Attorney says charges against schools head fabricated

Denies charges of inappropriate conduct with assistant super

CROMWELL — The lawyer for embattled Superintendent of Schools John T. Maloney Jr. says he believes an anonymous attack on Maloney is being run by people who “want to go back to the way things were.”

“That’s not going to happen,” Attorney Brian A. Doyle said in a telephone conversation early Wednesday afternoon.

Maloney and Assistant Superintendent Krista Karch were put on paid administrative leave Tuesday, Maloney by the Board of Education and Karch by high school principal Fran DiFiore, who was appointed interim superintendent Tuesday.

The board acted following the receipt of an anonymous letter that accused the two educators of inappropriate conduct.

In a statement Tuesday afternoon, Doyle dismissed those charges as “false and fabricated.” On Wednesday, Doyle said, “Cromwell has been an underperforming district,” but one “with a great deal of potential. John was hired to get things back on track, and that what’s he’s doing. John’s a reformer, and he’s shaking up the school district.”

The anonymous letter, which also included a DVD that purportedly shows the two educators kissing, was sent to some two dozen people, including the administrative hierarchy of the school system and all the school board members — but not Chairman Michael J. Camilleri.

The letter alleges the two educators “have engaged in conduct that could constitute misconduct or could interfere with their respective abilities to carry out their job responsibilities,” Camilleri said in a prepared statement he read after placing Maloney on leave.

The board took action after viewing the video, Camilleri said in an email Wednesday. He would not comment on the contents of the video, but other people with knowledge of it have described the interaction as “a peck on the cheek.”

Even as Maloney gears up to fight the allegations, Doyle acknowledged the events of the past few days have been “rough” on his client. The board, meanwhile, has asked its lawfirm, Shipman & Goodwin, to conduct an investigation into the allegations contained in the one-page letter.

In advance of their regular board meeting Tuesday evening, school board members were anticipating a slew of comments from residents about the decision to place the two administrators on leave. As the meeting began, the board had every reason to believe there would be prolonged discussion as they looked out at perhaps 100 faces.

But when the time for public comment came, only one person rose to speak about the decision. Linda Demetriades, president of the paraprofessional union, said the suggestion that all the unions had a problem with Maloney did not apply to her.

“I did not have an issue with (Maloney),” she said. But Demetriades did say she was “extremely disturbed how this issue came to light.”

She was emphatic that the person who accessed the school surveillance system to capture the video of Maloney and Karch “should be punished as well.” Demetriades was supported in that stance by Frank C. Emanuele Jr., the Town Council’s liaison to the Board of Education, who was at the meeting.

The person who broke into the video system endangered the staff and students, the schools, and the district, he said. The action is particularly disturbing, Emanuele said, given the number of attacks that have been made against schools in recent years.

“The person who did this should be ashamed of themselves. I don’t how they can sleep at night,” he said.

The board should make every effort to identify the individual “and file a civil suit against that individual,” Emanuele said.

Karch

Maloney