The Board of Education held an emergency meeting Sept. 6 to discuss the scheduled use of the North Haven High School auditorium by the Committee to Elect Michael Freda. As it stands, Freda’s committee will be allowed to use the auditorium.

The two main points of contention were whether or not the use of the auditorium by Freda’s committee represented a partisan political gathering, and whether such political assemblies were proper for school buildings.

The meeting’s impetus

Freda’s committee had previously reserved the school auditorium for use on Monday, Sept. 28, at 7 p.m. On that date, the committee wished to hold in the auditorium the first of three debates – which were created and scheduled by the committee – between Freda and fellow first selectman candidate, First Selectman Janet McCarty.

However, McCarty expressed to Freda’s committee her desire that she wished only to take part in the usual slate of election debates, and would not attend any extra debates created by the committee.

Despite McCarty’s stated absence, the Committee to Elect Michael Freda decided not to cancel their use of the auditorium.

“It will be a question-and-answer on economics,” said Freda’s campaign manager Richard Monico of the Sept. 28 event. “It will be open to whoever wants to attend - Republicans, Democrats, non-affiliates, whoever.”

The Committee to Re-elect Janet McCarty worried that the Sept. 28 event would become a partisan rally for Freda’s campaign. Accordingly, McCarty’s campaign manager Bill Gambardella told Superintendent Sara-Jane Querfeld in early September that McCarty would not be in attendance on Sept. 28, and stated that the event would be a partisan rally and a political stunt for Freda.

Last year, Querfeld instructed State Representative candidate Veronica Kivela that she could not utilize a school building for what Querfeld considered to be a political event planned by Kivela. At the Board of Education meeting, Querfeld said that the Kivela decision was based on conversations the superintendent had with individuals from Town Hall which led her to believe that it was town policy that the schools were not used for political events.

Accordingly, Querfeld, acting on the Kivela decision as precedent, alerted Freda to such policy and denied him the use of the auditorium.

“I called Mr. Freda and he was very gracious about it,” Querfeld said. “And I thought that was it, and I thanked Mr. Gambardella for letting me know about the policy.”

However, Querfeld began to receive questions from concerned individuals as to what exact policy disallowed North Haven schools to be used for political purposes. The superintendent asked Board of Education chairman and Republican John Lambert for his recollection for school uses and Board of Education policy.

Lambert responded by stating that Connecticut General Statute 10-239 allows the Board of Education to grant the use of schools for “political discussion.” Around the same time, Gambardella stated to Querfeld that 10-239 also gives the Board of Education the right to not grant the use of the schools, important in light of the Kivela precedent.

Querfeld asked school business manager Ed Gomeau to research the matter, and he consulted a book written by school board attorney Thomas Mooney. Based on Mooney’s book, and having found nothing in North Haven or state writing that would suggest political meetings were specifically disallowed on school property, Gomeau reported to Querfeld that it appeared that Freda’s committee should be allowed to continue to use the auditorium.

Taking in all the information, Querfeld reversed her decision and allowed the Sept. 28 event.

The board meeting

Wishing to completely clarify the issue, Lambert called the emergency Board of Education meeting and invited Mooney.

In addressing whether the board had a policy for disallowing the political discussion at schools, Lambert argued that there had been political discussion at the schools in past years, including town meetings, boards and commissions meetings, the teachers’ assembly, the League of Women’s voters, and the 2007 inauguration of McCarty.

Lambert said that Freda’s committee had the right to use the school auditorium, pointing to his quoted political uses, as well as the lack of legal writing which would specifically suggest otherwise,

“Is it in our right, under the U.S. and State constitutions, to deny the Committee to Elect Michael Freda the use of the school,” Lambert said, “or are we buying ourselves another lawsuit?”

Board of Education member and Democrat Gerry Feinberg argued that there was a difference between using the schools for “political discussions,” as stated in 10-239, and what he believed was a partisan political rally for Freda.

“Calling it a political discussion is badly mischaracterizing the issue,” Feinberg said. “They want to use the school for partisan political purposes. All the people I talked to said that at no time have our schools been used for partisan political purposes, which are not the same as political discussion.”

