SEYMOUR – The members of the Seymour Board of Education are scheduled to talk Wednesday about Jay Hatfield, an elected official who was arrested at a Hartford Yard Goats minor league baseball game July 11.
Hartford police charged Hatfield with trespass and disorderly conduct after he allegedly made inappropriate remarks to an underage stadium employee about another underage stadium employee. Both charges are misdemeanors.
Hatfield, a teacher at Platt Technical High School in Milford, has been an elected member of the Seymour Board of Education since 2011.
The agenda for the school board’s Wednesday (July 29) meeting states members will have a “discussion regarding performance of board member Jay Hatfield.” The meeting is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. at Seymour Middle School.
The school board’s agenda states the matter could involve an executive session, a closed-door meeting allowed under specific circumstances described in state law.
One of the circumstances is when a public body is scheduled to talk about a specific person. However, that person has the option to request the discussion happen in public.
Drugonis: Enough
First Selectwoman Annmarie Drugonis told The Valley Indy today (Tuesday, July 28) that she asked Hatfield to resign during a phone call with him July 22.
That phone call happened a day after The Valley Indy published a story in which Drugonis would not answer whether Hatfield should resign.
Drugonis is also the head of the Seymour Town Republican Committee. Hatfield is a Republican.
“I told Jay I think it would be best that he resign from the Board of Education,” Drugonis said. “He said he would let me know and would have something for me by Monday (July 27).”
However, Drugonis said Hatfield did not keep his word.
“He told me he was going to resign on Monday and he did not,” Drugonis said. “That is unbelievably unacceptable to me. He lied to me. Whether he is convicted or not, he did something that was inappropriate of an elected official, a father and a teacher. We all sometimes do stupid things. When you’re an elected official . . . how you represent yourself is how you represent the town you serve and the boards you serve on.”
Hatfield was a member of TEAM Inc.’s Board of Directors until the agency announced his resignation July 24. TEAM is the Valley area’s community action agency. Click here for a previous story.
Police were called to a disturbance at about 8 p.m. July 11 at Dunkin Park, where the Hartford Yard Goats were playing the Binghamton Rumble Ponies in a minor league baseball game.
According to a police incident report, Hatfield appeared intoxicated and asked an underage male in the stadium’s merchandise about whether he was trying to have sex with a female underage stadium employee.
“The juvenile said that Hatfield then began pointing out other women in the stadium passing their location, asking him his thoughts on the women’s breasts,” according to the incident report.
The male employee asked a supervisor for help, who in turn contacted stadium security, who called police.
Hatfield was “argumentative and refused to leave despite several clear instructions to do so,” according to the report.
A Hartford police sergeant on scene said he ordered Hatfield to leave several times, but that Hatfield “did not immediately follow his commands.”
The sergeant said that Hatfield was “noticeably intoxicated” and continued to be “loud and belligerent” while leaving the stadium. The sergeant said several patrons, including children, “appeared disturbed and alarmed by Hatfield’s behavior.”
The sergeant stated that “Hatfield began standing in the roadway, continuing to shout and cause a disturbance.”
Platt Tech is part of the state’s technical high school system. Officials there are aware of Hatfield’s arrest and will deal with it. A spokesperson said Wednesday there is nothing new to report.
Hatfield’s lawyer has declined comment, saying he would deal with the issue in court. Hatfield was arrested with his friend, Frank Koshes, a sergeant with the Town of Orange Police Department.
Hatfield is due in Superior Court in Hartford on July 31.
Members of the school board and district administrators have not returned calls for comment.