001I'd like to call the special meeting of the Newington Board of Education to order for Wednesday, December 10th at 62 p.m. Please rise for the pledge. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Deb, would you please call the role? Mary >> here. >> Sean Hollerin >> here. >> Marissa Lensing here. Timothy Newton >> here. >> Sam Chararma. Ryan Ta Stanley >> here. >> Everyone here except Mr. Chararma. >> Thank you. Um, there is no public in the room. Is there anyone online? I'm not like on yet, but I will check. Chromebook's not working. >> There is no one online at public. >> All right. Helen cannot participate. Um, all right.
002Let's move on to our board retreat. So, I'll turn it over to Dr. Brahma and our attorney, Jessica Ritter. Jessica. >> Thank you, Chairman Potty. It's my pleasure to introduce to the board attorney Jessica Ritter. She is with the firm Shipman and Goodwin. And as I've mentioned in some previous orientation discussions, uh her her presentation tonight will focus on board roles and responsibilities. Um it's it's an overview there. There's a lot to to learn. We've all provided you tonight with the Robert's rules, the uh a bridged version. And um we will have some materials for you. I do know um we're going to look to see if there's another session of that CAB conference that happened yesterday. I know a couple folks couldn't make it, but that is one of those uh situations that is
003legally required by the state statute. But for tonight, this overview will be an excellent reminder about good things for you know board members to know and understand around FOI and other things that can be perils if we don't follow the rules. So, with that in mind, I'll turn it over to Attorney Ritter. And, uh, would you like board members to introduce themselves, Attorney Ritter? >> Sure, that'd be great. Thank you. >> All right, we'll start with the chairwoman. >> I am chairperson Amy Potty, third term on the board. >> Vice Chair Jessica Weaver, fourth term. Good to see you. Good to see you. >> Tim Newton, second term, board of ed. >> Mary Beatric, second term. >> Ryan Keville, first. >> Congrats. Thanks. >> Marissa Lindsay first. Congratulations. >> Thank you. >> Neil Stanley, first
004term. >> Congratulations. >> Sean Hollerin, board secretary, second term. >> Great. So, um, normally I would stand, but since I've been told that I need to use a microphone, is it okay if I sit here rather than Carrie? Do you What would you guys prefer? Would it be easier if I stand behind Amy or sit here? >> Whatever you guys are You want me to come up? Okay. All right. Let's do that. >> Yeah, two screens as well. >> Okay. Yeah, I just want to make sure that everyone can see it's not >> causing vertigo. >> Um, okay. So, as Dr. Brumett said, I'm Jessica Ritter with Shipment and Goodwin. Um, I've been asked to do this the last couple of years. Um, I know we only have an hour. The presentation is rather comprehensive,
005but I will move through it as quickly as I can. And I might jump around a little bit because I want to emphasize what I think is probably the most important takeaways for you to be an informed board of education member. So even um though some of you are in your third or fourth terms, I always feel that even the most seasoned board vets will say, "Oh, I learned something new today." So, please feel free to stop me at any time with any questions and you'll see that I have incorporated some scenarios within the presentation to kind of keep it interesting and hopefully to foster some good conversation. All right. So, let's start with your responsibilities of the board. So, you may or may not know that as a local board of education, you are
006actually deemed an agent of the state. So if you actually looked at the Connecticut Constitution, our state legislature through the Constitution has specifically delegated educational responsibilities to our local boards of education or regional boards of education. And if you also, and I know that you're all very busy, and I commend you all for doing this type of service work for your community, but if you ever had the desire to read through the educational statutes in Connecticut, you'll see that some of the general frameworks and to me the most important part of your statutory charge is when it talks about you being responsible for implementing the educational interests of the state in the best educational interests of our students. And so I always like to say to our board of education representatives that as you are
007making decisions, as you are deliberating, try to think back to that is my number one statutory charge to think about what are the educational interests of our students and that should be what forms my recommendation or my opinions on matters and it's also embedded in our state constitution. So you also serve as a policy maker for the school district. So that's probably one of the most important charges that you have. How many of you or have you not done committee assignments yet, Amy? So who's on the policy committee? Lovely. Okay. So Jessica, you've been on it before, Mary. Okay. So um Gail, this would be new for you, right? Okay. So the policy committee and I don't know you might get frustrated because in recent years both state and federal government have encroached significantly on
008your ability to have discretion in what many of these policies look like. Um but it is important that you're always in compliance with state law and there are certainly some policies where you can put your own spin on it and tailor it to Newington. So I don't know if any of you have been made familiar with the new school climate policies that you had to adopt back in July 1 of 2025. So that's a policy specifically where you can tailor it and be building specific and so you can get data um collect data through various resources including through some of your administrators and that can inform some of the policy decisions that you make. Um, one of the other, if not the most significant thing that you do obviously is put together a budget and
009vote on a budget. And as you know, you're given an annual appropriation from your town and then you choose how to expend that money, right? So, they give you the appropriation, they have to comply with what's called the minimum budget requirement, but then you, the board of education, determine how you are going to allocate those resources. Um you then as a board of education you act through your superintendent of schools. So she is your only employee and the only employee that you evaluate and then everyone else falls under a certain hierarchal structure that Dr. Brummit and her central office team oversee through that chief executive officer. She is the one who you rely on to implement the operational kind of day-to-day decisions. Right? So you make the policy, you charge her to implement to those
010policies in the way that you have guided her and then we have to trust that she is making the operational decisions. It's not really for the board to be part of the day-to-day activities. Right? Again, you're more big picture. She's more I'm going to implement the direction of the board. And we'll talk about um things that board of education members have to be mindful of. what is not their wheelhouse, what is not their purview, and to make sure that we understand kind of the overlap and the interplay between the superintendent and the board of education. Okay. So, this is working. All right. So, I want to talk now about your rights and authority as board members. So, you in essence have the same right as any other citizen, right? same access to information that any
011other citizen would have access to. Which means you are not afforded greater access just because you're a board of education member unless you need that information to perform your job function as a board of education member. So for example um I've had board of education members and I'm not saying this is anyone here but in previous places where people have run at a platform of I didn't like that administrator or I didn't like those teachers and I want to see the evaluation of all those teachers and administrators because that's the platform I ran on. Well legally you're not entitled to see those evaluations. Legally the only evaluation that you are a part of is Dr. Brumit's evaluation. So you can't come in and say I'm a board of education member. I demand to see all
012the evaluations let's say of the high school principal because specifically under the Freedom of Information Act that is not subject to disclosure without specific consent from that high school administrator. So same for any public citizen they would not have access to that information. Now contrast that with our non-certified staff. anyone can have access to the evaluations of our non-certified staff. They do not have the same legal distinction built into the law the way our certified staff do. Um, one thing I did want to point out is talk a little bit about your first amendment rights now that you are an elected official. So, one, um, you still have the right to speak out on matters of public concern. You still have the right to go on social media. No one can tell you that you
013can't engage in conduct on social media, but certainly what you have to be mindful of is you can't go on social media and start um asserting opinions that can be attributed to your full board of education members. So, in other words, let's say Jessica wants to she doesn't necessarily agree with the direction that the board moved on from a budgetary perspective and you want to go on social media and you want to let it be known to your constituents that you didn't agree with the vote. No one can legally prohibit you from doing that and you have the right to do it. Obviously, we want you to be thoughtful and mindful about the way that you do that, but you certainly can't go on there and have it be that your comments could be attributable
014to everyone else here. And so, if you are going to do that and you feel compelled to do that, I would recommend that you have the disclaimer as I am speaking as private citizen Jessica Weaver, not as a board of education member, and these comments should not be attributed to my other board of education members. Same thing if you wanted to write an editorial to the local newspaper or something of the like. The other thing that we cannot do on social media is engage in any defamatory behavior either to our peers in this room or to any of our other school community members. And so we want to be thoughtful about that. Um, as board of education members, you are legally indemnified, which means if you act within the scope of your responsibilities and you
015are sued, the district has to pay your legal fees, give you a lawyer, and take care of it for you. If, however, you go rogue and act in a manner that is not conducive or part of your job responsibilities, the board of ed does not have to indemnify you. So, I use that example because I have had board of education members sued for making defamatory comments on social media about individuals, whether it be other political peers or staff people. And again, if you're going to do that and you've been advised that that is not okay to do, the board of ed can then say you're on your own for that defamation charge. So, just something to keep in mind. I also wanted to mention if you have students in the school district, you don't shed
016your right to advocate on behalf of your children. But where you want to be really thoughtful is if I my daughter's, let's say my daughter is in sixth grade and I have a complaint with the teacher and don't feel that the teacher has done something right, I still have the right to go to the school principal or directly to the teacher, but I'm coming as Jessica the mother, not as Jessica the board member. And so if you are advocating on behalf of your children, I would recommend that you use a personal email address versus using the Newington Board of Education address because even though we know your only employee is Dr. Brummit, I promise you that a lot of school staff don't understand that legal distinction and getting an email from a board of education
017member is very intimidating. So I'm not saying that you have to disclaim to say I'm writing as a parent. I would just highly recommend that you use your personal email and you never mention your office as a way to use it for your advantage. So I have a perfect example where I had a board of education member once feel her child had special needs and he had an IEP and she felt very strongly that the director of special education and her team had not done right by her child and they were not complying with his IEP. She had every right to go talk to the director of special education, talk to the high school principal and say you're not in compliance with my child's IEP and I want I may file a due process claim.
