Husband of Little Jackets Boss Asked to Resign From School Board

EAST HAVEN —The Democratic Town Chairman in East Haven is calling on the husband of the director of East Haven's Little Jackets Pre-School Program to resign his position on the Board of Education.

The action comes after the Board of Education at its most recent meeting voted 5-4 to not take up a motion raised by Board Chair Michele DeLucia to discuss and take possible action directing Superintendent of Schools Erica Forti to refer all findings in the current forensic analysis of school paying practices to the legal authorities for investigation to determine whether any criminal actions were taken.

In bringing the motion, DeLucia, said: “I hope this (passing the motion) will bring finality to all suspect matters.”

She added that there have been many people saying that there was criminal activity that took place but there is no evidence of that, and she felt bringing the motion up brought transparency to the board’s proceedings.

One of the five opposed to the motion was board member John Finkle, husband of Cathy Finkle, who was recently removed from her position as director of the Little Jackets - one of the subjects of the audit.

“In light of John Finkle's no vote he should step down from the BOE effective immediately, Marc Conte, Sr. said. “He clearly has deep rooted conflicts and objections to further investigate into these grave matters facing our town and does not think the matter should be looked into. He needs to do what is in the best interests of the town and step down as a board member,” said Conte, Democratic Party head.

Cathy Finkle ran the Little Jackets Pre-School Program, in which auditors said there were sloppy records for tuition collection, incomplete expense reports and the need for an operating budget.

Little Jackets, according to its website, is a child-care facility, that strives each day to provide a safe and nurturing environment for every child.

The website says: "Our emphasis is on an open communication and close collaboration between the staff and the parents and to provide a quality Preschool Program that is accessible and affordable."

The Little Jackets program was audited as part a long awaited forensic audit of how the East Haven school system pays which found numerous issues and makes several recommended changes to try and fix the problems.

The firm of the Shipman and Goodwin was hired by the East Haven school board when it was discovered during the fiscal year that ended in June of 2016, the school board spent $918,765 more than its allotted budgeted of $47.2 million.

The report was only made public after the board voted 5-4 to release it.

The report filed by Shipman and Goodwin, that the Board of Education reviewed criticized the school system for several lax accounting procedures, including poor invoicing, poor accounting follow-up procedures, inconsistent billing, lost work orders, improper outside rental procedures, accounting problems with the Little Jackets program, tuition charge issues, etc.