The Derby school board accepted the resignation of three top administrators without comment during a meeting Monday.
School officials once again focused their comments after the meeting on “moving forward,” without talking about what they’re moving from.
After the meeting, Superintendent Matthew Conway said he would not discuss personnel matters.
Regarding the replacement of two middle school administrators, school board president Ken Marcucio, Jr. said the school’s lawyer advised the board not to comment.
Conway said three search committees will be formed to find replacements for Derby High School Principal Greg Gaillard, Derby Middle School Principal Sean Morrissey and Derby Middle School Dean Matthew Spar.
The Middle School Resignations
The district has released some information about the middle school changes.
Morrissey and Spar were put on administrative leave Nov. 24, in connection to a written bomb threat received Nov. 17 at Derby Middle School, according to documents released Dec. 5.
But the superintendent would not comment Monday as to whether that incident led to the resignation of the middle school administrators. Click the play button below to hear Conway answer questions about the situation.
School was closed a day after the bomb threat as a precaution.
A 13-year-old student was arrested a short time later.
Conway started an investigation into the matter, according to the documents.
A parent told the Valley Indy — and shared publicly on social media — that her daughter had found threatening messages in the eighth grade girls’ bathroom in the middle school Nov. 13 and Nov. 14, but school officials did nothing about it.
Although the school district acknowledged disciplinary action had been started against Morrissey and Spar, they have declined to release the results of the investigation, citing “personnel matters.”
Conway, after a school board meeting Dec. 10, said there was no written record of the investigation in the district’s possession.
‘Personnel Matters’
In 2004, a state appeals court ruled teachers’ disciplinary records are public documents.
In a blog post in 2012, Matthew Kauffman, an investigative reporter for the Hartford Courant, pointed out that government often relies on “personnel matters” when keeping information secret.
“It may be the most commonly used no-comment excuse. And it’s completely at odds with state law,” Kauffman wrote.
Click here to read the rest of the post.
The Valley Indy submitted a Freedom of Information request to Derby schools in Dec. 4 for “any and all communications, documents and correspondence related to the school district’s review” of the threat.
On Dec. 5, Conway said in an email that he provided the “information in my possession that complies with this request.”
The High School Resignation
The situation with the resignation of Derby High School Principal Greg Gaillard is not connected to the resignations from the middle school.
Gaillard resigned abruptly Dec. 9, citing “personal reasons.”
The Valley Indy reached out to Gaillard Saturday for comment.
“I would like to wish the best to the entire Derby School community,” he said in a message. “My departure is for personal reasons and I appreciate the continued respect regarding this matter.”
Monday’s Meeting
The meeting of the school board Monday started at 5:30 p.m.
One parent, Don Demanuel, spoke during the public comment portion at the start of the meeting.
Demanuel credited the school board for dealing with tough issues.
His comments echoed the comments several active school parents have said — we don’t necessarily care why the administrators left, we just want to know solid replacements will be found.
“It’s not something that is easy to deal with — leadership changes never are,” Demanuel said. “A lot has been said, rumored and written over the last several weeks about the events that have led us here tonight. As you guys move forward with your agenda, those things will all be history in a couple of hours,” he said.
Demanuel said leadership led to Monday’s meeting.
“Unfortunately, it wasn’t always leadership at its best,” he said. “But nonetheless things have happened, and you guys are charged with having to pick those pieces up and move forward.”
At 5:35 p.m., the school board entered into executive session, a type of meeting that is closed to the public, but is allowed in Connecticut under certain circumstances, such as when discussing specific employees.
They returned to the public session at 6:43 p.m. and voted unanimously to accept each resignation. There was no discussion on the motions.
Watch the video below for the end of the meeting:
