Boards, attorney chide Falls Village rep for her emails

FALLS VILLAGE — At its regular monthly meeting Monday, Feb. 6, the Region One Board of Education voted to make public an opinion from board attorney Gary Brochu that Gale Toensing, the board member from Canaan (Falls Village), has exceeded her authority as a member of the board.The decision followed a recent controversy over emails sent to employees at the Regional Schools Services Center (RSSC). One result of the meeting was a grievance filed against Toensing by two employees of the RSSC, which is the central office for the school district. (For more on the grievance hearing, turn to Page A9.)More than 50 people were in attendance in addition to the board and school officials. It is rare for more than a handful of people to sit in the audience at these meetings.Brochu’s conclusion was that “... it is reasonably clear that Ms. Toensing has acted in a manner that is beyond her express authority as a member of the Region One Board of Education and that these actions create a risk of unecessary litigation and costs for the board.”The meeting began at 6 p.m. and the board promptly went into executive session to discuss Brochu’s findings, which came under the category of privileged attorney-client communications. (For an explanation of executive sessions under Connecticut Freedom of Information laws, turn to Page A9.)After 47 minutes, the board reconvened and then voted to make the document public. Laura Freund (North Canaan), Scooter Tedder (Salisbury), Jonathan Moore (Kent) and board Chairman Phil Hart (Cornwall) voted to make the document public; Toensing and Marilyn Yerks (Sharon) voted against.The board did not take any other action on the matter.Grievance over emailsToensing asked that the discussion of the matter, under “new business” at the tail end of a lengthy agenda, be moved up so it would come after public comment, and nobody objected.Marie Wilbur, the RSSC employee who along with co-worker Michelle Curtis filed the grievance against Toensing, made a statement that Toensing’s December emails to her were “hostile, bullying, and intimidating” and violated the board’s own rules.At issue are emails between Toensing and Wilbur about the former’s registration for a November conference of the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education. Toensing was inquiring why she was not registered, and Wilbur responded that she had not received the requests.Wilbur’s grievance complains that Toensing’s email was “falsely accusing the grievant, and reprimanding her for not responding to her emails when the grievant did not receive said emails.”Response from town boardsDolores Perotti, chairman of the North Canaan school board, then read a statement from that board noting its “dismay and sadness” over the controversy, calling Toensing’s tone in the emails “demeaning, condescending and disrespectful.”She also said that the North Canaan board was not happy about the possibility of paying a share of legal fees as the result of Toensing’s actions, and expressed support for Region One Superintendent Patricia Chamberlain.Tracy Horosky, chairman of the Kent Board of Education, read a similar statement endorsed by that board, expressing concern that “an inordinate amount of resources are being diverted” away from education.She said that “pride, ego and personal agendas should be checked at the door” and suggested as a matter of policy that all communications from Region One board members to the Region One administration go through Hart, the chairman.Becky Hurlburt, chairman of the Cornwall school board, said that board had reviewed and supported the statement from North Canaan, and expressed support for Chamberlain and the administration.Hart read a letter from Jeff Lloyd of Lakeville (a member of the Salisbury school board, but speaking as a resident). Lloyd wrote of his concern that “the behavior and actions of Ms. Toensing continue to disrupt our entire region. What do her actions and words, in emails and statements read at board meetings, have anything to do with the education of our children in Region One?”First Selectman Pat Mechare of Falls Village read a letter from Suzanne Chinatti of the same town, expressing support for Toensing and praising her “tireless devotion to justice and democracy.”Priscilla Belcher of Falls Village read aloud her own letter, which was mostly critical of Hart and the board in a general way. “Stop patting yourselves on the back and get on with the most important volunteer job you will, in my opinion, ever aspire to.”And Catherine Paton of Salisbury said the board should look into getting some training in conflict resolution.Chairman speaksHart made his own statement, saying that the Region One board had been “mired in distractions for too long.”He said that the high school was having a successful year so far under new Principal Matt Harnett and important projects such as the accreditation report for the New England Association of Colleges and School, the school’s long-range plan and the new science and technology center were all proceeding.“We have a successful high school.”He said the board needed to set the tone for others. “This board is supposed to be out in front, leading.”He listed several items that required the board’s attention: the science and technology center, the Common Core curriculum standards, the effect of declining enrollment.“We need to complete a budget and get it passed,” he said, ending with the need for board members to accept the board’s bylaws and know their roles and responsibilities.“Yesterday’s river will not turn today’s mill,” Hart concluded. “I’m ready for today’s mill.”Clarification: This article quotes a letter read aloud at a meeting of the Region One Board of Education. The letter had been submitted to the board by Jeff Lloyd, a member of the Salisbury Board of Education. Lloyd has clarified that he was speaking as a resident of Salisbury and not as a representative of his town’s board.