Allan Appel Photo
Principal Carolina.
As the Board of Education formally learned of an investigation into possible grade-changing at Hillhouse High School, Principal Kermit Carolina described the move as a “political lynching.”
The investigation was announced at a rare “emergency” pre-Christmas Friday night meeting, which took place at 6 p.m. on a mere 24-hour-and-52-minute official notice.
Speaking on Friday afternoon, Superintendent of Schools Reggie Mayo said he called the meeting to let the board know an investigation is underway. He said he couldn’t reveal much about that investigation beyond the fact that it concerns allegations of grade or credit “adjustments” at Hillhouse High School, potentially involving “several kids.”
“Some allegations have been made about some potential grade adjustments. Hillhouse is involved. There will be a process. Whether it leads to something else, we don’t know at this particular time,” Mayo said.
Mayo said at the meeting that there are three separate allegations to investigate. Board of Education attorney Floyd Dugas will conduct the probe.
Carolina said he thinks the allegations of wrongdoing are unfounded. They are acts of “retaliation” by a piqued Hillhouse administrator and a “vindictive” mayor, upset that Carolina chose not to appear with him at an event during his recent reelection campaign, he said.
Mayor John DeStefano dismissed Carolina’s countercharges as baseless.
At least one board member, Alex Johnston, said he didn’t know Friday night’s meeting had been called until contacted Friday morning by the Independent, which first reported the existence of the probe and the last-minute meeting. Johnston was not present at the meeting.
Click here for a story detailing the Board of Ed went about alerting, or not alerting, the public about the meeting.
“I’m Talking Of John DeStefano”
On Friday evening, Superintendent Mayo made a brief statement announcing the investigation. He was about to adjourn the meeting when Principal Carolina stood to speak. He had been sitting at the front of the room with his attorney, Michael Jefferson, and his friend Gary Highsmith, principal of Hamden High.
Carolina said he didn’t need an outside investigation, that he had conducted his own. After learning of the Board of Ed’s intention earlier in the day, Carolina initiated his own probe, he said.
“It saddens me to to stand here due to baseless allegations against against my high school,” Carolina said. “I’ve always been transparent. … I’ve done my investigation.”
Carolina said he found the root of the allegations was an incident in which a student wasn’t given full credit for a college course taken over the summer. The student’s transcript was changed only to indicate that it was an English college-level course.
He produced transcripts with a student’s name redacted that he said showed what had happened. He said later that he knew of only one such incident and didn’t know anything about another two incidents mentioned by Superintendent Mayo as part of the investigation.
Carolina said the allegations of grade-changing are “retaliatory action” initiated by an administrator at Hillhouse, whom he declined to name.
“One administrator challenged me on a number of occasions because of my challenge to have her be better for the kids,” Carolina said. “Unfortunately that administrator has chosen to take retaliatory action against me, Hillhouse, our school.”
“I’m very upset at this,” Carolina said. He fought to hold back tears twice during his comments to the board.
“So why are we having this meeting tonight? It’s very simple: The administrator in question is a close friend of a board member.” Carolina said. “I’m talking of John DeStefano.”
Carolina said DeStefano is trying to retaliate against Carolina because the principal declined to appear with the mayor at a campaign event photo op in September.
“I respectfully declined to be photographed with the mayor,” Carolina said. “I made it clear I was an educator and did not want to get involved in the political process.”
The mayor accused Carolina of attending a campaign event of his challenger, Jeffrey Kerekes, Carolina said. He held up an undated handwritten note that he said came to him from the mayor. “Kermit, you were there,” it read.
Kerekes was in the audience at the board meeting Friday evening.
“I don’t take to intimidation,” Carolina said.
“No Basis”
Mayor DeStefano.
After the meeting adjourned, the mayor responded to Carolina’s charges. “I don’t see the connection,” he said, between him and the Hillhouse grade-changing probe.
DeStefano said he supported Carolina when he was selected as principal two years ago. He said the superintendent is simply “responding to a staff allegation.” Sending it to counsel for investigation is the right thing to do, he said.
DeStefano said he doesn’t know the specifics of the grade-altering allegations. He said he doesn’t know what administrator Carolina referred to. There is no connection with any campaign politics, he said.
“This is an internal issue that’s coming out of Hillhouse High,” he said. “To suggest it’s something else — I have no basis for that.”
“The political connection? The election is long over,” DeStefano said.
The mayor did not deny writing the note, but pointed out that it was undated and said he didn’t recall the context in which he wrote it.
“This is a political lynching,” Carolina said. “The mayor has been a bully since he’s been in office. He attempts to intimidate me to become political, to come out and take pictures with him, and he chose this opportunity to put a cloud on me.”
Jefferson said he and Carolina are going to wait for the results of the investigation. Mayo said the probe could take two weeks or a month.
Paul Bass contributed reporting.