New London — The attorney representing the Board of Education and its president in a lawsuit filed by onetime superintendent appointee Terrence P. Carter has asked a judge for more time to respond to Carter’s claims.

In a motion filed Tuesday in New London Superior Court, attorney Johanna G. Zelman of the Hartford law firm Rose Kallor LLP requested that a judge extend the deadline for the board and its president, Margaret Mary Curtin, to answer Carter’s complaint to Feb. 9, 2015.

“Additional time will be necessary to evaluate the plaintiff’s complaint and respond to same,” Zelman wrote.

On Wednesday, the city’s risk manager, Paul Gills, Law Director Jeffrey T. Londregan and other city and school officials were expected to meet to discuss the city’s defense strategy for the Carter lawsuit.

“We will pursue every and all options to defend the Board of Education and the city in this case,” Gills said during a presentation Monday to the City Council. “That may include alternative litigation to recover costs that the Board of Education and the city have incurred for that situation.”

Zelman advises “municipal employers in all aspects of labor and employment law and provides a defense to municipal corporations in civil rights and employment disputes,” according to her profile on the Rose Kallor website, which lists her as a graduate of Connecticut College.

Another attorney from the Rose Kallor firm, Michael Rose, is currently representing the city and suspended Police Chief Margaret Ackley in a lawsuit brought by Officer Todd Lynch.

Though Carter was unanimously appointed as superintendent in June, the Board of Education held off on ratifying his contract and ultimately rescinded its job offer to him amid revelations of plagiarism and academic misrepresentation.

Carter’s lawsuit, filed on his behalf by Uncasville attorney William McCoy, alleges that Curtin and the board breached an agreement that attorneys for both sides had negotiated.

In the suit, filed last month, Carter claims he suffered an economic loss of more than $15,000 when he resigned from his job in Chicago, put his home up for sale, relocated to New London, put his personal property in storage and purchased real estate in New London. The lawsuit lists a Preston address for Carter, but it was unclear Wednesday whether he owns that property.

In his suit, Carter argues that Curtin instructed him to sign the contract as a “pro forma matter” and told him that “she ‘had the votes’ to approve the agreement and that she would handle any issues with the approval of his compensation.”

c.young@theday.com

Twitter: @ColinAYoung