018Every right to do that. She doesn't shed her rights as a mother to do that. She aired by saying and wait till I tell the board of education about your conduct. Now why is that problematic? it's not your purview. You don't evaluate or oversee them. So then that administrator had the ability effectively and it worked to file what's called an unfair labor charge against that board of education member to say you can't impede on my ability to operate as a school administrator and use your board of education role to intimidate me or interfere with my rights in that manner. So again, not that I would ever suggest that anyone would do that, but that's just an example that I have lived through and I just wanted to draw that distinction for you. Um, so I
019want to talk a little bit then about your duties as board of education members. So confidentiality is a really big deal as a board of education member and you have bylaws that talk about your confidentiality and you have bylaws that talk about your obligation when you learn any information in an executive session. That is information that cannot leave the walls of that executive session. And so that is another example that if you were to violate those terms where you could potentially be individual individually liable for sharing information that you learned in an executive session, particularly attorney client privilege information. If you receive an attorney client privilege communication from me, that belongs to you as the entity. It doesn't belong separately to Amy or to Jessica. it isn't within their right to wave the privilege associated
020with that communication. It would have to be the entity that waves that right. So something to keep in mind. You also may be called upon from time to time to engage in or to serve as an impartial kind of judge and jury in a student expulsion proceeding or school accommodation proceeding. because of your role in that manner, you have to remain impartial. So, let's say we have a student who is arrested for something very significant like a sexual assault and you're getting tons of questions from parents and you want to know a lot. You go to Dr. Brummit and say, "I don't understand. Why is this kid still in school? I've heard all of these rumors. What's going on?" And she says to you, "I can't share that with you. She's not being koi and
021she's not being non-responsive. She's being legally compliant with the fact that unless and until it comes before you through an expulsion proceeding, it would be a violation of those students confidentiality rights and also their due process rights if she shared that information with you. Same thing with an employee. So, as frustrating as that is, there's a reason why she isn't sharing that information with you. She's a very seasoned, excellent superintendent. And so you just have to trust in your CEO that she understands what she can and cannot share with you. Um, you may also, and this happens a lot, and I'm sure uh Jessica and Amy, you can probably speak to this too. You're going to get a lot of people who stop you either basketball game, grocery store, wherever, and say, "I have a
022complaint or I'm not happy with this teacher. I'm not happy with that educator or I don't like the way that this was done." And a lot of it is going to be related to a personnel matter or to a student matter. And what is the party line when we get those questions? It's exactly right. And I I promise you, you're going to have constituents who say, "I don't understand. You're on the board of education. What do you mean you can't fix this for me? What do you mean my kid was suspended and you can't insert yourself and fix it?" And trump Dr. Brum Braum's decision on the matter. You just can't. And it's hard and people aren't going to understand it. But there has to be that party line and that um referral to say,
023"I'm really sorry your family is experiencing this, but believe it or not, the board doesn't have jurisdiction over these issues. I will forward this complaint to Dr. Brummit, and then she will handle it." >> Yeah. So again, I get asked that question a lot and not that I want parents to escalate things, but you have to trust that your CEO and your administrative team are doing right by these parents. And you probably have only heard a quarter of the information, but parents have recourse. And so if they feel one, if I feel that my child's, let's say, IEP is not being complied with, I have recourse through the state. I don't need the board to get involved. The board legally can't get involved, but I can file a lawsuit with the state. If I feel
024that I've been discriminated against, there are non-discrimination policies. There are other forms in Connecticut or other agencies where I can get those questions answered or seek the relief that I need. Um, if there's a Title 9 issue, there are ways to get those issues resolved if after exhausting every remedy at the school level, they can't. Now, most people don't escalate that because it does get resolved at the school level and it gets resolved in the way that it should, but you just have to keep towing the party line. Now, if you start to get a lot of information and let's say it's more systemic than it is specific to a family, then you can get involved because dealing with a systemic issue is very different from dealing with an individual personnel or student matter. That
025would be when the board would say, "Okay, Dr. Brummit, we're getting droves of people coming to our meetings all the time to talk about, let's say, maybe our approach to to students vaping. What is our approach to that?" That's a systemic matter that the board can decide that they want to change the way the administration is approaching that matter. And that is something they can do again through legislating in our meetings or also when it is time to evaluate Dr. Brumit to say, hey, as our CEO, I think we really need to revisit the way that we're approaching this matter in the schools because it's become a systemic issue and there's a lot of concern from the community. So, I think if you distinguish between systemic versus personal, systemic I have purview, personal I don't
026of course. >> Yeah. Excellent question. So, Furpa is the federal law that governs student confidentiality and we have a legal obligation to protect that information because parents again do have a cause of action um under federal law if they feel that we have violated their right to confidentiality. So if a parent though starts spewing all this information about their child and and what happened to them in terms of um let's say a disciplinary matter at school, yes, the parents have given you that information, but that doesn't give you the information to further redisclose that information because it would still be a furpa violation for you to further redisclose that information to someone other than people who have a legitimate need to know that information. um because we don't have a waiver or consent on file
