Christopher Peak Photos
Complainant Philip Penn and subject of the complaint, Darnell Goldson.
New Haven Board of Education member Darnell Goldson will finally formally find out what he supposedly did to spark a “hostile work environment” complaint, who complained, and whether he in fact was found to have legally done anything wrong.
This was the outcome of a special Board of Education meeting called on Thursday evening. After an hour of discussion, the board voted to release confidentially to members a report it commissioned on a hostile work investigation. The public still does not have access to the report.
The Independent confirmed this week that New Haven Public Schools Chief Financial Officer Phillip Penn asked for the investigation after an exchange in March where Goldson questioned whether racial favoritism was involved in the hiring of contractors.
The public has known little about the investigation against Goldson for months, except that the law firm Tinley, Renehan & Dost, LLP had been hired to conduct it. Goldson has consistently resisted other board members’ attempts to talk about the investigation out of the public eye in executive session.
At a recent board meeting, Board President Yesenia Rivera attempted to exclude Goldson from an executive session on the report on the grounds that his presence waived the attorney-client privilege that justified the meeting. Goldson protested, and the board decided to get a third-party legal opinion to clear up the conflict.
Thomas B. Mooney of Shipman & Goodwin LLP provided that legal opinion on Tuesday. Read the opinion here.
Mooney wrote that the board cannot exclude Goldson from an executive session or from voting on whether to go into one. Goldson should not vote on what the board decides to do about the investigation, because that would be a conflict of interest, Mooney concluded.
At the beginning of Monday’s meeting, Goldson said that he will oppose any executive session until he obtains the report on the investigation.
“I would rather be out in the open with the sun shining on these things,” Goldson said.
Board member Larry Conaway said he agreed with Goldson. Tamiko Jackson-McArthur asked why Goldson could not get the report.
“I’m all for sunshine on the subject and openness,” board Vice-President Matt Wilcox said. “I would hate for us to inadvertently waive attorney-client privilege without knowing the implications. We have an individual on record saying that he is waiting to sue, and members of the board could be in the pool of those sued.”
Goldson has threatened to sue in response to the investigation on multiple occasions.
Goldson asked what the difference was between Mooney’s memo, which was emailed to all the board members, and the report. Wilcox asked whether the board could decide to all get the report emailed to them; Mooney responded that they could. So rather than holding any executive sessions, the board unanimously voted to make Mooney’s memo public and to get the report in their inboxes.
No lawsuit, please.
A duel is faster and less expensive.