Ansonia, Derby clash over regional school board

A regionalization proposal between Ansonia and Derby schools remains in limbo as a study committee clashed this week over which city would have say in a proposed unified school board.

The Temporary Regional School Study Committee met over Zoom Tuesday night to discuss the proposed school board options. A partic

ular sticking point was crossover voting, where each decision would need to have approval from the two cities. The two contingents agreed previously that there would be 10 members on the proposed board.

Derby resident Ronald Luneau said that the crossover vote will allow the city to have equal say in the decision making, especially since the city is smaller than Ansonia.

Joseph Jaumann, an alderman from Ansonia, said that the crossover vote would make the proposed board operate as separate boards in practice, and lead to distrust on both sides.

Luneau didn’t buy it.

“When it comes down to power, people act differently. And when it comes down to who's holding the golden egg, it becomes different, come on,” Luneau said.

The group also discussed if there would be unrestricted or restricted crossover voting.

Unrestricted crossover voting means that no decision can be made without the approval of the other city. There would also be no expiration date for the rule. Restricted crossover voting would mean that certain items or decisions would be off limits to crossover voting in order to prevent an impasse over crucial decisions such as the budget or hiring.

Jaumann was in favor of restrictions, concerned over the possibility that Derby would wield out-sized influence on decision making.

Jaumann pointed out that Derby could have influence for decades over a larger city.

“Nobody's willing to concede that restrictions can be either limited in time or limited in subject matter. And that raises a concern. Forty years from now, Derby still has the ability to veto anything that they want,” he said.

Jim Gildea, a Derby Board of Education member, earlier pointed out that unrestricted crossover voting would be crucial to win over Derby in the first place.

“I think the benefit for leaving in an unrestricted crossover vote with no time limit, I think, maybe improves the saleability,” Gildea said.

Tara Hyder, a Derby Board of Education member, favors unrestricted voting. She said that much of the concerns over unrestricted crossover voting didn’t make sense. She claimed that in her experience as a member, no one has ever pushed back on hiring decisions for important roles such as the superintendent.

Hyder attempted to bring the motion to propose a board made up of 10 members equally divided between Ansonia and Derby with unrestricted voting, to a vote. The vote failed.

Joe DiBacco, the superintendent of Ansonia Public Schools, was in attendance but did not speak at the meeting. He said in an email that he expressed sympathy to the committee.

“I think governance is the most difficult part of the process; the committee has worked very hard and they have worked through greater challenges,” DiBacco said.

But Gildea felt differently.

“At this point, the differences appear to be very wide,” he said.

The next committee meeting will be on April 7.

The superintendent for Derby Public Schools did not respond to a request for comment.