“It was made very clear to Michael Freda by Janet McCarty sometime during the summer in their discussions that she had no intention in taking part in any debates other than the ones the candidates for first selectman in North Haven had traditionally participated in,” Feinberg added. “It is a partisan political event.”

Feinberg said that the board’s policy has been to disallow partisan political events, despite a lack of concrete evidence in writing.

“The fact that it is not in writing does not mean the policy does not exist,” he said. “It is a policy. We have a standing policy that our schools are not to be used for partisan political discussion.”

“It’s a longstanding protection,” Feinberg added. “Whether or not it’s in writing, it’s how we’ve been doing business for a long time.”

Feinberg worried that allowing partisan politics in the schools would set a hazardous precedent.

“I think that allowing the schools to be used for partisan politics exposes the community to significant danger,” he said. “The danger is that if we let the partisan genie out of the bottle, then the kind of hate groups that could use our schools would be invited to North Haven.”

Feinberg said that hate groups that could possibly utilize North Haven schools, should the Sept. 28 event continue to be allowed, included “Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan.”

“I think this is a plausible basis for denying this organization the use of our schools,” Feinberg said.

Democrat Alicia Clapp said that she was “absolutely appalled” that the Sept. 28 event was scheduled on Yom Kippur.

Lambert, Republican board member Deborah Volain, and several residents in attendance including Florence Sinow, argued that Yom Kippur ends at sundown, which is expected to be approximately 6:30 p.m. on Sept. 28. Therefore, they argued, those observing the Jewish holiday could still attend the Sept. 28 event at 7 p.m.

North Haven students will not attend school on Yom Kippur. However, according to Lambert, NHHS principal Dr. Russell Dallai and the school’s janitors will be in the building on Sept. 28.

Lambert said that in their previous discourse over the Sept. 28 event, Gambardella had alluded to him as being anti-Semitic for planning the meeting’s date on Yom Kippur. Lambert clarified that he did not plan the meeting, as it was scheduled by Freda’s committee, and that he was disappointed that the situation had come to such pejoratives.

Feinberg stated that he did not appreciate Lambert speaking to the conclusion of Yom Kippur.

“I’m disturbed that you’re telling me about my holiday,” Feinberg said. “And it’s not the first time.”

“I’ve never considered you an anti-Semite,” Feinberg added. “A little insensitive – maybe.”

Mooney’s opinion and public comment

Mooney, a school law attorney, stated that the he saw no reason to disallow the Sept. 28 event, but added that the decision was entirely at the board’s discretion.

“It’s not political in my perception,” he said of the event to the board, “but you have every right as a matter of policy to decide when your facilities can be available for community use.”

“‘Community use’ is a broad phrase,” Mooney continued. “It could include political discussion. It could include partisan politics discussion. The choice is for you to make.”

Mooney added that he saw nothing in North Haven town and board policies that would specifically disallow the meeting.

Lambert had previously pointed out that the board follows the decisions of the superintendent in matters such as these. Accordingly, as Querfeld had reversed her verdict, the Sept. 28 will be held on schedule.

In public comment, Gary Amato was disappointed over the use of the Board of Education’s time.

“I think this is sad that the board is here for this,” he said. “The board should be about helping children. It’s sad that it came here for political reasons.”

Wesley O’Brien said that the Sept. 28 event would be a good use of the high school facilities, as some residents still question the construction of the building. “That in itself makes the meeting important,” he said.

O’Brien added that he believed that there would be representatives from both political parties at the event.

Kivela said that she was pleased that the issue was discussed openly in public. Additionally, she hoped that the board would be indiscriminate in allowing all forms of opinion, even the most loathsome.

“As contemptible as I find the Nazis to be as a group,” Kivela said, “and I find the Nazis to be a perfectly contemptible group, I would hope that the board would be open-minded enough to allow them the opportunity to air their views, rather than have the town narrow their views. Why are you afraid to open the bottle and let the genie out? What is the town afraid of in hearing other peoples’ opinions?”