Norwich ― The Board of Education will meet behind closed doors Tuesday to discuss the work climate study ordered by the board amid allegations that Superintendent Kristen Stringfellow and Assistant Superintendent Tamara Gloster foster a hostile work environment.

Republican board members Heather Fowler, Christine Distasio and James Paulsen requested the meeting to discuss concerns about the climate study and complaints of an alleged hostile working environment, Fowler said Thursday evening.

A notice of the meeting, to be held at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Kelly Middle School, was posted Thursday evening but no agenda will be posted untill Monday, board Chairman Robert Aldi said Friday.

The three Republicans said they do not want to wait until late October or early November to receive a consultant’s report on workplace environment issues.

Aldi said he could not divulge the agenda items prior to the agenda being posted, but said the board will discuss personnel issues in executive session.

School district spokeswoman Zakkyya Williams said Stringfellow and Gloster have not been informed about the board’s intentions for the special meeting Tuesday and would not have a comment on it.

Previously, Stringfellow said she looks forward to participating in the climate study and the plan moving forward.

As word spread of the special meeting Thursday night, critics of the school system started organizing a rally via Facebook posts for 6 p.m. outside Kelly Middle School.

The meeting comes as an outside consultant, School Climate Consultants of Glastonbury, hired by the school board in August, is set to begin its investigation into the working climate and culture in the school system. The board selected the firm to interview current and former staff regarding complaints about the working environment and allegations that Stringfellow and Gloster lead by intimidation and fear.

Paulsen, appointed to the board in July to fill a vacancy, said the board cannot wait for the consultant’s report, due in early November just shy of the Nov. 7 local elections, to address pressing issues regarding the administrators.

“We have kids starting this week, and parents, teachers and administrators are upset,” Paulsen said. “I think we should not wait until November.”

Fowler and Distasio agreed and said the school climate complaints should not become an election issue. Distasio said she had hoped the external investigation would be further along by now.

She said the board could turn over information to be discussed Tuesday to the consultant.

“It’s dragging out longer than I had wanted,” Distasio said. “I want to see some action. I don’t want to see it dragged out. It has nothing to do with the election. We just want to see it get done.”

One specific topic board members said they are concerned about is the recent settlement of a grievance filed by Peter Fragola, principal of the Samuel Huntington School. The grievance was withdrawn and a memorandum of understanding reached hours before the school board was scheduled to hear Fragola’s grievance in a closed-door hearing.

The Day received copies of Fragola’s grievance in which he challenged an allegation he had engaged in workplace harassment and intimidation against a staff member. Fragola and the Norwich School Administrators’ Association, the administrators’ union, called the discipline, a written reprimand placed in Fragola’s personnel file, as “unjustified” and “without just cause.”

Stringfellow denied his grievance, countering in her report that Fragola’s testimony in his appeal was not credible based on interviews and school video footage.

The memorandum of understanding reached Aug. 23 prior to the school board meeting that night, called for Stringfellow to rescind the discipline in exchange for the union withdrawing the grievance.

“The result we received in late August was the result we were looking for in early May, when this was presented to Dr. Stringfellow at the superintendent level,” Frances G. DiFiore, co-president of the Connecticut Federation of School Administrators, the parent of the Norwich administrators’ union.

Former Huntington Assistant Principal Susan Johnston, who submitted her resignation in March effective June 30, sent two letters to the Board of Education complaining about Stringfellow’s and Gloster’s leadership. In a phone interview with The Day Thursday, Johnson said the allegations against Fragola were false.

“They made some egregious accusations against him,” Johnston said. “We knew it wasn’t true. Didn’t happen.”

Fragola on Friday declined to comment on the grievance issues.

“I am honored to work with such wonderful students, families, teachers and faculty at Huntington Elementary School,” Fragola wrote in a statement. “My focus continues to be on supporting the well-being and education of the students and staff in my building.”

Both the Norwich Teachers League and the administrators’ union, acting through their parent organizations, have conducted confidential surveys of current and former union members on the workplace environment in Norwich Public Schools.

The Connecticut Education Association presented its teachers survey findings to the Board of Education in July, when the school board voted to delay a written evaluation of Stringfellow and hire an outside consulting firm. That vote came two months after the board had voted in May to give Stringfellow an oral favorable evaluation and a contract extension.

In the exit survey of former teachers, 95% of respondents disagreed or strongly disagreed with a statement: “The superintendent created an environment where certified staff felt comfortable expressing their views or disagreement without fear of retaliation by the superintendent.”

In a survey of current teachers, 96.11% agreed or strongly agreed with a statement: “Teachers are fearful of retaliation by the superintendent if they express disagreement with her.”

The administrators’ union surveys of current and former members have not been made public. DiFiore said both the Norwich Administrators Association and the parent CFSA are concerned about the 44% turnover of Norwich administrators in the last three years.

“We intend to share the results with the School Climate Consultants of Glastonbury and Dr. Stringfellow to address concerns that were brought up by past and present members,” DiFiore wrote in an email in response to questions about the Norwich schools working climate.

c.bessette@theday.com