See You In Court! CABE Monthly Column
“See You In Court!” is written by Thomas Mooney and appears in the CABE Journal, a publication of the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education.
In finalizing the Board’s budget request for 2025-2026, the members of the Nutmeg Board of Education have been making tough decisions to trim their budget request down to a five percent increase for next year. Their frustration has been exacerbated by conflicting pressures. Unions who stand to lose positions next year have been protesting, while Seymour Dollars, the veteran Chairperson of the Nutmeg Board of Finance, has been insisting on social media that the Board request better not exceed a three percent increase for next year. In short, the Nutmeg Board has been put in a no-win situation.
At the Board meeting last night, things got worse. Nellie Negative, a frequent complainer, took the Board to task during Public Comment. Nellie started a three-minute diatribe against the Board with “You guys are derelict! I hear that the Board cares about the safety of its students and staff. But you haven’t done a thing about indoor air quality. You cry poor and neglect building maintenance. God only knows what is going on in our schools!”
Veteran Board member Bob Bombast snapped. “You don’t know what you are talking about, Nellie. I am sure that Mr. Superintendent has everything under control!”
“You are wrong as usual, Bob!” responded Nellie. “I have been scouring the Board agendas and district websites, and there is no evidence that the district has done any of the inspections of the HVAC systems in the schools as required by state law.”
“Oh, you mean another unfunded mandate?” retorted Bob. “I am sure that we will get to it when we have the time and money. We have to set some priorities, and first we must pay our bills with the limited funds we have. If you really care about this HVAC thing, you should talk to the Board of Finance about giving us the necessary funds.”
Mr. Superintendent weighed in. “We do our best, but we just haven’t had the money. Moreover, I am in the schools all the time, and the air seems fine to me. Nellie, I am sick of people like you sowing fear without any good cause.”
“Don’t you guys read the laws?” Nellie persisted. “School boards are required to inspect the HVAC systems of each of their schools and post the results of such inspections on the district website and the websites of the individual schools. But when I go to the website of Median Middle School, I read about bake sales, but I don’t see a thing about the required HVAC inspection.”
“Oh, now I get it!” said Mr. Superintendent. “Nellie, maybe you should read the law more carefully. I did, and I am happy to inform you and the Board that the requirement for HVAC inspections doesn’t begin to apply until next year. We have a tough budget this year, but we will try to put some funding into the budget for 2026-2027 for these inspections.”
“Look . . . ,” Nellie began to respond, but Mr. Chairperson cut her off, citing the Board’s rule that public comment for any individual is limited to three minutes and noting that Nellie’s time had long expired.
