Board of Ed Divided on Filling Vacant Seat [UPDATED]

Republicans on the Board of Education said last week that they won’t fill a vacancy on the elected body because it could interfere with the party’s upcoming Caucus.

Former Chair Dan Bennett resigned April 26. Under Section 7-4 of the Town Charter, the Board of Ed can fill a vacancy prior to the next municipal election, where a successor is elected to fill the balance of the term (Bennett’s four-year term expires in 2025). “If the Board of Education fails to fill any vacancy which occurs on the Board within 90 days after the vacancy occurs, the Board of Selectmen may fill such vacancy until the next biennial municipal election,” according to the Charter.

During a special meeting held July 5, Board of Ed Chair Katrina Parkhill said, “Of note and interest to this Board, the Charter language suggests that it would like the Board to act, but also acknowledges that there could be circumstances under which the Board cannot or chooses not to act.”

“Since May, our Board has undergone a process to evaluate candidates who wanted to be considered for the vacancy,” Parkhill continued at the meeting, held in the Wagner Room at New Canaan High School and via videoconference. “We are grateful and appreciative of those individuals who came forward to show an interest and a willingness to serve. Additionally, our Board did not expect to find ourselves in this difficult position this year, and so we entered a search process in good faith that we would fill the vacancy.”

Yet the Board is “at an impasse and can’t proceed in filling the vacancy,” Parkhill added.

“We felt it was important that the public was apprised that we were trying to fulfill our responsibilities, but given that we are not likely to have an appointment to come out of this process by July 25th, I will plan to notify the first selectman and the Board of Selectmen of our status,” she said. “The primary reason we appear to be at an impasse is that there is a political process going on simultaneously, and it is my sense that some feel that by seating someone, we would be influencing that political process, and others feel that seating a new member before the election is an important duty of the Board of Education.”

Six residents volunteered to fill Bennett’s vacancy through the Nov. 7 local election, NewCanaanite.com learned through a public records request. It isn’t clear why the Republicans on the Board of Ed haven’t been able to settle on one of them. (Parkhill said later in the meeting that she’d wished to fill the vacancy as soon as possible.)

It also isn’t clear whether the selectmen will take up the vacancy. It’s not on their agenda for a regular meeting to be held Tuesday.

This year, in addition to a 2-year term for Bennett’s seat, electors will decide who fills four 4-year terms. Those seats currently are held by one Democrat (Brendan Hayes) and three Republicans (Bob Naughton, Hugo Alves and Katrina Parkhill). With the exception of Parkhill, who said in a July 11 email that she’s not seeking re-election, it isn’t clear who among those already sitting on the Board of Ed will seek party backing at the parties’ Caucuses. The Democratic Town Committee’s Caucus is scheduled for July 18, the GOP Caucus July 25. The Democratic Caucus will be open to the press, the Republican Caucus will not, officials say. An unaffiliated candidate, Giacomo Landi, has already announced his bid for a seat on the school board.

During last week’s meeting, Board of Ed member Penny Rashin said that the elected body “has always stepped forward and has found the candidate that they could rally around and appoint in the best interests of the kids.”

“I do believe it is in the best interests of the children of this district for the Board of Ed to fill this position and not to abdicate our responsibility and pass it off to the Board of Selectmen,” Rashin said. “We have no idea who they will appoint. I think it indicates a weakness by this Board and that saddens me greatly, that that is the position that we’re in. I think it indicates putting party politics above the best interests of the children. Again, I think we did that during the Columbus Day decision, and I thought that was unfortunate. I think we’re doing that again today.” 

Rashin referred to the Board of Ed’s 5-4 vote in January to designate Columbus Day as a school holiday and extend the academic year by one day—a change criticized by some.

Rashin urged fellow Board of Ed members to “rally” and accept one of the worthy candidates for the open seat, even if “it might not be your first choice.”

“Let’s fulfill our responsibilities as they’ve been given to us by the people of this town,” she said. “I think that is what it is. And I’m just sad because I think it sends the wrong message to the community. I think it sends the wrong message to our teachers. And I think one of the things that we try and do on this Board is model good citizenship, not party politics. And I just think we are failing in this regard. And we don’t have to.”

Board of Ed Vice Chair Phil Hogan said he took issue with some of Rashin’s characterizations.

“I understand this Board has done things a certain way, but that doesn’t always mean it was the right thing to do,” he said. “Had Dan’s resignation happened at another point during the year, you can make a very strong argument that we should appoint someone immediately because school’s in session, and this Board has nine board members for a very good reason. And we would lose something if we didn’t have that ninth member. But given the timing of Dan’s resignation, given that we are bumping up against an election and a Caucus and that sort of season, this feels like a sensible thing to do, to not interfere in that process, to give more than eight people a say in who sits on this Board.”

Hogan said that those who win GOP party backing at the Caucus will receive upwards of 500 votes, so leaving the seat open allows “the democratic process to happen rather than sort of ‘putting our thumb on the scale,’ so to speak.”

“The timing is unfortunate, but I’m comfortable with the decision,” he added.

Board of Ed Secretary Erica Schwedel said that “there are good people in town and I want good people to come forward to join us on this Board.”

“From my perspective, there’s a lot more to our Board than our meetings,’ Schwedel said. “Our meetings are very important, but there’s lots of other work that we do and I want us to find individuals who have both the time and the capacity to really dig in, who come to the table with knowledge of our district and the way things work, but then also really want to learn and really want to contribute. And I was hopeful we would be able to do that and I understand there’s a lot of factors at play. It is disappointing that we haven’t been able to do that thus far.”

Board of Ed member Bob Naughton said that the process of filling a vacancy on the elected body “never bumped up against the Caucus.”

“So, like it or not, there’s some politics involved because it’s a political season of the year,” he said. “So timing-wise, this is what, this is the way it worked out.”

In fact, as some school board members noted following Naughton’s comments, the Board of Ed in late June 2021 elected Pat O’Connell to fill a vacancy on the elected body, the same month that Julie Mackle Reeves had resigned and just four-and-a-half months before the local election. 

Naughton said, “I think the way it’s playing out is just fine. At the end of the day, one of these candidates that are being elected by the people will get on the Board. And that’s just the way it’s gonna be. If there was a vacancy in the other party, I don’t think we would kind of try to say how we want you to fill it. You would fill it however you’re gonna fill it. We would expect your support or you to expect our support in trying to fill that role just like we expect your support as we try to fill our role. I mean, this one didn’t work out, you know, in an ideal way—I’ll give you that … We’re trying to figure it out just like it’s been done in the past and unfortunately this is the way it’s playing out.”

Board of Ed member Brendan Hayes said that the difficulty in the current situation is that the decision is being ceded to a political party.

“I don’t believe that’s something that we should do regardless of the season that we’re in,” he said. “It’s just not something that we should do. We’re individual board members serving as board members serving the New Canaan community and we have responsibility. In my view, I think we should take that responsibility and make a decision, not have someone else make it for us.”

[Note: This article has been updated with the number of people who put in for the open Board of Ed seat and reporting of Parkhill’s decision not to seek re-election.]