Court records sealed in fight at school board meeting

Official, resident face breach of peace charges in December incident

GLASTONBURY — The court cases against a local school board member and the man accused of punching him during a confrontation at a public hearing last year have both been statutorily sealed, according to the Connecticut’s judicial website.

The judicial branch’s office of external affairs on Wednesday confirmed the cases were sealed, but said further details were not available.

Glastonbury Board of Education Secretary Monte Ray McFall and local resident Mark Finocchiaro were both charged with second-degree breach of peace in the Dec. 14, 2021 incident.

The board had met to gather public comment on whether to reconsider its decision to change the high school mascot name to the Glastonbury Guardians. The name had been changed in spring 2020 over concerns that the previous team name and logo were offensive to Native Americans.

But some parents objected to the name change, circulating a petition that led to the board to reconsider the decision.

During the public hearing to discuss changing the name, the crowd became so unruly that a police sergeant called for additional officers and they discussed how they could evacuate the crowd from the building if necessary, according to the arrest warrants for the two men.

In a video that went viral online, the two men came face-to-face during the recess after the public comment portion of the meeting. McFall can be seen shoving Finocchiaro. The footage then shows Finocchiaro punching McFall in the face, knocking him to the floor.

Prior to the altercation, McFall had been in charge of tracking speakers time and limiting each of them to three minutes during the public comment period, according to the warrants. When Finocchiaro spoke, he went over his allotted time and at one point walked toward where the

Board of Education members were seated on the stage “shouting and using profanities,” the warrants state. He eventually sat down, but continued shouting during the hearing while others were trying to speak, according to the warrants.

McFall later told investigators he had gone into the crowd during the public recess to speak with a council member “about defusing tensions,” but admitted to police he had stated he was going to “tear that [expletive] guy’s lips off,” referring to Finocchiaro.

The chair of the Republican Town Committee later called on McFall to resign from the board, but said McFall had refused and instead resigned from the Republican party.

The board ultimately voted 7-1 against reconsidering the name change in December.