Claws Come Out at Bloomfield BOE Meeting

It was a war of words at Tuesday night's Board of Education (BOE) meeting, which included a teary explanation and last-minute mudslinging on the eve of school election day.

Catherine (Catzel) Bumpus, one of gunning for three spots on the BOE in Wednesday's election, took to the podium to publicly defend as an "honest and innocent mistake."

"[The newsletter] was certainly not used as propaganda, as has been suggested," said Bumpus.

The legality - and ethicality - of Bumpus' campaigning tactics were questioned at the April 12 BOE meeting - particularly by opposing candidate Joel Rosen - after her photo and a small blurb appeared in the school newsletter, distributed by the Home & Schools Association.

Bumpus also addressed allegations she used children to advance her own "political" campaign, as printed in a mailer distributed by candidates Rosen, Joann Castro and Susan Wolf, the lone incumbent in the race.

"First of all, this is not a political campaign," she said. "I dare anyone who does not even know me to judge my heart or call my personal integrity into question."

The mailers, emblazoned with the call-to-action message "Vote to keep politics out of our schools," were mailed to Bloomfield homes late last week. Resident Jen Vigna called the trio's campaigning practices inappropriate and said she was barraged with six mailers on Good Friday.

"I was wondering if … you and your team thought it was appropriate to [have it] appear as a photocopy of an article from a fake newspaper called Bloomfield News?" Vigna asked Wolf.

"I'm not answering any questions," Wolf said.

One of the mailers distributed by Wolf, Castro and Rosen features a glossy spread slamming opponents Emily Smith and Bumpus, who are running on the same ticket as the Building Excellent Schools Together (BEST) Team with Paula Zaccone. Under the header "A record to be proud of?", Smith's former term as a BOE member is scrutinized via bullet points, while Bumpus is featured on the front page with the headline "Candidate violates school board ethics & campaign finance laws."

"That piece of crap that went home in everybody's mailbox was hideous," said one resident with ties to Franklin Elementary School. "You should be ashamed of yourselves."

Polls in Bloomfield are open Wednesday from 1-9 p.m. for Bloomfield Patch's one-stop voters' guide for information on polling places, candidates and the proposed budget.