Greenwich Schools Chief: Political Literature Table at Glenville Forum Violated GPS Policy

At Monday night’s Glenville forum at Glenville School, Mita Spilo, a member of the Republican Town Committee set up a table with literature for Republican BET candidates and a short list of RTM District 9 candidates in the November 7 Greenwich municipal election.

Several people attending the event said they believed the activity violated Greenwich Public School Community Relations policy 1311.2R, that states, “There should be no distribution of campaign literature for political purposes on school property.”

 

It wasn’t long ago that RTC members got in hot water for distributing political flyers to parents at Central Middle School’s congested morning drop off.

It was just as recent as May 15 when RTC chair Beth MacGillivray and RTC member Mita Spilo distributed the flyers saying the proposed new CMS building was “super sized” during the congested morning drop-off. Afterward, parents said the activity made their children late and complained the flyers were political in nature.

That afternoon, Greenwich Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Toni Jones emailed the chairs of both the Democratic Town Party and Republican Town Party to say the activity was disruptive to drop off and reminding them of the existing district policy about distribution of political literature.

Specifically, Jones wrote in her email to RTC chair Beth MacGillivray and DTC chair Joe Angland that typically the district sends a reminder letter every September about political literature or campaigning on or near school property. She noted that since the literature distributed Monday morning was political in nature she was sharing the information again.

“We will email again in September once we have Greenwich High School football homecoming information so that the tradition of allowing activity with agreed upon guidelines can continue,” Jones said at the time.

Fast forward to Monday night.

Ms Spilo’s table had literature for the six Republican BET candidates, a short list of RTM district 9 candidates marked “paid and approved by the following incumbents and new candidates,” and maroon pens that said, “Vote Republican. Keep Greenwich Affordable. Vote for all six BET Republicans.”

Asked for comment, Dr. Jones wrote in an email Tuesday, “This action does violate our Board of Education Policy as this was registered as a Community Forum for the First Selectman to hear from the Glenville Community about neighborhood issues.”

Dr. Jones added, “The RTC and DTC were both reminded of the Board of Education Policy before the Football Homecoming Game as that is the one exception each year that the BOE allows them to set up and breakdown campaign materials for a short period of time.”

Reached for comment, First Selectman Camillo said, “The forum last night was something I put together for the benefit of updating the residence of Glenville and Pemberwick and was not intended for political purposes.”

“So when I walked in and saw the table there, I was surprised as no one reached out to me to let me know. I hope both political parties will ask permission before setting up tables at town gatherings that may not be suitable for electioneering.”

Laure Erickson, Democratic candidate for First Selectman, said, “I attended the Glenville forum last evening before the RTM. It was an official Town event held on school property. The RTC was set up inside the school gym politicking, in violation of school policy and the long-standing Town norm of refraining from campaigning while conducting Town business. I was told by a Town employee they couldn’t do anything about it. I believe policies and norms exist for good reason and that would not be allowed in my administration.”

District 9 RTM member and candidate for re-election Mark Kordick attended the forum as well. He said he reached out to Dr. Jones himself but hadn’t heard back.

When informed of Jones’ determination that activity was a violation, he remarked, “Unfortunate but not unexpected. If anyone in Greenwich knows that Republicans think there are two sets of rules, one for them and one for everyone else, it’s me.”

Reached by email, RTC chair Beth MacGillavray, who was at the forum and spotted with Ms Spilo at the literature table, was unapologetic.

“The RTC had no involvement with the table at the Glenville meeting and it was not a Republican sponsored table. Mita Spilo was representing the RTM candidates for District 9.”

As for the policy that allows one exception to candidates at the homecoming football game, she said, “I am not sure why you are conflating a football event at GHS which is a school event with a meeting hosted on school property. At any rate, Greenwich Republicans will continue to secure permissions and collaborate with school officials as we have practiced.”

DTC chair Joe Angland responded with a comment, saying, “The DTC strictly abides by all town rules on campaigning. Following clearly written rules is an important aspect of showing respect to our town and its residents.”

“The leaders of Greenwich’s political parties play an important role in setting an example to their members,” he added.

Many attendees of the forum in Glenville School then headed over to Central Middle School for the special RTM meeting where, perhaps ironically, the 230-member body voted 179 to 4 to approve a $42+million appropriation for the proposed new school those May 15 flyers described as “supersized.”