A still shot from Valley Indy video of a contentious BOE meeting from 2019.
ANSONIA — A court hearing involving an old lawsuit over which elected entity — the Aldermen or the school board — fill vacancies on the city’s board of education didn’t happen Monday.
A remote hearing had been scheduled to be held at 9:30 a.m. It was to be carried live on YouTube due to COVID-19 restrictions still in place but was postponed according to Joseph W. McQuade, the lawyer representing the Ansonia Board of Education.
John Marini, the city’s lawyer, said the case was continued because he has proposed a written stipulated judgment the Ansonia Board of Education is reviewing. That document presumably includes language saying the Aldermen are responsible for filling vacancies on the board of education.
“The joint stipulation I drafted would represent a mutually acceptable resolution to the case, and avoid the need for further litigation, thereby saving legal fees for both the City and Board of Education,” Marini said in an email.
How much taxpayer dollars has been spent on the lawsuit wasn’t available Monday.
THE LAWSUIT
The following information is from previous Valley Indy stories on this subject.
The city (Mayor David Cassetti’s administration) is suing the board of education.
The lawsuit stems from a debate that started in 2019, when a member of the school board (Joseph Jeanette) vacated his seat after being elected to the Ansonia Board of Aldermen.
The school board voted to appoint Phil Tripp, a “Team Cassetti” critic, to fill the vacancy.
However, a few hours later on the same day, the majority of the Board of Aldermen voted to appoint Bobbi Tar, a “Team Cassetti” supporter, to fill the vacancy.
At the time, members of the school board said filling the vacancy was their responsibility.
Mayor David Cassetti’s administration said the Ansonia City Charter says filling the vacancy is the Aldermen’s responsibility.
The city filed a lawsuit in February 2020 asking a court to decide who has the power to fill vacancies on the school board.
In its response to the lawsuit, the Ansonia Board of Education points to a state law from 1893 that made boards of education independent of city hall, including the ability to fill vacancies. The city maintains the law from 1893 is ancient history and has been removed from the books.
A month prior to the lawsuit’s filing, the city and the board of education cut a deal that saw Beth LaBerge, a “compromise candidate,” be sworn in as a member of the school board (with the understanding the debate over who has the power to fill vacancies would be going to court).
LaBerge, who ran on the Republican line, was re-elected in November 2021.
The Ansonia power struggle led to a public meeting in December 2019 where both Tripp and Tar took seats during a meeting. During that meeting a lawyer for the school board called police, saying Mayor Casssetti was being disruptive by presiding over the meeting. The Cassetti administration said the mayor was simply doing his job as described in the Ansonia City Charter, and the police took no action.
