Lib Brassil Spinella and Diane Mudge brought forward the motion, which called for the hiring of outside legal counsel experienced in arguing 14th Amendment cases before the Supreme Court by Oct. 30 in order to fight the state's racial imbalance statute.

The statute states that the proportion of racial minorities in schools must mirror that of the district as a whole, and that if it does not, the district must create a plan to correct the imbalance.

West Hartford has struggled with racial imbalance since the 1990s and redistricted starting in the 1994-95 school year, among other measures, but failed to correct the imbalance. The district average of minority students is 36 percent, officials said in May, but at Smith School of Math, Science and Technology, 70 percent of students are minorities, and at Charter Oak Academy of Global Studies, 80 percent of students are minorities.

Schools that exceed 25 percentage points above or below the average for the district are considered out of compliance.
Spinella, who is seeking re-election this fall, said that though the motion was related to the constitutionality of the statute, it was more about taking action on the issue.
"We need to have that discussion, debate and vote," she said.

Democrats said that, while none of them likes the statute, the motion was politically motivated and that hiring expensive outside counsel in a year where money is tight was wrongheaded. They also said that since the state is not forcing the district to comply with the statute, but merely asking that another plan be implemented in two years' time, there was no pressing need to hire lawyers immediately.

"Your motion feels like a temper tantrum," said Democrat Bruce Putterman. "It feels like how a child would react."
Democrat Harry Captain offered an amendment, which passed, to request that in-house lawyers research legal options for fighting the state statute. All five Democrats voted for it, Mudge voted against it, and Spinella abstained.