027from the parent to speak about that information to anyone else. So again, you can't say, "Oh, well, mom sent me an email telling me that this is what happened in the cafeteria and that's okay because mom sent it to me in an email correspondence." It's not okay. Would still be viewed as a Furpa violation. So just be very thoughtful about that. And again, party line, we forward that back to Dr. Brummit. Um, I just want to talk a little bit about um the some conflicts of interest before I just get into due process hearings. So, you as board of education members, you are governed by your bylaws. So, if you have an opportunity, you may want to um is it your 9000 series here in Newington? So, you'll want to review them. You'll want to
028read them and be very familiar with them because there is a code of conduct that you have to adhere to. You also are um there are certain municipal statutes in Connecticut that certainly are um applicable to our board of education members and you may and I don't know whether you have an ethics commission in Newington but you certainly have a code of ethics that you're also um required to adhere to. So those conflicts of interest are I can never use my position for personal gain. Right? So, if I work for a private company, I can't say we should, you know, I own a bus company and we should have all the bus contracts go through my company. That would be a significant conflict of interest because I am now personally gaining from the fact that
029I'm serving on this board. You also legally cannot be employed by the school district, not even as a substitute teacher or as a coach. Um, so I've had that question come up before. Well, can I do a pdeium substitute because it's not truly an actual full-time position? No, you cannot earn one cent from the board of ed if you are a member. Um, there's no statutory provision against a relative being employed by the school district, but you should be thoughtful if you have a nepotism policy. Also, if you have a family member, let's say, who's a PAR educator or a teacher, you should not engage in those negotiations through collective bargaining. Um, because that could be construed as a potential conflict. Um, and then we talked about the ethical provisions and the board policies that
030would be applicable to you. Then just quickly I want to talk about um in addition to serving in due process hearings for students, you may be called upon to serve in due process hearings for um our staff members. Now other than Dr. Brummit, Mr. Fari, and a few of our central office staff, all of your employees are unionized, which means all of their terms and conditions of employment are governed by the union contract. If they feel that the union contract has been violated, they have what's called a grievance procedure. They can grieve something to the superintendent. If she denies it, they can then grieve it to the board of education. If you are involved prematurely before it gets to you, that's going to be problematic because you need to remain impartial when you sit as
031judge and jury. But you also could be denying people their constitutional right to due process. if I'm overly involved before I should be involved in the matter. Also, for teacher and administrative hearings, so if I terminate a custodian, there's a termination process um that is contractual. If I terminate a teacher or an administrator, the termination process is statutory, is all driven by statute. So that means that you ultimately decide. Whereas with a custodian, it would be the arbitrator who decides whether or not we had just cause to fire them. It's a certified staff member. It's ultimately up to our board of ed to determine whether or not there was just cause to terminate that certified staff person. So that means that Dr. Brumit cannot give you chapter and verse as to what's going on in
032that personnel matter before it gets to you because we'd be violating the due process rights of that individual. So, I've had many situations, let's say, where a teacher is on leave for a DCF matter. Whether it's true or not, anytime there's an allegation of abuse or neglect against a school staff person, we're likely going to put them on administrative leave. Sometimes that will generate a lot of press and publicity and you'll have a lot of questions. Again, Dr. Brummit can't talk to you about what's going on and why that person's on leave. Also, legally, DCF records are confidential wherever they're located, so we can't talk about the contents of DCF records. People will get upset and say, "Dr. Bummit, why aren't you telling me more? The allegations seem very serious. Why isn't this teacher just
033sumearily discharged? legally can't do that. We also have to be careful not to defame that individual because I have had cases where DCF substantiations are overruled or people recant their stories and there wasn't smoke there. So, we have to be very very thoughtful about that. Um, and so again, I just want to remind you that these are issues where you're going to want the information, but just know you'll get the information when it's the right time to get it. Now, let's say with that teacher, we don't go to a termination hearing. So, you never sit as judge and jury and we resolve it through some type of separation agreement and then you have questions. It would be legally permissible for Dr. Brum at that time to have an executive session with the board to go
034over how she handled the matter. not to sit there and give you all the DCF related information because she legally can't do that or to give you all of the private student information, but she can walk you through this is how I handled it and then you can through the evaluation process determine whether or not she's handled these things effectively. Um, all right. So, any questions on that before I go to the role of the board committee? And then I have one or two scenarios and then I just want to jump into FOYA before we run out of time. Okay. So role of our board committee. So you're all on committees. Just remember that committees recommend they don't vote and they can't take any action that is binding on the full board of education. Now
