Investigation Results Released In Ex-Greenwich Administrator Probe

GREENWICH, CT — The independent investigation launched by the town into the hiring practices at Greenwich Public Schools has concluded, and according to the final report, there is no evidence of systemic discrimination on the basis of age, religion or political affiliation by GPS during the period between 2017 to 2022.

First Selectman Fred Camillo called for an investigation into the school district after a surreptitiously recorded video was released by the conservative media organization Project Veritas on Aug. 30, 2022, that depicted then-Cos Cob School Assistant Principal Jeremy Boland making remarks about his own personal hiring practices and his preference for younger, more progressive teachers who aren't Catholic.

The Boland video was the first in a series Project Veritas called "The Secret Curriculum," which aimed to highlight "the secret curriculum that is indoctrinating your children," Project Veritas said on its YouTube page.

Project Veritas is known for conducting undercover video stings and publicizing private conversations.

Boland was placed on administrative leave and ultimately resigned in March of this year. A new assistant principal was appointed in May.

Greenwich hired Day Pitney LLP in December 2022, who subsequently reviewed GPS's hiring practices and interviewed more than 40 teachers and administrators.

Additionally, Charles River Associates analyzed a database for 11,231 applicants covering 732 hiring events between 2017 and 2022.

The investigation cost $346,648, according to the town's legal department.

"Our investigation did not uncover any evidence of systematic teacher or administrator hiring discrimination on the basis of age, religion, or political affiliation during the covered period. The numerous GPS employees with whom we spoke were uniform in their denial of any knowledge or suspicion of such discrimination, and many of them were able to articulate credible, non-discriminatory reasons for recommending particular candidates they interviewed for hire," Day Pitney said in its 56-page report.

"In addition, our review of the hiring process at GPS indicates that hiring decisions were not made without the involvement of an interview committee, meaning that no single person acted alone in making a hire," Day Pitney added, noting that the mandatory involvement of an interview committee for GPS teacher and administrator hires "forms a meaningful structural impediment to systematic discrimination."

In-depth data analysis of GPS employment records concerning the ages of teacher job applicants versus successful teacher candidates "did not reveal patterns that suggest differences correlated with age," the report said.

Roughly 45 percent of interviewees were over the age of 30 the first time they were hired into the school district, Day Pitney said in the report.

The majority of interviewees also self-identified as Roman Catholic, and the distribution of political affiliation was "not concentrated into either a conservative or liberal category."

Those who were interviewed were asked what their reaction was to Boland's comments on the Project Veritas video.

"They consistently reported surprise or shock," Day Pitney said in the report. "Many also recalled feeling anger or disgust, and they characterized the comments as 'baseless,' 'bizarre,' 'ridiculous,' 'stupid,' 'weird,' 'terrible,' 'horrible,' 'disturbing,' 'very upsetting,' 'outrageous,' or even 'despicable.' Some interviewees reported feeling 'furious' or 'sick to my stomach' upon hearing the comments."

While descriptions of the hiring process for teachers and administrators were found to be fundamentally consistent across the interviews and in documents that were reviewed, Day Pitney did report "a few" outliers and inconsistencies.

For example, Day Pitney said it found some mistakes on Request To Hire (RTH) forms.

Additionally, the firm noted that beginning before 2017 and going through 2022, GPS practiced a policy in which notes and other written materials related to job interviews were shredded and discarded at the conclusion of interview committee deliberations.

The current chief human resources officer for the district has since implemented a new practice of systemically collecting and retaining all written materials relating to interview processes after an interview committee concludes its work, the report said.

Also, the report noted that a former employee contacted Day Pitney to voice concerns about hiring practices at GPS.

The person had filed a complaint of age discrimination with the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities (CT-CHRO) regarding her own employment history with GPS, and she believed age discrimination had occurred in connection with a particular GPS hire she was involved with, the report said.

"Nothing in our review suggested to us that the former employee’s concerns or the particular hiring process she highlighted were indicative of a pattern of age discrimination along the lines described by Mr. Boland," the report noted.

On Tuesday, Camillo said in an announcement about the results of the investigation that he was "relieved" to learn of the findings. He thanked the Day Pitney team for their work.

"It was an effort undertaken with the intent of finding out whether or not the incident in question was isolated or representative of a more systematic problem. I, like so many others, am relieved to see the findings did not uncover any widespread bias," Camillo said. "The people of Greenwich deserve to know that their school system, like all other parts of town government, is fair, impartial and effective in its missions. Let us move forward with this lesson in mind so that we may never have to request another investigation like this again in the future."

The town's independent investigation echoed the results of the school district's own investigation, which noted that Boland made false statements about discriminatory hiring practices, according to a report from Greenwich Time last month. The investigator suggested discipline or termination for Boland.

Inquiries into Boland and the school district were also launched by the Connecticut State Attorney General, the Connecticut Department of Education and the CT-CHRO.

Day Pitney said "some of these investigations are still ongoing" as of Aug. 22.

In a statement to Patch on Tuesday, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Toni Jones said the district has "fully cooperated" with the multiple inquiries.

"We quickly ensued an internal investigation by the GPS human resources department, while several other agencies did the same. Today, the town of Greenwich released their findings after months of investigating. We have submitted thousands of documents and coordinated individual interviews as requested by the investigation with current and former employees. We are grateful that the investigators worked with GPS staff on interview times which had minimal impact on educational disruption," Jones said.

"As a district, we continue to be very proud of the hard work our administrators, teachers, and entire staff have accomplished through the years to educate all students to the highest levels of academic achievement. We are looking forward to another outstanding school year for staff, students, and families."

To read the final report from Day Pitney's investigation, click here.