From: Gale Toensing
To: Marshall Miles
Sent: Wednesday, June 12, 2013

The Body with the Power to Act is the Region 1 Board of Education; The ABC Committee is Advisory Only

The 7000 Series is a policy shared among the six elementary schools and the high school. The policy says on page 4, under the heading “Governing Body”:
“The governing body of the Regional School Services Center [wrongly refered to as “central office”] is the Regional School District Number 1 Board of Education (the “Regional Board”), in accordance with Section 2 of Special Act 405 of the 1959 session of the Connecticut General Assembly. The Regional Board shall receive and may act on the recommendation of the All Board Chairs (ABC) Committee, an advisory committee to the Regional Board, in all matters affecting the Regional School Services Center.” The Series then goes on to define what “all matters affecting the Regional School Services Center” means.

What is so hard to understand about being an advisory board that can only make recommendations, but cannot act? That means it can only pass motions “to recommend” actions to the Regional Board. It cannot pass motions that are actions, such as the motion it passed on June 10 to refer a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) complaint to the Regional Board’s attorney — a “decision,” by the way, that is totally questionable since the board attorney has already reviewed the complaint and discussed it with both the ABC Committee chairwoman and the superintendent on multiple occasions going back as far as March, according to legal bills for March and April. Why would they try to pass this motion off as a new “decision” when they’ve already referred the complaint to the attorney — without an ABC recommendation to the board or board approval? (I use the ironic quotation marks because, again, the ABC Committee cannot make decisions to act, they can only recommend.) These actions and expenditures are unauthorized and basically legally questionable. This is taxpayer money that is being spent without authorization by the body with the power to act — the Region 1 Board of Education. And it’s not the first time it’s happened.

Full disclosure: I filed the FOI complaint against the ABC Committee chairwoman for denying me access to documents relating to the superintendent’s evaluation. I asked the FOI Commission to determine if the denial of these documents is a violation of the public access law. Members of both the Regional Board and the ABC Committee have been repeating — as if in an echo chamber — that “45 board members throughout the district” gave the superintendent rave reviews. Maybe they did, but if so, why the secrecy? Why deny access to the documents? The fact that I’ve exercised my civic right to file an FOIA complaint seems to have generated some animosity. That’s unfortunate. I didn’t agree with Ronald Reagan about much, but I did like his statement, “Trust, but verify.”

So below is an email I sent to the superintendent regarding the ABC vote and proper procedure, a response from an ABC member, and a response to the ABC member’s response.

~~ Gale Courey Toensing

PS I offer this definition of ‘conflict of interest’ from the online legal dictionary at http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/conflict+of+interest:
Conflict of interest: A term used to describe the situation in which a public official or fiduciary who, contrary to the obligation and absolute duty to act for the benefit of the public or a designated individual, exploits the relationship for personal benefit, typically pecuniary.

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Gale Toensing
Date: Tue, Jun 11, 2013 at 12:02 PM
Subject: ABC Committee vote
To: Patricia Chamberlain, Sam Herrick , Philip Hart , Jonathan MOORE , Marilyn Yerks , “W. Scooter Tedder” , Laura Freund
Cc: Pat Mechare , Lou Timolat , Ross GRANNAN , Rebecca HURLBURT , Brian Bartram , Electra TORTORELLA, Paul Cortese , Dolores Perotti , Gary Brochu

Patricia

Last night the ABC Committee voted — as if it had the authority to do so — to refer a Freedom of Information Act complaint to Gary Brochu, the board attorney for the Region 1 Board of Education. As you should know — since it’s been said repeatedly over the past several years — and should have communicated to the ABC Committee members, the ABC Committee is an advisory committee of the Region 1 Board of Education with advisory power only. It does not have the authority to act; it can only make recommendations to the Region 1 Board of Education. That means you should take no action regarding the ABC Committee’s vote to forward the FOIA issue to Gary Brochu. The ABC Committee should forward its request to the Region 1 Board of Education as a recommendation for action. To do otherwise is a violation of the region’s commonly shared 7000 series and of the statutory law that requires and authorizes only the Region 1 Board of Education to decide and act on such matters.

Thank you.

Gale

—– Original Message —–
From: Ross Grannan
To: Gale Toensing
Cc: Patricia Chamberlain ; Sam Herrick ; Philip Hart ; Jonathan MOORE ; Marilyn Yerks ; W. Scooter Tedder ; Laura Freund ; Gale C. Toensing ; Pat Mechare ; Lou Timolat ; Rebecca HURLBURT ; Brian Bartram ; Electra TORTORELLA ; Paul Cortese ; Dolores Perotti ; Gary Brochu
Sent: Tuesday, June 11, 2013 1:08 PM
Subject: Re: ABC Committee vote

Is this email as a private citizen or Region One representative from Town of Canaan?

Ross Grannan

Sent from my iPhone

—– Original Message —–
From: Ross Grannan
To: Gale Toensing
Cc: Patricia Chamberlain ; Sam Herrick ; Philip Hart ; Jonathan MOORE ; Marilyn Yerks ; W. Scooter Tedder ; Laura Freund ; Gale C. Toensing ; Pat Mechare ; Lou Timolat ; Rebecca HURLBURT ; Brian Bartram ; Electra TORTORELLA ; Paul Cortese ; Dolores Perotti ; Gary Brochu
Sent: Tuesday, June 11, 2013 1:18 PM
Subject: Re: ABC Committee vote

In either case Gail you do not speak for the regional board and you have a conflict of interest since you filed the FOI complaint as a private citizen, you must recuse yourself from any further communication or action.

Ross Grannan

Sent from my iPhone

—– Original Message —–
From: Lou Timolat
To: Gale Toensing ; Pat Mechare
Sent: Tuesday, June 11, 2013 5:59 PM
Subject: Fwd: ABC Committee vote

Gale, Pat:

I respectfully disagree with Ross’s “conflict of interest” assertion.

I argue that Gale’s personal interest in the general application of the FOI act, her official appointment as the Falls Village liaison to the FOI Commission, and her duty as an officer of the district board to know that the district governing board and its appendages obey the law, including the FOI Act are not in conflict. Rather, the respective interests (personal and public policy) are mutually, properly, and beneficially complementary. For Gale to “recuse” herself per Ross’s demand would be for her to abrogate her sworn duty and obligation.

Louis