Submitted by Emily Goodman and Jenna Lowe, The Voting Moms
The Voting Moms have been pondering lawsuits lately, and we have thoughts. (Of course we do!) Lawsuits are, on their nose, not always the best way to arrive at a desired outcome. Why? Because they can escalate what could be a normal communication into something potentially destructive to every party involved. We are watching this happen in real time in Greenwich, and the Greenwich taxpayer is becoming embroiled in the mess.
Kramer Vs. Kramer? No: c
The town is currently suing itself (yes, you read that right.) To be more specific, the office of the First Selectman is suing the Board of Education. The lawsuit stems from a dispute over competing appointments for a Greenwich BOE vacancy created by the July 2024 resignation of Republican chair Karen Kowalski. On October 21, 2024 the BOE held an emergency meeting where 5 members in attendance voted 4 to 1 to elect former educator and PTA volunteer Jennifer Behette, a Republican, to fill the remaining year of Kowalski’s term. The next day, Fred Camillo initiated a Selectmen’ s vote to appoint harbor master Paul Cappiali to the same seat.
In October 2025, the FOI Commission ruled that the October 21st meeting was not noticed properly and did not meet the standard of an emergency, and was therefore null and void. The FOI commission did not opine on who may appoint members to serve on the school board.
The issue of appointments is essentially moot now that the balance of Kowalski’s term was completed, and we have a newly elected BOE as of November 2025. Thus, what is still being litigated is a somewhat abstract question about appointment authority, whether five volunteer BOE members should be personally liable, and who pays the legal bills.
Bills, bills, bills
The legal fees for this lawsuit are on track to be over $700,000, and there is no end in sight. Court motions continue to be filed, and a trial date is set. At this pace, Greenwich is on the hook for a million dollars plus. Painful? Yes. But made even more painful because of the very serious budget cuts that were being made to our schools at the same time that this lawsuit was escalating. We had to cut teachers and support staff from our public schools. We flipped the entire town’s mornings upside down with a last second school start and bus schedule change. And now we’re on track to potentially spend $1M on this lawsuit. Ick.
So exactly what is “winning” in the Town vs. Board of Education lawsuit?
We want to know. We invite anyone involved to explain, concretely, why this lawsuit continues.
Wherein The Voting Moms make a suggestion
Settle. If what the parties want is an apology, or an honest public post-mortem of what went wrong, both of those can happen outside a courtroom and at no cost to taxpayers.
The Voting Moms previously wrote about concerns about the increasing costs of the lawsuit. We liked what we wrote so much that we are quoting ourselves from one year ago.
The Voting Moms Newsletter, Oct. 13, 2025 – Editor’s Note: The Voting Moms continue to be concerned about the use of litigation to resolve local disputes. We believe our elected officials should work toward collaboration and compromise whenever possible. Lawsuits are expensive and rarely help our community move forward. The unfortunate “Signgate” lawsuit – in which the First Selectman and Paul Cappiali – were named as defendants and which ultimately cost Greenwich taxpayers $650,000 to settle – serves as an important reminder of the costs to taxpayers these conflicts can carry.
We are now on track to surpass the town’s Signgate costs. We said it before and we will say it again. All sides could have done better. The appointment process lacked collaboration, precision, and procedural rigor. It was messy then, and with both sides doubling down, it is messier now.
Yes, BOE rules and procedures matter and deserve to be respected. But on behalf of Greenwich taxpayers, we implore both sides to come together and settle immediately.
What concrete outcome does a trial deliver for Greenwich students and taxpayers that a settlement this fall cannot?
As always, feel free to email us. BTW- we have a new email address: [email protected].
Let’s wrap up this dang Nor’easter and get back to Fall fun!
Emily Goodman and Jenna Lowe, The Voting Moms