Board Chair Sent Letters to Crockett, Hagenow Informing Them of Misconduct

Board of Education Chairman Chris Pattacini sent letters to board members Michael Crockett and Deborah Hagenow prior to a special board meeting conveyed earlier this week to inform them the meeting would be held specifically to discuss their "alleged conduct." 

Sources told Patch that Crockett and Hagenow made inappropriate racial comments and jokes about Ron Atwater, the only black member of the Board of Education, on several occasions; all three are Republicans. 

The school board discussed the matter in executive session at the meeting on Tuesday, and afterwards approved a motion to hold a hearing into comments Crockett made on three separate occasions. No further information was provided, and school board members have declined to discuss the issue, citing the confidentiality privilege of executive session. 

During Tuesday's meeting, which Crockett and Hagenow did not attend, the school board twice voted to go into executive session, but each vote failed because they did not have the required two-thirds majority. After the school board's attorney advised them that discussing the matter in public would leave the board open to potential liability issues, the board again voted to go into executive session with only Neal Leon still opposing the motion. 

Pattacini's letter, which was sent only to Crockett and Hagenow, states that the board would discuss the matter during a confidential executive session, unless either of them wished to do so in public, which is required by the state's Freedom of Information Act. 

Pattacini said during the public portion of Tuesday's meeting that he sent letters to both Crockett and Hagenow informing them that the meeting would be about them, but that he did not receive responses from either. Crockett and Hagenow did not attend Wednesday's regularly scheduled school board meeting either, and have not returned calls seeking comment. 

Pattacini sent the letters separately to both Crockett and Hagenow on Friday, May 24, 2013. Manchester Patch obtained them through a Freedom of Information Act request. 

The letters state, in part, that the meeting was called specifically to discuss Crockett and Hagenow's conduct. 

"The Manchester Board of Education intends to discuss matters related to your conduct as a board member at a special board meeting scheduled for May 28, 2013 at 7 p.m. at Lincoln Center," Pattacini's letter states. 

Pattacini's letters, which are attached in full to this article as PDFs, also state that the incident occurred on May 13, 2013, during a meeting of the Manchester Board of Education Superintendent Search Committee.