Tempers Flare Over Springs Clerk Suit

Community members, former Springs School employees, and current staff members took sides during Monday night's school board meeting in a heated exchange over two issues: a lawsuit being filed against Springs by its former district clerk and what several community members allege are questionable circumstances surrounding the hiring and work record of the superintendent.

Fran Silipo, the former district clerk, filed a notice of claim in October intending to sue the Springs School District after she was not reappointed to the position of district clerk after 13 years in that role. In the notice of claim, she says she was the victim of a hostile work environment, retaliatory conduct, and wrongful termination. The school board was within its rights to appoint someone else to the position of district clerk, which is a year-to-year appointment that Ms. Silipo held from 2002 to 2015, but she has said she believes she lost that post in an unfair and misleading manner.

During Monday's Springs School Board meeting, a number of people spoke up in support of Ms. Silipo's claims, saying she was treated horribly, and extended their grievances with pointedly negative remarks about the superintendent, John J. Finello. They questioned the process through which Mr. Finello was hired, took issue with his salary, suggested he is not working full-time as his recently approved contract requires, and said the district is losing the trust of its taxpayers.

"I really am appalled at the way things are going," Terry Miller, a Springs resident who recently moved back to the area from Massachusetts, said. "Things are very toxic in this room. It needs to change and you better start thinking things over."

After many of the negative remarks were made, Manny Vilar, a Springs resident, told the school board it has "a major public relations problem."

"The assessment that you've lost trust in the community is very, very real," he said.

Mr. Finello did not respond to those comments during the board meeting Monday, and could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday morning. Liz Mendelman, the school board president, said only that the district cannot respond to legal claims publicly.

Multiple staff members on Monday night defended Mr. Finello, calling him hardworking, fair, and professional, and said the climate at the school is excellent.

"The lawsuit being discussed in the papers has no merit and is utterly frivolous," said Adam Osterweil, a current Springs teacher and resident. He urged the district to fight Ms. Silipo's claims in court rather than settling out of court, which he said would needlessly cost the residents of the district.

"Keep doing the great job that you are doing," Mr. Osterweil told Mr. Finello and the school board. "You will hear negative voices along the way. Rest assured the silent majority supports you."

Margaret Garsetti, another Springs resident and teacher whose son attended the school, called the meeting "a clinic for intimidation."

"People are coming up very angry. People have the right to bring emotion to it," Ms. Garsetti said. "Since there seems to be a lot of discussion about the tone and the trust and the public relations — I want to make it very clear that I'm in the trenches, I teach kindergarten through eighth grade -- I can tell you that the tone and the trust in my opinion has been of the utmost quality. I appreciate people who bring high standards."

Ms. Mendelman eventually said the late hour — the meeting ran past 9 p.m. — prompted her to close the public comment session and ask her colleagues for an adjournment to the meeting, despite the fact that at least one more person had raised her hand wanting to address the board.

Update: Later on Tuesday, John J. Finello declined to comment.