Oxford Board of Education member Gerard Carbonaro on Wednesday disputed claims made by the high school’s wrestling coach that he has engaged in a pattern of harassment against the coach and is serving on the school board illegally.
The accusing coach, Benjamin Blue, raised the issues through a letter his lawyer sent to town and school officials Jan. 27 threatening a lawsuit. Blue said Carbonaro has been heckling him at matches and bad-mouthing him to school officials.
The letter says there’s no timeframe as to when Blue may file a lawsuit against the town, because he “is hopeful that school officials will resolve the issues which have been presented” by him.
Background
Blue is currently the wrestling coach at the high school.
Carbonaro, whose son is on the wrestling team, was an assistant coach until December 2011, when he told an opposing fan to shut up at an event and was later fired for “conduct unbecoming a coach,” according to this story from Oxford Patch.
That incident came months after Carbonaro was suspended from a coaching position on the high school football team for having a “heated argument” with another coach in front of players.
At the time, Carbonaro, who was running for a seat on the Board of Education, told Patch that Blue “had been feeling insecure and did not back me up” and blamed his dismissal on political maneuvering.
Lawyer: Coach May Sue
The letter Blue’s lawyer, Steven Colarossi, sent the town last week says that when Carbonaro was elected to his seat on the Oxford school board in November 2011, the town was violating state law by letting him remain a wrestling coach.
The lawyer says Carbonaro was still employed by the school district when he was sworn in, as demonstrated by pay records he obtained through Freedom of Information requests.
Colarossi said that’s illegal because a state law specifically bars members of school boards from being employed by the school districts they supervise.
“Mr. Carbonaro forfeited his seat the day he was inaugurated,” Colarossi said in an email Friday. “He has usurped that elective position at all times since then.”
Carbonaro is not employed by Oxford any more, but Colarossi said the law says he should have forfeited his school board seat regardless.
The letter also says that Carbonaro has engaged in a pattern of intimidation against Blue, including heckling him at wrestling matches.
The document says school officials “refused to intervene to prevent a continuation of this conduct” and that school district staff may have divulged information about Blue to Carbonaro unlawfully — on the basis of his holding his school board seat illegally.
The lawyer also took issue with an “improvement plan” presented to Blue by the school’s athletic director that allegedly directed Blue to “limit his family’s contact with Board of Education officials,” saying he suspects the “improvement plan” given to Blue “is being influenced by Mr. Carbonaro’s presumed ill-feelings toward my client.”
Reaction
Carbonaro on Wednesday said he couldn’t discuss the allegations in detail, but denied the allegations contained in Colarossi’s letter.
“I have a lot to say about it but I’m trying to hold my fire at this point,” Carbonaro said.
He he said he wasn’t a paid employee of the school district at the time he was sworn in on the Board of Education.
He served as an assistant coach on the team for about three weeks after being sworn in, he said, “but i did not receive one penny of compensation.”
“Those few weeks of coaching were done as a volunteer assistant,” he said. “I did not get paid.”
He said he knew all along that his candidacy for the board meant he would no longer be a paid coach.
“Before my name ever went on the ballot, we had all of these issues fleshed out with attorneys to make sure we weren’t doing anything wrong,” Carbonaro said.
Regarding the heckling and harassment claims made in the lawyer’s letter, Carbonaro said that he has criticized Blue.
But not as a school board member.
“Yeah, I’ve taken shots at Ben Blue — as a parent,” Carbonaro said. “I have taken no action against Ben Blue as a Board of Education member. Any criticism I might have had over the years of him was strictly as a parent of a kid on the team.”
Oxford Schools Superintendent Timothy Connellan declined to comment on the issue Friday (Jan.31).
He said he’d forward a reporter’s contact information to the school board’s lawyer, but declined to name the lawyer.
Messages were left with First Selectman George Temple and School Board Chairwoman Diane Soracco.
