Jennifer Desroches
DERBY — A tax board member apologized on Tuesday for a joke she made at a meeting last week involving special education students.
During a tax board meeting March 22 held online using the Zoom video conferencing software, an anonymous person began saying the “f” word repeatedly.
The anonymous person did this as officials from Derby Public Schools were reviewing their proposed budget for next year with the members of the tax board. The person was kicked from the virtual meeting but was able to re-enter, causing the meeting to briefly come to a halt.
“Those are the ones that are in special ed,” tax board member Jennifer Desroches joked, referencing the anonymous person.
Prior to the disruption, school officials had pointed to an increase in salaries and special education costs as two of several spending increases in the proposed school budget. The audio and video from the meeting was not posted on the city’s website after the meeting.
At the start of the tax board’s meeting on Tuesday (March 29) Desroches said the comment was insensitive.
“I was trying to make light of a bad situation but it really sounded bad, so I want to apologize if I offended anybody,” Desroches said. “I was a little mortified myself when I was listening to it.“
Desroches was elected to the tax board in November and previously served as an assistant in former Mayor Anita Dugatto’s administration.