035I'd also ask you this. What happens is how many people do you normally have in a committee? Three. Okay. Do you have exeicio status so that you can go okay now you is exeicio status let's say you're there three members and then let's say um another board member let's say Sam wants to join in now you have five is that problematic is it >> depends if you >> right so here's so your exeicio status does not count towards the quorum counting So you still wouldn't have a quorum there. So that's not an issue because we still only have four, right? However, if Sam sits there, you're sitting there and then we get another board member to come. Now we do have a quorum and now you've posted this as a special meeting of a subcommittee
036and actually it's a regular meeting now. So we've got to be really thoughtful about that. So the the way to handle that is really how I organize the furniture. Yeah. >> What if you're a parent of a child and you're a board member but you come to that meeting represent your child? That possible. >> Well, I'm thinking about a subcommittee of the board. So, I don't know when you would Yeah. >> hearing some parent of a child could show up who is a board member. Did that would that offset the balance or that count or not? But there is a board member there child. >> So you mean if the child were being expelled? >> Oh, okay. So curriculum. >> So >> you'd have to sit as an audience member. That's that's the answer. So
037you could exactly you could participate. Now normally we don't have public comment at subcommittee meetings, but if you did, you absolutely can. But you would go up there and say, "I'm here as a parent, not here as a board of education member." Because remember, you have the first amendment right to speak out on that. You just can't sit at the table with the subcommittee. >> Yeah, you'd have to sit at the little you'd have to sit with the audience and participate like an audience member, but great question. Um, and we know we have to post all our subcommittee meetings, right? Okay. Um, all right. So, let me just do a brief scenario before I go into our FOYA. Um, so a parent is all over social media after her daughter was suspended for vaping nicotine
038in school two days before a high school dance. The parent is livid that her daughter won't be able to attend the dance. The parent calls Benny board member complaining that the principal overreacted and pleads for the board to correct this injustice. Benny board member calls a superintendent and asks for a meeting involving Benny board member, the superintendent, the principal, and the parent to discuss the student suspension. Is the board member's request appropriate? >> Absolutely not. Okay. So, Jessica, how would I have handled this? Put on my Yeah. I mean, I think honestly, well, this is an administrative matter. Um, so you have to uh simply say that and respond to the parent that that's not under the board's purview. >> Right. And now, as board chair, how would you handle that? What would you say
039to that board member? >> Um, that was inappropriate. Oh, I would say that you don't act you can't ever act alone in anything like you're not you have no power as a individual board member. So even like pretending like you can be in a meeting with that situation. It's just >> Well, that's exactly right to to make it sound like you can demand that your superintendent set up that meeting. You as one individual board member don't have the right to do that, right? So that's that's an excellent point. Um okay, one more scenario. So unfortunately the board recently had to convene an expulsion hearing. The board first receives evidence about the incident that triggered the expulsion hearing and during the latter part of the hearing the board receives evidence about the student's significant discipline history.
040At the conclusion of the hearing, the board votes to expel the student. The day after the expulsion hearing, a board member who was unable to attend the hearing stops you in the parking lot. The board member says rumor has it that the student has been a discipline problem since elementary school. Is that true? Now, how do you board member respond to that board member? >> That's exactly right, too. In addition to executive session, though, why else is that an issue? >> That's exactly right. And so, you might think, well, whoa, whoa, whoa. I'm a board member. But again, I'm only getting that information because I have a legitimate need to know that information because I'm serving as a juror in that matter. So, if I'm not part of it, I have no right to that
041information. Excellent. Um, all right. So, I'm going to jump into FOI. So, I've got 20 minutes to talk to you about FOYA. If I can, if you take one thing away from this, are we all using our Newington email? No one is using their personal email to engage in board business. Correct. And please don't do so now. >> Okay. What do you mean by notification? >> Okay. But you're not uh engaging in any board. Okay. Perfect. Now, can I let's say I do write emails. Let's say I do use my Gmail or I use my personal phone. Can I hide behind it's my personal phone or my Gmail and therefore I don't have to disclose emails or text messages that um deal with board business. I legally cannot, not only can I legally not hide
042behind it, but I would have an affirmative obligation to search my phone and search my personal email if there was evidence that there was board business being conducted on my phone or my personal Gmail account. So, the reason why I would say please please just use the Newington email is I will tell you that we are seeing more FOI requests than I've ever seen in 20 years of practicing. It's all postcoid. People feel very emboldened and they are weaponizing FOYA to either play political gotcha games or um you know you might have community members who are trying to stir up the pot over some community issue. So I would also say if you don't want the current to see it or publish it, don't put it in writing. I know that seems like, oh, that's
043basic 101, very elementary, but every time I get a foyer request and then I have to generate and look at the 10,000 emails that could potentially be responsive, every single time there are emails in there that I go, "Oh my god." All the time. It's bad. So, please, please just think to yourself, would I want the Harford Current to see this? So what is happening now is we're getting random requests to say I want to see every single email between Gail and Jessica for the last three years. And I legally can't say that's too overly burdensome. School district doesn't have the time or resources to do that. Legally, we'll have to extract every email that could potentially be responsive and then you have to go through all 10,000 emails and then produce what is responsive.
