Guiliano Stifled and the Guillotine on Vine Street

Well, it's all over. Joe Guliano, who won two seats on the school committee, lost one of them last night without the Board of Aldermen even allowing him the opportunity to speak. It would have been nice if the Board had given him the courtesy, but with Nuzzo's wife working for the school department, Marcus' girlfriend working for the school department, Chuck DiPerri's daughter working for the school department....well, you get the picture. Joe Guliano and Stat Smith nominated John Tumblin for the school committee-at-large seat, while all the superintendent's men nominated, seconded and voted for Richard Baniewicz. No surprises - it was a done deal. But you have to wonder how Roberta Ruiz, who actually ran for that seat feels about it.

We also watched with great interest the piece of business sponsored by Steve Smith on tonight's Board of Aldermen calendar. Mr. Smith tried his best to get a status update from our city solicitor, John Kryzovic, but despite the fact that the piece had been on the calendar since last week, he only knew "what was printed in the papers." Smith also tried to get across his point that the school committee needed to terminate Mrs. DeFeo, the recently convicted maintenance manager in the in the school department. While Mr. Smith doesn't believe that Mrs. DeFeo acted without the knowledge of the superintendent (in reality, no person of reasonable thinking believes that she acted without the superintendent's knowledge), given her guilty plea, action needed to be taken. His motion for the Board of Alderman to request that the school committee terminate Ms. DeFeo did not even receive a second.

Mr. Kryzovic made it all too clear that he would not get involved in the issue, stressing that the power vested by charter for the school department rested in the school committee. We fully expected this response from Mr. Kryzovic. The administration doesn't want to go near this, hence, no phone call to Fred to get a status update; and our new mayor has continued to remain silent on the subject.

What was particularly telling was the eloquence of Mr. Van Campen, who responded to the motion put forth by Mr. Smith by saying, "I don't want to put heads in a guillotine," while putting forth his own motion to request more information. Guillotine? Great imagery. While it may seem overly dramatic, the man is actually being honest. It had to be something keeping six grown men from doing the right thing. Actually, the support of the superintendent should probably be likened to be a double edged sword, as opposed to a guillotine.

Asking the Board of Alderman to take a stand on whether a convicted felon should still be working at the school department should not be akin to putting their heads in a guillotine. This should be an easy vote...and in any other community, it would be.