The Derby Board of Education is again considering removing a barrier from hiring their relatives to work in the school district.
As it stands, no immediate family member of the school board member can be appointed to a full-time position in the school district.
The school board could vote to delete the rule at a meeting scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Thursday (Oct. 20) in the Derby Middle School cafeteria.
The family member rule is part of the school board’s nepotism policy. Nepotism describes the unfair practice of favoring relatives for job hires — a no-no in the public sector.
But the Derby school board violated its own nepotism policy in June 2015 when they hired the school board chairman’s son as a teacher.
At the time, school board member Andrew Mancini said that the nepotism policy would have prevented the district from hiring the best person for the job — who just happened to be the school board chairman’s son.
There are nine people on the school board.
After violating the policy, the school board began taking steps to eliminate the toughest part of the policy.
The issue was put on the back burner during the 2015 election cycle, though both candidates for Derby mayor told the Valley Indy they were in favor of deleting the provision.
On Aug. 29, a school board subcommittee recommended the family member rule be deleted and moved the issue back to the full school board.
Two of the four members of the subcommittee making the recommendation have children who work full-time for Derby Public Schools.
The meeting minutes do not show any discussion of the issue.
Nepotism policies differ from district to district in Connecticut. Derby schools have one of the tougher anti-nepotism policies in Connecticut — on paper.
In recent years the school board has been willing to hire people with direct family connections to the school system. After hiring the superintendent, the majority of the school board gave approval to hire his wife in an administrative position.
As the school board ponders whether it should be easier to hire relatives, Derby city government is taking steps to remove a safeguard meant to keep Aldermen in check.
Derby voters are being asked to vote Nov. 8 to delete a section of the Derby Charter that bars city employees from serving on the Board of Aldermen unless they receive unanimous approval from their fellow Aldermen.
According to “explanatory text” released by the city meant to inform voters, the government is also asking whether to “eliminate the prohibition against City officials doing business with or being employed to do any work for the City of Derby.”
The rules, dating back to the 1950s, were created to root out corruption among Aldermen.
At the time, several elected or appointed officials made money off their role in local government.
According to a 1953 copy of the Evening Sentinel newspaper:
- An Alderman was supplying the city with gasoline.
- A member of the Board of Education was purchasing groceries for a city department from her family’s store.
- A member of the tax board was a plumber who was hired to do jobs for the city.
According to the Evening Sentinel, Alderman Michael V. Vellaco described his fellow elected officials as “leeches who have been on the gravy train too many years.”
However, a few current Aldermen have argued voters know who they’re electing, and that it’s not fair to require the people’s vote to be ratified by other Aldermen.
In addition, proponents argue the requirement puts too much potential power in the hands of a lone Alderman with a grudge, since that one vote can upend the people’s choice.
The city has been talking about Charter revision since the summer, with little interest from the public.
Meanwhile, minutes from an Oct. 11 Aldermen meeting show that two members of the Board of Aldermen who also work for the city were part of an employee team negotiating employment contracts with Mayor Anita Dugatto.
Those same union contracts have to be reviewed and approved by the other members of the Board of Aldermen.
The minutes further show that a member of the mayor’s staff was on one side of the negotiating table — while his sister-in-law was on the employee side of the negotiating table.
The Valley Indy has sent several emails to the Derby corporation counsel seeking more information.
Nepotism Policy Minutes by The Valley Indy on Scribd
