Alderman Joseph Bomba called out the Derby school board for not having a presence at city Aldermen meetings.
Bomba said items to benefit the school district have been on Aldermen agendas four times since February — but no one from the schools came to the meetings.
The items ranged from giving an old city truck to the school district to hiring a contractor to supervise high-tech electricity-generating turbines at Derby Middle School, Bomba said.
“I can no longer hold my tongue,” Bomba said, reading from a prepared statement during last Tuesday’s Aldermen meeting. “Is this all that’s happening at the schools in the last year? How is the new middle school doing? How are the students at the high school now that they have the high school to themselves? How are the elementary school students doing with all their new space?”
“I think the taxpayers in town deserve to hear what is going on, instead of every time someone appears before this board it is for a bid waiver,” Bomba said.
Department supervisors from the police department, public works and other city agencies are asked to give department updates at each Derby Board of Aldermen meeting.
Representatives from police, public works and the building department are usually there in person. Attendance varies for the other departments. All departments are supposed to submit written reports.
Occasionally the school board meets at the same time as Derby Aldermen, as was the case last Tuesday.
Ken Marcucio, the chairman of the Derby Board of Education, was surprised to hear about Bomba’s statement.
Marcucio said updates on school happenings are given at each school board meeting.
He said either he or Superintendent Stephen Tracy are not opposed to going to Aldermen meetings.
“If we’re asked, we go,” Marcucio said. “It’s hard to go to every Board of Apportionment or Board of Aldermen meeting. We have meetings ourselves. The meetings conflict,” he said.
The fact is that the school board — especially this time of year, when budgets are being formed — can meet up to three times during a five-day stretch, Marcucio said.
“I don’t see him (Bomba) coming to any Board of Education meetings,” Marcucio said. “If it’s that important to him, why doesn’t he come to the Board of Education meetings?”
