Politics & Government

School Committee Argument Reported to Police

Donald Quattrochio, newly elected to the Milford School Committee, has filed a police incident report following an argument with fellow board member Paul Mazzuchelli.

a newly elected School Committee member, reported to Milford police Sunday an incident in which he said Paul Mazzuchelli, another committee member, swore at him in "an action of intimidation" at a public meeting.

The incident occurred during the School Committee meeting Thursday, in a discussion of the upcoming budget, Quattrochio told police, according to the incident report. During the board discussion, Quattrochio stated, he was explaining the reasons why he felt the position of security director was a redundancy.

At that point, Mazzuchelli "exploded," Quattrochio told police, and "went off in a tirade of yelling and swearing" at him.

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"Quattrochio said that he told Mazzuchelli that he was out of line," the police report stated. Mazzuchelli then swore at him, using expletives several times, before stating "Let's go. Let's go right now."

The incident was witnessed by seven other people, including the Superintendent of Schools, Robert Tremblay, and five other elected School Committee members, Quattrochio said.

Find out what's happening in Milfordwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Quattrochio waited until Sunday to report the incident, he said, because he was waiting for an apology from Mazzuchelli. He told police he was not interested in pursuing the matter as a criminal offense.

On Monday, Quattrochio said he went to police because he wanted to document the incident. "I just felt like, if I go to make decisions, and voice my opinion, is this going to happen every time? There's no place for it."

The incident occurred during his second meeting as a School Committee member. Mazzuchelli is a six-year member.

"I wanted to make sure this was documented," Quattrochio said. "Therefore, if it ever happened again, I would have something to fall back on. To me, it was serious in nature."

Mazzuchelli, contacted Monday, admitted he swore at Quattrochio but never intended to intimidate him or anyone else. "Yes I did," he said, of the swearing. "It was out of frustration and emotion. If I hurt anyone's feelings, I do apologize for that."

Filing a police report over the incident was "not necessary," Mazzuchelli said.

The argument was not part of the televised School Committee meeting, because the discussion took place following an executive session, during a portion of the meeting when the board came back in to public session to vote on the proposed budget.

The position of security director, held by David Cutler, was eliminated following a 4-3 vote on a motion made by Quattrochio. Mazzuchelli said he became frustrated during the discussion because he couldn't get a good explanation about why the position was being cut.

Quattrochio said he explained his rationale, that the money could be directed to other needs, and not used for a position whose responsibilities could be assumed by the principal, guidance officers or the police officers in buildings.

The budget will go to , with the money for the security director position still intact.


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