Norwalk BoE committee moves to delete bylaw used by Mosby in FOI defense

March 16, 2016

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Norwalk Board of Education Policy Committee Chairwoman Heidi Keyes leads Tuesday's meeting in City Hall. At left is Erik Anderson. — Norwalk Board of Education Policy Committee Chairwoman Heidi Keyes leads Tuesday’s meeting in City Hall. At left is Erik Anderson.

NORWALK, Conn. – That pesky line in a Board of Education bylaw was recommended for removal Tuesday by the BoE Policy Committee.

The three committee members present voted unanimously, with no debate, to excise the sentence “The Board of Education does not exist between meetings” from bylaw 9010, saying that was the recommendation from Norwalk Public Schools attorney Thomas Mooney.

BoE member Shirley Mosby, the fourth committee member, was absent.

The removal of one sentence from the bylaws stems from the Freedom of Information complaints filed against Mosby by three entities, including NancyOnNorwalk, to get Mosby’s alleged folder of evidence in support of her claim of disparate treatment on the Board. Mosby’s legal team successfully argued that she had not been acting as a Board member when she compiled the collection of public emails, citing bylaw 9010 and the now infamous sentence.

Committee Chairman Heidi Keyes said the bylaw was written in 1985 and last reviewed in 1997. Mooney’s recommendation was to just remove the first sentence, she said, answering a question from Erik Anderson.

“CABE (Connecticut Association of Boards of Education) stated standard policies do not have this language and they are not aware of any Board other than Norwalk that has that,” Keyes said. “Attorney Mooney has said in 30 years representing boards he has never seen this anywhere else, as far as language. Boards clearly do exist between meetings, they simply cannot act between meetings.”

The proposal will now go to the full BoE for a vote.