Greenwich Board of Education convened Thursday night via Zoom, where the meeting started with a vote on officers for the 2024-2025 term.
Board bylaws require members to vote on officers within 30 days of a Town election, or in non-election years, during the month of November.
Again the uncertainty over who rightfully fills Karen Kowalski’s vacated seat on the board until the November 2025 municipal election cast a pall over the start of the meeting.
Screenshot of the Nov 21, 2024 BOE business meeting via Zoom shows Paul Cappiali sharing a screen with Wendy Vizzo Walsh.
How did we get here?
Ms Kowalski, who was chair of the board, resigned in July.
On Oct 21, the BOE held an emergency meeting and voted in a new Republican member – the BOE is comprised of 4 Democrats and 4 Republicans – Jen Behette, to fill the vacancy created by Kowalski’s resignation.
That emergency meeting was attended by all four Democrats and one of the three remaining Republicans, Dr. Michael-Joseph Mercanti-Anthony. The other two Republicans, Cody Kittle and Wendy Vizzo Walsh, were not in attendance.
Ms Behette was elected in a vote of 4-1 to fill the vacancy with Dr. Mercanti-Anthony voting no, calling the vote “a railroad.”
The next day, in a special meeting of the Republican-controlled Board of Selectmen, Greenwich Harbormaster Paul Cappiali and then candidate for State Rep in the 150th district, was appointed to fill the BOE vacancy in a vote of 2-0-1.
Republican First Selectman Fred Camillo and Selectwoman Lauren Rabin’s rationale for moving to fill the vacancy was that the BOE’s emergency meeting had been “illegal” as it was not noticed a full 24 hours in advance.
At the Oct 23 BOE meeting, the board ratified the vote they had taken on Oct 21, and acting chair Hirsh welcomed Ms Behette to the board.
The next night, at the start of the Oct 24 BOE business meeting, in addition to Ms Behette on the Zoom screen, Mr. Cappiali, who logged in using Ms Vizzo Walsh’s link, appeared on the screen with Wendy Vizzo Walsh’s name under his face. He was quickly removed as a panelist.
Oct 24, 2024 Board of Education Meeting via Zoom. Screenshot shows Mr. Cappiali logged in as Ms Vizzo Walsh.
The Selectmen, having retained attorney Ben Bianco to represent the Town against the BOE, held a special meeting on Oct 30 to discuss whether to pursue a FOIA complaint about the BOE’s alleged “illegal meeting.”
Attorney Bianco, who happens to be Karen Kowalski’s spouse, advised that in certain situations, there are expedited procedures at the FOIA Commission.
“We will be asking the FOIA Commission to rule on this as quickly as possible and indeed ask most likely for them to rule before the next meeting, which is in a week,” Bianco said.
The Selectmen voted 2-1 to pursue a FOIA complaint. Democratic Selectperson Janet Stone McGuigan voted no.
At a Nov 7 BOE meeting, secretary Wendy Vizzo Walsh, called a point of order to conduct roll call attendance. She asked that Mr. Cappiali be sent a link to attend as a panelist.
“He did request a link and is a member of this board,” she said.
“Please take my attendance as well,” Ms Behette said.
“I will record that you are here, but unless you can provide me some certification from the town…” Ms Vizzo Walsh said.
“This is not the time or place to discuss and adjudicate this,” Ms Hirsh said. “There are legal proceedings.”
In a letter dated Nov 14, the FOIA Commission declined to expedite a hearing on the BOE’s alleged illegal meeting, saying in a letter that they would consider any such appeal at their next regular meeting.
Fast forward to this Thursday, Nov 21, and the situation flared up again during the BOE’s annual vote on officers, including chair, vice chair and secretary.
Ms Hirsh acknowledged Mr. Cappiali was with Ms Vizzo Walsh on a shared screen.
Zoom screenshot Nov 21, 2024
“I see, Wendy, you have a guest there with you, who is welcome to join as an attendee, but not as a panelist as we do not recognize him as a member of the BOE,” Hirsh said. “If you would like to log on from another device we’d love to have him.”
“As I stated in our last meeting – and I’m not adjudicating anything – but he is the only certified board member,” Vizzo Walsh said.
“That is your opinion. It’s not an item on the agenda and not appropriate for us to discuss it,” Hirsh said. “This is an ongoing legal matter as of now, and the FOIA commission is going to determine whether the emergency meeting where we elected a member was in violation of notice requirements.”
Vizzo Walsh asked about the process for recording votes.
“We record the vote with the members who are seated on the Board of Education,” Hirsh said, adding, “We’ll await information that comes back from the FOIA Commission and have a continued discussion at that time.”
“That’s 11 months we’ll be waiting,” Vizzo Walsh said.
