Two notes from the 10/20/21 BOE meeting
I was alarmed by the armed officer positioned at the back of the room. I was confused as to why there wasn’t a posting of the where and how the meeting would take place. I was disappointed by the lack of turn-out. I was stunned by the disrespect toward a community member. And I was upset that now the president of the board is using the district’s attorney for personal legal advice on our dime.
First we have a soft spoken, older lady request to speak. Mr. Castricone immediately shut down her fist request which was for an update on the legal matter brought to Albany this past Monday. Mr. Castricone made it clear that public comment was limited to agenda items only. Non agenda items would be addressed at the end of the meeting. She moved on to explain that she had taken a tour of the school and asked students how many study halls they had during the day. She was dismayed to find out a student had 4 study halls that day. At this point Mr. Castricone seemed disinterested in her thoughts as he got up and stepped away, when he returned he focused on his desk papers. She proceeded to state that it troubled her that study halls could be considered instructional time. Mr. Castricone then informed her that she was over her 3 minutes. She requested just 1 more minute and it was denied, Mr. Castricone suggested that she wait until the end of the meeting. She stated she was too old, Mr. Castricone then dismissed her by talking over her—asking if there were any other public comments. There were none. The second session for public comment was 1 hour and 40 minutes later, the woman left at 1 hour 30 minutes. Why could the board not accommodate this taxpayer for the extra minute?
Here is the part, as a taxpayer, we should all be concerned about. Ms. Ziegelbauer, at the end of the meeting, addressed the board about a video produced by Mr. Castricone, which he shared on Facebook to his personal private page to a select group of community members. The video was in response to what transpired at the meeting on Friday, October 15, 2021, the performance of the current board, my posts, and Ms. Vaughts involvement with TPFYI. Mr. Castricone stated at the beginning of the video that he was speaking for himself and not as a board of education official. Apparently however he used “we” many times through-out the video, referencing the board. Ms. Ziegelbauer asked him to be more careful in the future. Mr. Castricone responded that he would not pose as a piñata and that he ran everything through “our” legal counsel before he posted it, and got it approved by “our” legal counsel. The issue is, when has it become the practice in which members of the board are allowed to use the Tuxedo UFSD legal counsel for their own personal matters? If this is allowed then Ms. Ziegelbauer could have used “our” legal counsel for her defense. Currently Ms. Ziegelbauer has had to retain outside legal counsel at her own expense for her defense, yet Mr. Castricone is allowed to use “our” legal counsel for his own personal purpose?
And again, we need to question why the Board has not adopted a code of ethics. The General Municipal Law requires ALL school boards to adopt a code of ethics for the guidance of its officers and employees that sets forth the standards of conduct reasonably expected of them. This was a request made at the 7/1/2021 meeting.
References:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOP1CFRGPkA
https://kbfortheboe.com/7-1-21-boe-meeting/