Ansonia Assistant Superintendent Joseph DiBacco, Superintendent Carol Merlone, Board of Education Vice President Fran DiGiorgi, President William Nimons, and members Joseph Jeanette, Tracey DeLibero, and John Izzo.
Ansonia’s Board of Education released an agreement Friday that shows they will pay a former principal $75,000 to retire and promise not to sue them.
Former Ansonia High School Principal Terri Goldson was placed on leave in December after his Twitter account “liked” a 28-second pornographic video.
School officials have never said that Goldson’s leave was because of the activity on his Twitter account. The agreement released Friday doesn’t mention it either.
In a prepared statement Dec. 22, Schools Superintendent Carol Merlone said only that Goldson had been put on leave “as a result of allegations that are currently being investigated.”
Assistant Principal Sara Crooks was appointed acting principal in Goldson’s absence.
Goldson has not returned calls and messages seeking comment.
The Board of Education voted Feb. 8 to authorize Assistant Superintendent Joseph DiBacco to sign the settlement with Goldson.
The document indicates Goldson and the president of the union that represented him signed the document Feb. 8.
DiBacco signed it Feb. 15, the day after the Board of Education formally accepted Goldson’s resignation.
The document shows:
- The school board will pay Goldson $60,000 representing the last five months of his salary for the current school year
- The school board also agreed to pay $15,000 in severance
- Merlone will write Goldson a letter of recommendation
- Goldson won’t sue the school board for any reason
- Goldson and school administrators agreed not to “disparage” each other
The agreement also includes a clause that Goldson and the school district “agree, to the extent possible under the law, not to make public or to disclose to anyone in any manner the terms of this Agreement.”
Such clauses have repeatedly been ruled unenforceable in Connecticut, with courts and the state’s Freedom of Information Commission ruling that public agencies can’t bargain away the people’s right to know.
The Valley Indy sent a Freedom of Information request to Merlone Thursday and DiBacco released the document Friday.
It is embedded below.
Goldson Settlement by The Valley Indy on Scribd
