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Attorney Michael Jefferson.
Principal Kermit Carolina has agreed “under protest” to a private interview about alleged grade-altering at Hillhouse High School — while calling for removal of the Board of Education’s investigator due to an alleged conflict of interest.
That message came Thursday in the form of a letter sent to Superintendent of Schools Reggie Mayo from Carolina’s attorney, Michael Jefferson.
The letter is the latest salvo in a political chess battle that erupted in public view last week when the Board of Ed called an “emergency” meeting on the Friday before Christmas to disclose the existence of an investigation into an allegation by a Hillhouse administrator that somebody improperly changed students’ grades in three instances. The Board hired an outside attorney, Floyd Dugas, to conduct the investigation.
Dugas asked to interview Carolina as part of the probe. On Tuesday Jefferson said Carolina would not participate unless the media could be present. He said he wanted a “transparent” proceeding.
In Thursday’s letter Jefferson said Carolina has agreed “to cooperate with your investigation as a means of avoiding being deemed insubordinate. However, his cooperation will take place under strict protest.”
The basis for the protest: Three members of Dugas’s Milford-based law firm, Berchem, Moses & Devlin—Robert Berchem, Marsha Moses, and Carolyn Dugas, Floyd Dugas’s wife— gave between $500 and $1,000 each to Mayor John DeStefano’s reelection campaign, according to contribution filings, Jefferson noted.
At Friday’s board meeting Carolina called the investigation a witch hunt based on “bogus” allegations brought because he, unlike other school officials, refused to support DeStefano’s campaign. (Carolina has since refrained from publicly addressing the controversy; Jefferson is speaking for him pending the investigation’s outcome.) DeStefano said politics have played no part in a straightforward probe into serious allegations. (Click here for a full story on that subject.)
“The fact is that my client believes his present predicament is a direct result of political retribution on the part of the Mayor, John DeStefano, I find it astounding that Mr. Carolina should be subjected to an inquiry spearheaded by an individual whose co-workers and relatives contributed generously to the mayor’s re-election bid,” Jefferson wrote. “If you were unaware of Mr. Dugas’ association with the mayor when selecting him for the role of lead investigator that is understandable. However, if you were aware of this obvious conflict of interest and chose to conveniently ignore the implications then your goal, as spelled out in the abovementioned correspondence, ‘to protect the integrity of the process,’ is dubious at best.
“In any event, moving forward I would greatly appreciate if you would honor Mr. Carolina’s request for a transparent investigation and remove Mr. Dugas as the lead investigator and replace him with an individual whose independence is far less questionable.”
Mayo could not be reached for comment Thursday morning.
He said last week that he decided to bypass his human resources department and retain outside counsel for the probe in part to avoid a different conflict of interest: Carolina’s wife works in the human resources department.
Board of Ed Chief Administrative Officer Will Clark said Thursday that Dugas will remain on the job.
“Michael Jefferson is not running any investigation or dictating who will participate from the Board of Education’s side. We are going to follow through with this investigation as efficiently and quickly as possible,” Clark said.
He disagreed with Jefferson’s conflict of interest charge.
“Floyd is an excellent attorney who has a sterling reputation in labor and employment circles across the state of Connecticut,” Clark said. “We have the utmost confidence in his professionalism.”
Dugas’s firm has an approved contract with the Board of Ed to handle issues ranging from labor negotiations to litigation. The city pays Dugas, a partner in the firm, $225 an hour, according to Clark.
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For his part, Dugas (pictured) said he’s “certainly glad to see that they’ve had a change of heart” about Carolina agreeing to be interviewed as part of the probe. “I’ve told attorney Jefferson I don’t have a problem with him being present as long as he doesn’t interfere with my interview.”
Dugas said he doesn’t see a conflict of interest stemming from his associates’ campaign contributions.
“I don’t know who gave what, but that has nothing to do with whether I can do an investigation for the Board of Education,” he said. “As far as I’m concerned, that’s nonsense, and will have no bearing on my investigation.”
Since the allegations surfaced, school officials have faced potential accusations on either side of the issue. For instance, they faced a Catch-22 on the decision of whether and when to hold a board meeting to discuss the allegations. If they hadn’t called a board meeting to disclose the existence of the probe, they feared, they would be accused of burying an issue crucial to school reform (honesty and transparency in data) if the news broke elsewhere. On the other hand, by holding a rushed meeting the Friday night before Christmas they faced accusations of railroading a successful principal who unlike many of his peers refused to pose for mayoral campaign pictures or pony up campaign contributions. Especially since allegations against politically supportive administrators haven’t been perceived to have been handled the same way.
Similarly, officials faced something of a Catch-22 on the decision on whether to keep the investigation in-house. If officials had kept the investigation in-house, they faced allegations of protecting their own. But by reaching for a law firm which like most city contractors gets hit up for mayoral campaign contributions, they faced allegations of partiality as well. A series of episodes led to allegations of a politicized and hijacked public education system in this year’s mayoral campaign, forming the backdrop for skepticism, founded or not, about political interference in this new imbroglio. Examples: The recruitment of school personnel for campaign testimonials; solicitation of campaign contributions from school employees; and in one case the formal endorsement of the mayor at an official school event.
Dugas said he’s off from Friday through next Tuesday. So the earliest that Carolina’s interview can take place is in the middle of next week.
Related stories:
• He Was Where?
• A Standoff In Grade Probe
• Investigation Formally Revealed At “Emergency” School Board Meeting
• Out Of Public View, Schools Rush “Emergency” Pre-Xmas Meeting On Grade-Altering Charges