Board of Education Calls Press Conference to Support Administration

"One of the flaws of our society, and it's a democratic society, is that there are occasions when people who shout loudly, make misstatements and get more credibility than they deserve," said Board of Education chairman Ted Raczka at a Tuesday morning press conference called to support the beleaguered Middletown school administration.

 At last Tuesday's Board of Education meeting, one which was interrupted by loud union accusations, a hasty recess and the arrival of police, the members in attendance voted to hold a press conference to show support of the school administration.  This morning the BOE held that press conference with five board members in attendance, Raczka, Bill Boyd, Renee Johnson-Thornton, William Grady, and Ryan Kennedy, who did not sit on the panel.

Also in attendance was State Superintendent of Schools Mark McQuillan, and a the executive diretor of the Connecticut Association of School Superintendents, Joseph Cirasuolo along with the executive director of the Connecticut Association of Boards of Directors, Robert Rader.

Raczka went on to compare those who are accusing the Board of Ed with improprieties with Joe McCarthy's red-baiting during the Army-McCarthy hearings of the 1950's.

"In this district I think it's very similar," Raczka said.  "There is no impropriety in the Middletown School District.  We are not going to be swayed by shouting and bad manners."

Raczka said after the meeting that he has not received a single specific allegation of financial impropriety from those making accusations.

State Superintendent of Schools McQuillan did not address any of the specific allegations levied against the BOE over the past year, instead, he said, the distraction caused by the dispute between the Board of Education and the city was hindering the sustained progress of the district.

"We need to put them (the disputes) aside and move along," McQuillan said.  "Ultimately this is about needing to sustain progress in a district that has climbed out of a very difficult place."

"I'm here, ironically, because I don't think we should have to be here," Cirasuolo said.  "It seems to me that the mayor of Middletown does not agree with the law on governance of school districts.  And that's his right, but the way to go about that is to get the law changed and not to disobey the law."

"A Board of Education should have control over all its employees, not just its educational employees," Cirasuolo said.  "If this goes to full adjudication, they'll find that this kind of arrangement does not stand up to the statutes."

After the meeting, Raczka, who has called the tactics of BOE opponents, "street theater" reacted to the suggestion that the press conference was in the same vein.

"Not at all," Raczka said.  "Because we addressed some very specific allegations."

Board member Bill Boyd feels that the attacks by the city have hurt the educational process.

"This school system has been successful, and we don't want to derail that," Boyd said.  "This is a competent administration.  A very competent administration."

Boyd indicated that the struggle between the city side and the BOE is longstanding, and predates the current mayoral administration.

"There's always a struggle," Boyd suggested. "But using the Police Department to carry out political aims is profoundly inappropriate."

Boyd was referring to the presence of police officers in Board of Education officers following an accusation that financial records were about to be modified or destroyed, and the recent arrest for breach of peace of the Board of Education's business manager Nancy Haynes.