044So, if we can just have it pull and generate those searches rather than having to go to you individually to have you search your personal phones. Now, I just had a very, very politically charged FOYA hearing where board members were using personal cell phones, personal emails, and the commission ruled and said, "You have to show me evidence that you have searched your personal email or your personal phones, and you have to sign by affidavit that you have done that or we're going to rule against you." And so it's they have broad powers. They have broad authorities to do that. They in rare cases they could subpoena your phone. I don't say that to scare you. I just say stay organized. Keep it on the Newington school district network and don't put it in writing if
045you wouldn't want someone to see it. Yeah. >> What about the target? So that is a great question. So here, yes, perfect. Here's the definition of a meeting. So right now we're in a public meeting, right? We have convened the meeting and we have an assembly of a quorum. But you also have any communication by or to a quorum whether in person or by means of electronic equipment. So it isn't just limited to emails. So chats or anything that you're talking about that would all be subject to disclosure if it is a discussion or an action upon a matter over which you have jurisdiction. So if you want to go back and forth and text with Amy about whether or not your daughters are playing in the basketball game, that is not subject to FOIA.
046But if you're talking about whether or not to um you know implement certain curriculum that is going to be problematic if there's a quorum or a subcommittee of the board doing that. So it's not just a quorum it could also be if all three of you are on the policy committee and you engage in discussion over a policy that could be construed as an illegal meeting. So excellent question. Um so let me just talk briefly about the types of meetings. I'll go through this very quickly. We have regular, special, and emergency. Our regular meetings, you should know well in advance. They have to be filed with the town clerk by January 31st for the ensuing year. Agendas have to be posted at least 24 hours in advance. However, now postcoid, if you're going to be
047having a fully remote meeting, the link has to be made available to the public at least 48 hours in advance so that if people aren't able to participate from home, they could come here and participate in live time if they needed to. Also, you have a regular meeting this evening. If you said, "Oh, we forgot to add the curriculum uh discussion. How can I do that at a regular meeting? of those present in voting. Correct. Now, what if we wanted to add that right now in our special meeting? Right. So, the difference between regular and special is special. Business is limited to the items on the posted agenda. Emergency meetings. Nothing is ever going to be deemed an emergency to the commission. So post, give it 24 hours, have a special meeting. Don't even if
048you call me and say, "Can we do an emergency meeting?" I'll promise you I'll tell you no, cuz almost nothing is deemed an emergency. So what does a meeting not include? So this also gets to your question about caucuses. So a personnel search committee. So if you guys when when Dr. Brummit, let's say when she retires in 20 years, and you have to look for a new superintendent, you would appoint the entire board to be part of that committee because that means you could have meetings, you can interview candidates, and you don't have to post for those meetings under FOYA. And it makes the process a lot easier up until you appoint the final candidate. All of that can be done without posting. Um, you would ask the question about kind of that that chance
049meeting or that social gathering. Absolutely fine. So, lots of times I get the question, well, what if we all want to go to a town council meeting? Absolutely fine. Because it's not your business. It's not your meeting. If you take advantage of that situation that all of you happen to be sitting on the sidelines at the football game and you start talking about the burning curriculum matter, that could be an illegal meeting. negotiations, all of that by law is deemed a non-meating. So all of that can be done without posting and that is not subject to FOYA. The caucus is very interesting. So who when we talk about a caucus, what where does the caucus privilege apply to? In other words, yeah, right. But of what entity? So let me ask you this. Let's say
050the Democrats want a caucus. Can I also invite So all the Democrats don't know who's Democrat or Republican here, but let's say all of you Democrats say, "I want a caucus." So you can do that without posting, but I'm going to invite the Democratic town chair to our meeting. Does that wave the caucus privilege? Yes. Because the caucus is specific to the board of education. So I've gotten questions. Jessica, can you come talk to the Republican caucus about this matter? No, because you'd be waving the caucus privilege. It would be in a legal meeting. Um, so people get that wrong a lot. >> Yes. In this entity. Yes. Yep. Now, what if I am in my Republican caucus and I share all this information with you and then someone says, I want to FOI the
051information that was shared in the Republican caucus. Do they have access to that information? Yes. So if the materials would be subject to disclosure under FOI and remember unless there's a narrow exception, if you maintain it and it's responsive, it's subject to disclosure. You can't hide behind the fact that it was shared in a caucus. So again, >> that would otherwise be subject to FOYA. You can't say they were shared in a caucus only, therefore you don't get them. >> Correct. That's exactly right. No caucus shield. Um, okay. So requirements for your agenda. So how do you do your agendas here? You probably meet with Dr. Brummit, Amy. Um, but then just so our board of education members know, by statute, not that Amy would ever do this, but if there were three of you
