New London - Things have been so contentious among the four Democrats, two Republicans and one Green Party member on the New London Board of Education that the state may consider taking over the board's role in overseeing the school system.

And three Democratic members who are not running for re-election say the school board is so dysfunctional that the 3,000 public school students are suffering as a result.

Lol Fearon, bureau chief of Accountability and Improvement for the state Department of Education, attended the September board meeting and warned members to start working together. The state has recently taken over school districts in Bridgeport and Windham because of those towns' school board performances.

James Mitchell, the retired Groton superintendent of schools who has been assigned by the state to monitor the school system and attend school board meetings because of low test scores, called Fearon in to talk to the board. Neither could be reached to comment Monday.

Susan Connolly, a Democrat who has served on the board for six years, said partisan politics is preventing the seven-member board from functioning effectively and from addressing the needs of the district.

Republicans are micromanaging the district, according to Connolly and outgoing President Alvin Kinsall, who also is not seeking a fourth term. Fellow Democrat Louise Hanrahan, who is not seeking a second term, said board members are rude to one another and raise their voices at meetings.

"There's way too much politics on the board and it's created huge roadblocks to making progress,'' Hanrahan said.

But Jason Catala, one of two Republicans seeking re-election, said all he is doing is asking questions and demanding answers. "I don't think it's politics,'' he said. "If it's the right thing to do I'll support it, and if not, I don't. We ask a lot of questions.''

Catala alleges he is not allowed to put items on the agenda without permission from the board president and is prevented from asking questions at meetings.

Kinsall agreed with Hanrahan's assessment, saying there's too much political posturing for any work to get done. "I don't want to subject myself or my health to the political shenanigans in these meetings,'' he said.

Connolly alleged that during a special meeting Aug. 29, Catala spearheaded a motion to overturn a decision made by the superintendent. Overruling the superintendent's decision - which was about a request from a teacher to place her child in the school where she is assigned - violated school board policy, she said.

Superintendent Nicholas A. Fischer had denied the teacher's request, saying there was no room at the school. But the school board overturned that decision by a 4-3 vote when it learned there actually was room.

Hanrahan voted with Catala, Republican Barbara Major and Green Party member Ronna Stuller but would not explain Monday why she voted the way she did. Major said the district has accommodated similar requests by teachers in the past.

Also, according to Connolly, at an Aug. 18 meeting Catala sidetracked business by refusing to approve routine agenda items on what is known as the "consent agenda." On that same day, Major went home sick before the meeting was over and Connolly was taken away by ambulance after complaining of chest pain.

Catala, who served on the school board from 1997 to 2003 and was returned in 2009, said he believes the board in the past has not had sufficient oversight over Fischer.

"This board has given him the run of things,'' Catala said. "They don't call him on anything. I think they're starting to feel the pressure."

Major, who is also seeking a second term, said the board has done some good work and the superintendent has had some successes - he's gotten rid of some inferior teachers and demanded more accountability, she said.

The board also adopted a literacy program, the first of its kind in the state. New curriculum was approved and a policy on teacher evaluations was finished, she said.

But, she added, she should not have to beg to have the meetings on public access television, to look at the budget or to review monthly expenditures. She said meeting agendas are available on Sundays, when board policy says they should be available on Fridays.

Connolly said there are a lot "mini-me superintendents running around.''

Major admits that she sometimes gets intimately involved in school business.

"In a way, I do try to micromanage,'' she said. "But I have to do what I believe in."

k.edgecomb@theday.com