State Agency: Logo Misused In Newtown School Move
(AP) A state agency has told a Bridgeport business owner who coordinated the relocation of equipment from the Sandy Hook school where 26 people were fatally shot that it misused its logo and asked him to stop.
The Hearst Connecticut Media Group reports that Al Barbarotta of Conveo Energy was approached by the Malloy administration in December to coordinate relocating school equipment from Sandy Hook Elementary School free of charge.
The contents of the school were moved to a renovated former middle school in nearby Monroe, where SHES children have been attending classes since January. The Sandy Hook Elementary School building, where 20 children and six educators were fatally shot 12/14, remains closed.
Dennis Schain, a spokesman for the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, told The Associated Press on Friday, September 13, that a lawyer for the state told Mr Barbarotta the agency’s logo may not be used for sales or marketing.
Ron Bienkowski, the school district’s business director, said Mr Barbarotta’s sales pitch was heavy-handed, including warnings of fines over air-quality rules.
“I didn’t like their marketing style, because they were very threatening,” he said.
He provided information about a service that can save schools money while complying with new state energy-efficiency rules for school furnaces and lighting, he said.
“We don’t see it as sales,” he said.
Mr Barbarotta described his two weeks working on the move from the school as “one of the most horrendous things in my life.”
“This is something I never intended on promoting there with my brother and my company,” he said. “We were working for free I don’t understand why it’s a bad thing.”