052that felt we need to have this matter on the agenda, and Amy won't put it on the agenda. You legally have the right if three of you join forces to say you now have to put it on the agenda. So, in other words, she couldn't stall that if she wanted to. If just one or two of you, she can. But if three of you said, "No, no, no. This turf field needs to be discussed." Legally have the right to tell her she has to put it on the agenda. Your agenda has to be uh you have to give the public enough information so they understand the business to be transacted. So if I just put old business and new business, not sufficient because if I'm a member of the public, I have no idea what
053that means. I didn't go to any of your previous meetings. What's your old business? What's your new business? If I just put personnel matter for executive session also legally insufficient and now we're going to talk about why that is legally insufficient. So executive session is the this is the most violations I see of FOYA anywhere. So I need twothirds vote to enter executive session. I need a clear motion to go into executive session. These are the only reasons that I can go into executive session. Executive session though is the status of the meeting. It's not an agenda item. So let's say I put on there discussion of security strategy or deployment of devices, but I never put anywhere that it might be an executive session. Does that mean and let's say it's a special meeting,
054does that mean I can now not go into executive session because I've listed an appropriate executive session item, but I didn't tell people it would be an executive session? Absolutely. Because it's not an it's not it's a status of the meeting. So as long as it's an appropriate agenda item, but what I always recommend is it would be discussion concerning security strategy proposed for executive session. So now you've given courtesy to everyone in the public that you may be leaving and deliberating for 20 minutes on a matter. But it is not fatal if you don't put executive session on the agenda. People also say, "I'm going to go into executive session to discuss a personnel matter." Also legally insufficient. The only time you can discuss a personnel matter is if you're actually discussing the appointment,
055employment, performance, evaluation, health, or dismissal of a public person or a board member subject to the right to have it held in open session. So, if I'm discussing the superintendent's contract, the agenda is going to read, "Discussion concerning the superintendent's contract proposed for executive session." Amy's going to call Dr. Brummit and say, "You have the right to have that discussion held in open session if you want it." She's going to say, "No, because no one wants their contract discussed in open session." If she says no, but I demand to be at the executive session, can she do that? That's exactly right. She, even though it's about her own contract, the only right she has is to demand that you have it held an open session. If she declines that, you decide when she wants to
056come in or out. I also want to tell you that when you invite someone to executive session, do we know the reason that I'm legally able to invite someone into executive session? >> So, exactly. Exactly. So, it h that's exactly right. So, the statute talks about um testimony or opinion. Now, there was just a recent case. So, be mindful about this cuz this is insane. But I had a recent case that I lost. I still can't believe I lost it because when you hear the facts of it, it's insane. And I can tell you because it's all public because it's part of a foyer hearing. A board of education member filed a complaint against his own board because they invited a superintendent of schools into their executive session, which almost everyone does. the uh superintendent
057was accompanied by a lawyer who was the one who basically spoke to the legal issue. The superintendent actually never spoke and he said, "You invited her in, but she gave no testimony or opinion on any of the subject matter. So, you violated Foya by inviting her in." And I said, "Well, that's crazy because you anticipated that she had something to say or she's been part of the lawsuit all along. She can certainly contribute. It was reasonable for you to anticipate that she would contribute to that conversation, right? They ruled against us and said, "Nope. She not only had to have said something, but then when she was done speaking, you in essence have to tell her she has to leave and then 5 minutes later when you want to hear from her again, have her
058come back in." So I argued and said, "But then how does she know what to respond to?" Because she wasn't part of any of the conversation going back and forth. That's how ridiculous this rule is. And so I don't think that will happen again because again it was a board of education member. It would only be a board of education member who could file that complaint because it was done in executive session. But just something to be very mindful of that if you're they're not going to be saying anything. They shouldn't be invited into the executive session. Um you can also go to discuss pending claims and litigation, but you actually have to be being sued. It's not enough to just say it's a threat of being sued. And you also have to name the
059actual case. So it can't just say I'm discussing a pending claim. It would have to be I'm discussing the FOI case number 645. Uh security strategy we talked about and discussion of confidential records. So whether that's the student records or the personnel records in some rare circumstances, but also from time to time you guys have called upon shipment to give you legal advice. We legally can do that through an attorney client privilege communication. It's okay to have that executive session, but the executive session has to be within the parameters of that document. So we couldn't just talk about my document for 10 minutes and then talk about whatever else you want for 30 minutes. Um, and you also would have to say in the agenda what the attorney client communication is about. So, it's not
