Councilperson Larry Deutsch filed a complaint with the City of Hartford Ethics Commission tonight regarding Steve Perry’s alleged policy violations. Perry is the principal of Capital Preparatory Magnet School (Capital Prep).
Deutsch presented the commission with a packet of materials showing how Perry has allegedly been “running a private business using school resources,” “violating Hartford policies on use of computers, networks, and social media during school hours,” using social media in a way “that interferes with the work of the school district, creates a hostile work environment, harms the goodwill and reputation of the school distract, or violates the law, Board policy, and/or school rules,” conducting “non-work activities during work time,” and failing “to properly use vacation time, sick days and personal days.” The packet contains examples of Perry’s alleged use of Twitter during school hours, along with the information that Capital Prep’s address is listed with the IRS as the address of one of Perry’s private corporations.
With the complaint filed, there will be paperwork and an evidence gathering process. All applicable parties will be contacted. With the formal complaint on record, the Ethics Commission can go into executive session, potentially barring the public from portions of the process deemed confidential.
The Ethics Commission seemed to think that nobody would be present at one of their meetings unless a formal complaint had been filed against them; there were two other individuals present at the public meeting on Tuesday night who were simply there to witness this action.
Deutsch’s complaint follows the Board of Education’s February 4th executive session on Perry, as well as two public statements by former Capital Prep employees.