The Meeting Before the Meeting
Jonathan Moore(left), John Mauer (center)
and Superintendent Patricia Chamberlain (right)
walked to the high school library for the Region
1 Board of Education meeting on Wednesday, July 10
after apparently holding a meeting-before-the-meeting
in the superintendent’s office. Meetings before
meetings are allegedly often held there with the
board members who usually vote in a
block majority — the chairman from Kent and the
representatives from North Canaan and Cornwall.
Wouldn’t that be an illegal meeting according
to the Freedom of Information Act?
However innocent this may be, it is still a violation of FOI. It also furthers the belief of some that these people are out of touch with the taxpayers they supposedly represent. Not even trying to hide what may be illegal activity.
While this photo shows the depth of the undying, but misplaced, loyalty to the superintendent by the chairman, I do not think it is a violation of the Freedom of Information law. To constitute a meeting I believe, you have to have a quorum participating and this does not appear to be the case. However, the fact that there appears to have been a meeting with the superintendent, the Board chair and Mr. Mauer should be problematic for the superintendent and the chair as well, especially given Mr. Mauer’s frequent dissemination of disinformation. It seems to show that there is active discussion and planning among them to protect the top two administrators. This just reinforces the idea of behind the scenes, sneaky, less than transparent dealings done without the knowledge and/or consent of a majority of a Board that is willing to tarnish the reputation of our school. Three defeats of the budget should show every Board member on local boards and the Region 1 board that because they continue to bury their collective heads in the sand about the real problems that the mistrust will continue to grow.