BOE Member: I Never Voted in Favor of Surveys

Shelton Board of Education member Jay Francino-Quinn said you won't find any record of him voting in favor of spending $20,000 on mail-in surveys. In fact, you might have trouble finding any records at all.

Francino-Quinn currently serves on the BOE and was a member last year. He said that Arlene Liscinsky's comment about him voting in favor of the surveys is simply wrong.

"One of the things that tends to happen is they bundle a whole bunch of stuff and make it one vote," Francino-Quinn said. "I honestly have no problem saying I’m wrong, but it very may well have been that’s what happened. I do not recall any specific vote saying ‘Hey, lets have Freeman Burr have $20,000 for this survey.’”

Francino-Quinn said he and Kathy Yolish were the first two BOE members to initially oppose the idea of surveys. "Now, in our second time around, myself, Jim Orazietti, Mark Holden and Kathy Yolish are the four out of the five on the Board that are without a doubt ready to hold our feet to the fire."

The BOE has nine voting members and majority rules, so the $20,000 contract with First Experience Communications would have been approved regardless of any opposition. Even so, Francino-Quinn said all BOE members should have been involved in the survey creation process.

"There was such a total miscommunication that it was pathetic," he said. "When the time came that this survey was distributed, we weren’t even privy yet as to who they selected to do it. That survey should never at all under any circumstances have gone out without us finding out about it first. We should have been privy to those questions."

The questions themselves are a whole other debate. Orazietti described them as "useless" and "ridiculous" during the BOE's January meeting. Francino-Quinn said the following question was "particularly insulting": Did you vote in the last election? (Answer choices included 'yes,' 'no,' and 'don't remember').

It is not clear who came up with the questions. Francino-Quinn said he called both the BOE Finance Director Al Cameron and a representative from First Experience Communications, but neither were able to give a definitive response.

"As an elected official by the citizens, it’s my responsibility to make sure the money is being spent responsibly and to be able to answer questions as to why it isn’t being spent responsibly," Francino-Quinn said.

He added that the BOE committees are not known for tidy record-keeping. "When it comes down to the committees, with the exception of the Finance Committee, minutes have not been taken at any of the meetings, and if they have they weren't turned into the City Hall like theyre supposed to."

The City of Shelton website includes .pdf files of meeting agendas and minutes for the full BOE and the BOE Finance Committee, but not for any other committees including: Athletics, Building & Grounds, Cafeteria/Transportation, Curriculum/Policies/Technology, and Personnel.