An Amity Regional School District No. 5 Board Member has stepped down following the approval of a policy on how the district could potentially discipline students for sexual assault.
Tracey Russo submitted her letter of resignation on May 9 because of the new Memorandum of Understanding between the school district and Woodbridge Police Department.
She told NBC Connecticut she could no longer serve on the board because of a discipline chart that lists “verbal warning” as a “potential intervention” for sexual assault.
“While I do not believe anybody on our Board of Education would support such a decision, the bottom line is we have a document out there,” Russo said.
Twice elected to the Board of Education, Russo is a mother with three children in the Amity school district.
Earlier in the month, the Board of Education approved a contract with Woodbridge Police outline different levels of discipline for student behavior at Amity Regional High School.
The document lists verbal warning as potential intervention for crimes such as alcohol or drug possession, illegal substances, robbery, breach of peace and sexual assault.
Local
“But for me under no circumstances should a verbal warning ever be associated with an appropriate or potential response to a sexual assault,” Russo said.
Superintendent Dr. Charles Dumais responded to NBC Connecticut’s request for comment with an email.
"The sample responses are not singularly aligned to a particular offense,” Dumais said in the email. “The district most certainly does not believe that a verbal warning is an appropriate response to sexual assault and the policies of the Amity Board of Education clearly reflect that.”
Woodbridge Police Chief Frank Capiello said in an email the implication a student receives a verbal warning for committing sexual assault is a “misinterpretation of the wording in the document.”
Russo said other board members and parents have been supportive of her decision because it is based on her personal experience and desire to support sexual assault survivors.
“When I was in high school I was sexually assaulted and did not talk about it for many years,” she explained, “and when this issue came up again before the amity board of education I felt it was time to start speaking up.”
