I attended the hearing held by the Freedom of Information Commission (on Trinity Street in Hartford) to listen to Preston Shultz and CPS’s complaints related to two FOI demands they made against the Board of Education. The two lawsuits were combined into one hearing since they dealt with the same issue. His (and CPS) complaint was that the BOE did not turn over ALL of the documents that Shultz believed existed.
The hearing was held in front of Commissioner Vincent Russo and Commission Council, Valicia Harmon. Lindsay Paul, Chairman of the BOE, and Frank Baran, Superintendent of Schools, were present to represent the Woodstock School System along with the BOE lawyer Attorney Paul Shapiro from Shipman & Goodwin. Preston Shultz was present and represented by Attorney Robert Skelley who apparently makes a living out of representing incompetent clients living in Woodstock. You may recall that it was Robert Skelley who represented the Powers in their failed lawsuit against the school system. The Powers sued the school system to pay for their son’s education at the Rectory. Craig Powers crashed and burned under cross-examination by Attorney Ann Littlefield (also from Shipman & Goodwin).
Littlefield: “And isn’t it true that this July 12, 2005 letter from Ms. Lustila to you addresses the very same concerns that you raised in the December 27, 2005 letter from your attorney?” Powers: “I don’t believe it does, no.” Littlefield “Is it a substantive response to your claims of procedural violations or failure to identify the student?” Powers: “Not in my opinion.” Littlefield: “Does it specifically address (your son’s) prior history in Special Education and the comments made by Ms. Foco and Ms. Foisy?”… Littlefield: “Does it contain substantive information about (your son’s) prior history?” Powers: “Not in my opinion.” Littlefield: “It’s not substantive in your opinion?” Powers: “That’s correct.” Littlefield: “Okay. Does it address the concerns about statements made by Mrs. Foco and Ms. Foisy? I’m referring you to paragraph two on B-24, page one of two …. Does it address your concerns that you had raised concerning statements made by Mrs. Foco and Ms. Foisy? Does Ms. Lustila address those concerns in this letter?” Powers: “Not in a substantive fashion in my opinion.”…Littlefield: “Isn’t it true you just didn’t like Ms. Lustila’s answers to the questions you posed?” …
Shultz’ performance in the hearing today was equally poor. Read the rest of this entry »