060enough to just say we're going to talk with our attorney. So, then I just want to do this. Well, let's just end with this last um scenario because this is something that is coming down the pike and it's actually very relevant to your question. So, the Nutmeg board has just convened its February meeting. The main item on the agenda is the adoption of the board budget. The superintendent is presenting a PowerPoint reflecting some fine-tuning she did on the budget following a budget workshop last week. Board member Tommy Texters heard enough. Tommy texts board member Penny Pincher saying, "We told her in no uncertain terms she was not to reduce the line item for high school sports. I can't wait for her performance review." Penny Pincher responds, "That's for sure, and she still has those two
061new social worker positions in the budget. Where are her priorities? We should vote this BS down. So, the day after the board meeting, Ronnie reporter sends an email to the board chair. Just a heads up, I'm filing a complaint with the commission about the board meeting last night. Two of your board members were having their own little private chat during the budget discussion. I guess it will take an FOI complaint to put an end to this. Oh, and please consider this email to be my foyer request for the text messages between Tommy and Penny during the meeting last night. So, there's two questions here. One, will Ronnie reporter get those text messages if he FOIs them? Are they subject to disclosure? >> Absolutely. Now, is there if he filed a FOYA complaint about these two
062members texting during the meeting, is that a violation of FOYA? So, here's where it gets it actually might be. I know it's not a quorum. So, I know that's what you're thinking. It's not a quorum, but it is deemed secretive conduct during a board meeting. Meaning, I I can't talk about something on the side with you in secret. I'm supposed to be at a public meeting and transparently speaking about these issues. And so even though this case was more about I'm huddling in a corner and we're talking in hushed voices, I promise you that we think if this were also through texting, you'd be fine to be in violation of FOYA even though it wasn't a quorum based on this analysis. It's very gray, but I just wanted to point that out because I think
063people do that a lot without realizing it. Yeah. Okay. So that gives us three minutes. I'm happy to take any questions. Yeah, >> absolutely. >> Okay. So, public comment. Do you guys have one or two public comments per meeting? Two. Do you legally have to have public comment at all? No. But your bylaws say that you do. So, if you ever wanted to change that, you have to go through the bylaw process. Can I regulate the forum of public comment? >> So legally I could. So if I said I have boards now who because people are coming for the same issues that have been disposed of years ago and they're still coming to talk about those issues. The board members finally said, "We're changing our bylaw and the only thing that you can talk about
064in public comment are matters on the agenda and as long as you have limited that through policy, you legally can do that." Um, but you so you can do the time, place, and the manner of the speech, you can limit the forum, but you can't discriminate based on conduct content. So, in other words, if I don't say you can't talk about staff members, and someone comes up and says, "Dr. Brumit's the best superintendent of all time." and then someone comes up and says, "I don't I don't agree with that." And you tell that person to sit down. That's a first amendment violation. So, you have engaged in viewpoint discrimination. Um, and you also have the right to have time limits. You guys have two, three minutes. >> You're going to go to four. And do
065you enforce them? >> Okay. Okay. And then you can insist on decorum. So, if people get really heated or it escalates, Amy has every right to bang on that gavvel and say, "I'm going to ask that you, you know, revisit how you're behaving right now." And certainly, if they engage in any hate speech or threatening speech, you can shut that down. And I've had that happen before. And I would say the best thing to do in that matter is probably just end the meeting alto together if it if you really felt like a threat of violence >> before public comment that you can't do that or is it appropriate? >> Up to you. I probably if you particularly if you anticipate that a meeting might be particularly contentious then I would do it before. But
066that's a business decision on your end. >> Yeah. Exactly. Yep. Um, and now I have board members who just do that every time now because I do have some boards that deal with, you know, a lot through public comment. Yes. So, um they've had to be very clear and again they've revised their policies to limit the public comment because it's gotten to be um so heated over certain matters like mascot issues I've seen and LGBTQ issues have have gotten particularly escalated and so um that's why some places have felt necessary to change it to just the agenda items. Any other questions that I can answer? It's seven on the dot. I didn't get to everything, but if you have any questions, certainly you can funnel those through Amy or Dr. >> Brummit. Whenever I'm 1800
067Jessica, >> I know in the nicest way. >> Well, I hope you guys have a good meeting. >> Thank you. All right, just just to final Yeah, we just have to >> just open up to um public participation if there's anyone who wants to speak. >> No one online. >> It's just my >> Okay. And then um remarks by board members. >> No. >> Yes, please. Thank you. Thanks, Jessica. >> No. Okay. And then motion to adjurnn. >> Second. We >> have a motion to adjurnn. Any discussion? All in favor? I endurance. >> Everybody the seven >> 65