mails that deal with school district business sent between members of the school board.
Nancy Schmitt, a former school board member and a current member of the town’s finance board, believes that school board members are using e-mails to discuss and deliberate school district-related issues — including the recent controversy with former Superintendent Judith Palmer.
The practice amounts to holding improper meetings, Schmitt said.
“I’ve been characterized as being very political, but I only open my mouth when I see something that is really wrong,” Schmitt said. “I’ve seen that a lot lately and it disturbs me to no end. They (the school board) have not yet come to terms with the fact they are a public board.”
School board member Michael Macchio called Schmitt’s request a “political play.”
“I believe Ms. Schmidt is not interested in or cares about any illegal meetings,” Macchio said in an e-mail. “This is simply a political play to intimidate and harm the current board members. Her constant frivolous complaints are costing the town because the board needs to pay legal fees to defend such nonsense claims. I believe this is what is particularly wrong with our government system and why good and decent folks choose to stay out of civil service.”
Schmitt said she wants to use the information from the e-mails to bolster a complaint she filed against the school board with the state’s Freedom of Information Commission.
She believes the school board, under chairman Rose McKinnon’s leadership, has been violating state open government laws.
Schmitt had first requested e-mails dating back to November 24, 2009, then narrowed the request to cover January 2010 through August.
McKinnon, chairman of the Oxford Board of Education, acknowledged Schmitt’s request at the school board meeting Tuesday.
McKinnon said she discussed the request with the school board’s attorney.
School board members will now start searching their e-mail accounts.
McKinnon said board members don’t use official Oxford School District e-mail, so board members are going to have to dig through their personal and/or business-related e-mail accounts.
Some e-mail programs automatically delete e-mails, McKinnon said.
“I know this is a large project,” she said.
When reached for comment Wednesday, Schmitt said her request is not unreasonable — and easy to accomplish, given modern technology.
The e-mail request could be costly for the school district, depending on how it is handled, said Mark Dumas, an attorney with the Crumbie Law Group in Hartford.
Dumas publishes the Connecticut FOI Law Blog.
While e-mails are subject to open government laws, certain communication is exempt, including discussions of a specific student, student records — or matters dealing with collective bargaining.
If a board member’s e-mail mentions a specific school district employee, that employee may have to be notified that the e-mail is about to go public.
“The employee can object,” Dumas said.
The school board may need an attorney to go through all the e-mails to see what’s disclosable and what’s protected.
Whether e-mails sent between school board members constitutes an illegal meeting isn’t known, Dumas said. The state’s Freedom of Information Law was written in the 1970s. It didn’t anticipate e-mails.
“There isn’t a definitive answer,” Dumas said.
The school board is just emerging from a controversy involving Palmer. The school board voided her contract after a lengthy executive session in May.
Parents protested. School board members said the protests were organized by town Democrats. The controversy dragged on until Palmer decided to seek employment elsewhere.
Schmitt’s husband, William, has filed two complaints with the state Board of Education regarding the school board.
Both complaints were dismissed, according to McKinnon.
Schmitt said they were dismissed not due to the merits of the claim, but because the state Board of Education did not have jurisdiction over the matter.
Give it up Nancy the Employee they are talking about objecting to the release of the e-mails may be Palmer.
She has been silent through this whole thing and I think she will continue to do so. She has nothing to gain by continuing this.
drop it and stop wasting our tax dollars defending against your claims.
She is gone get over it and move on!
That won’t happen, eyes… these people will continue their outrageous requests in an attempt to discredit the board because they are upset with the positive changes we are making. They will not give up no matter how much money it costs the taxpayers. They simply don’t care and will pretend they care about process but are really just politically motivated. I think most of the Oxford citizens are realizing their real motivations and will pay little attention. We will move on but they won’t….
Surprisingly, Macchio, your comments on this situation are a bit defensive because of the investigation process Schmitt is doing. In many comments about this immature BOE behavior, it’s amazing to see “eyes open in Oxford” and you to be feeling pushed into a corner, and then as a result thrashing back to the citizens in a line of defense in order to cover yourselves. You two must grow up and I say this in the kindest way. Again these blogs are to post your opinions, but again, let’s face POLITICS respectfully. As the residents in this town have seen, Rose’s controlling behavior is not handled respectfully and she knows this. Notice how she continuously looks for some sort of backup plan at every meeting whether it is from one of our dedicated cops, or those select few on the board. Why? Because she knows she is doing wrong, yet does not care how she is treating others. If you have nothing to worry about on this “meaningful” BOE committee, why comment repetitively like you do to others or to articles? I think this issue on the investigation of personal emails may post more proof of the lies within some members of the board. It is evident that a select few of you may not be able to “find” any personal emails regarding discussions on the controlling decisions you made, but everything comes full circle one of these days and I think soon, the direct focus will be on you and your buddies alone.
Focus, I really have no clue on what you are talking about. ‘feel pushed to a corner’? Is this the intent of the Schmitts? Possibly. Sounds like intimidation – something I will not entertain. Whatever the intentions of these people are they are certainly political in nature, are costing taxpayers and are putting more work on already hard working volunteers. Mrs. McKinnon has done more for this town in one day than they do in a year. It is a thankless job, I agree, but at least she has chosen to see it through despite these low-lifes who make the job that much tougher. I think we will all continue to make the changes we feel are necessary regardless of supposed investigations (one lone kook asking for emails does not consist of an investigation – her husband has tried several times for that and failed)