“This is not on the agenda. We need to focus on the agenda,” Hirsh said. “We don’t discuss legal matters in a public forum at such. I’m happy to arrange an executive session with our legal counsel to discuss this at a later date.”
Dr. Mercanti-Anthony called a point of order, saying he wanted the minutes to reflect the ongoing disagreement, and that the “board’s opinion” did not represent his. “It’s not the full board’s opinion to speak for me.”
Ms Hirsh said whether he agreed or not, the voice of the board reflected board votes.
“The voice of this board is by votes. That’s via our policy, as well as Robert’s Rules,” she said.
She again offered to have an executive session to discuss legal matters with counsel.
Election of Officers
Ms Hirsh passed the gavel to Kathleen Stowe to act as chair and preside over the election of chair, per BOE policy 90-21.
Ms Kostin nominated Ms Hirsh.
Mr. Kittle nominated Dr. Mercanti-Anthony.
Ms Vizzo Walsh nominated Mr. Kittle.
Ms Stowe said the process was for members to email her their votes for chair from among the three nominees, and copy communications specialist, Michael Antonaccio.
Ms Vizzo Walsh called a point of order. “I’m the secretary. Please copy me. I’m the one who is supposed to be recording these.”
“Actually, when you’re running the election for chair, because Karen (Hirsh) can’t preside on it, this is how it’s done,” Ms Stowe said.
“How can I record it if I don’t know the votes?” Vizzo Walsh asked.
“It has to be displayed with the town clerk within 48 hours, which is why I have Michael (Antonaccio) also being copied on this. I’ve done this so many times in my eight years. That’s how this is done,” Stowe said.
Ms Stowe read the votes out loud from her email.
Ms Kostin voted for Ms Hirsh.
Ms Koven voted for Ms Hirsh
Ms Hirsh voted for Ms Hirsh.
Ms Stowe voted for Ms Hirsh.
Mr. Kittle voted for Dr. Mercanti-Anthony.
Dr. Mercanti-Anthony voted for Dr. Mercanti-Anthony.
Vizzo Walsh voted for Dr. Mercanti-Anthony.
Ms Behette abstained.
The vote was 4-3-1.
“Announce Mr. Cappiali’s vote,” Ms Vizzo Walsh said.
“For the record, I have voted for Mr. Mercanti,” Cappiali said.
“You are not a recognized Board of Education member. You are welcome to log on as an attendee,” Hirsh said.
“You do not speak for the BOE, Karen,” Cappiali said.
“The chair does speak for the BOE. Karen is the voice of the board,” Ms Kostin said.
Ms Stowe passed the gavel back to Ms Hirsh to run the election for vice chair and secretary.
Ms Hirsh nominated Dr. Mercanti-Anthony for vice chair, but he declined, saying he did not believe the previous vote was in order.
Ms Stowe nominated Mr. Kittle for vice chair, who declined the nomination.
Ms Stowe nominated Ms Behette for vice chair. Ms Behette agreed to be nominated.
The four Democrats voted for Ms Behette for vice chair and Ms Behtte voted for herself. Dr. Mercanti-Anthony, Mr. Kittle and Ms Vizzo Walsh all abstained.
The vote for Ms Behette as vice chair passed, 5-0-3.
As for secretary Ms Koven nominated Ms Kostin. Mr. Kittle nominated Ms Vizzo Walsh.
“I don’t think this is in legal order,” Ms Vizzo Walsh said, going on to decline the nomination.
There were no other nominations.
The four Democrats voted for Ms Kostin. Ms Vizzo Walsh, Dr. Mercanti-Anthony, Mr. Kittle and Ms Behette all abstained.
The vote was 4-0-4, which was later was determined to be a successful vote per Robert’s Rules.
After the meting, Dr. Mercanti-Anthony emailed GFP a statement, “The good news is this ongoing nonsense is not stopping us from doing the district’s business. I’m happy to say I had cordial conversations with all board members this week about the interim funding request for Old Greenwich, while both the policy and finance committees are meeting regularly.”
“The bad news is that this is costing us money, as the Democrats’ decision to have the board hire a lawyer to defend themselves against the town legal department is a very curious use of district funds,” he added.
In a press release Thursday night, chair Hirsh said, “The Board of Education has elected its full slate of Officers for the coming term, allowing us to remain fully focused on what truly matters, making Greenwich Public Schools the best it can be for our students.”
She added that having the Board debate the merits of any pending claim would be pointless and waste time that could be better spent on the important issues that directly impact the children and educators in Greenwich Schools.
“As such, it is my intent as Board Chair, to focus our time and energy on the needs of our students and staff and work for the betterment of the Greenwich Public Schools,” she added.
Hirsh said the BOE was bi-partisan and the Chair’s primary responsibility is to facilitate board processes, run the meetings and serve as spokesperson for the Board.
She noted that the Chair of the Board of Education does not have a tie-breaking vote.