About 60 emails, sent to the Board of Estimate and Taxation and the school board, stood out as fishy, officials said, because of repeated phrases, common email address structures and odd punctuation.
And each and every one the messages asked that town officials oppose rebuilding the broken geothermal heating and cooling system at Hamilton Avenue School.
"After reviewing the emails, it was obvious that either a team or individual is creating Gmail accounts and tweaking the emails, as many of them utilize the same phrases and words," Superintendent of Schools Toni Jones wrote to the school board on Feb. 26.
The geothermal system at Hamilton Avenue School has been a source of drama since it broke down in 2023, after years of misuse. The school board, after considering repairing or replacing the system, voted to refurbish it earlier this month, but the $5.25 million project still needs approval from the BET.
Jones said all of the emails came from Gmail addresses with a first and last name followed by numbers, which is "not customary for the volume of emails to all have the same provider and structure."
Jones called these "fake emails" and said, after talking with the school district's tech team, that the messages could have been created manually or with help from a bot or artificial intelligence program.
The tactic of fabricating support, known as "astroturfing," is used to make a movement or idea seem more popular than it is in reality. Allegations of manufactured grassroots enthusiasm — in politics and public relations — are common and creating phony support online is easy in the digital age.
BET members also addressed the strange emails, as they were the primary recipients, during a meeting on Feb. 25. Members, particularly the board's six Democrats, said clogging their communications with false emails obscures messages from real residents with real concerns.
"This is malicious and it's interfering with our business," Democrat Scott Kalb said.
Officials took special notice on the afternoon of Feb. 26 when an email from Paul Cappiali arrived in the school board's inbox.
Cappiali, a Republican, was appointed to fill a vacant seat on the school board by First Selectman Fred Camillo and the Board of Selectmen in October, but he has been blocked from participating because the school board appointed their own person to the seat. A legal battle over who can sit in the vacant seat is now pending in court.
Cappiali's email went to Dawn Wistrand, PTA president at Hamilton Avenue School, but it was also sent to the school board, which made it a public record.
The email Cappiali sent was written in opposition of the geothermal project, but the bottom of the email was signed by Wistrand, not Cappiali. Wistrand did not respond to a request for comment on this story.
Cappiali said he sent it to the school board in error and that he was helping Wistrand draft a letter expressing her position. He said he had seen the other emails opposing the geothermal project and was working with Wistrand to add her voice to other concerned residents.
Cappiali said he did not know where the allegedly phony emails may be coming from and that he was not aware of how many emails were coming in, so he was not suspicious of them.
"I've gotten some of those but I thought they were real," he said on Feb. 26. "The fact that other people think they're fake is interesting. Maybe they are fake. ... There are people in Chickahominy that feel the way that these emails are displaying, but any more than that, I don't know."
Some of the language in Cappiali's email to Wistrand is identical to what appears in other emails sent to the board that have been flagged as suspicious.
One email, sent on Feb. 22, claims to be from a staff member at Hamilton Avenue School using a false email address to avoid retaliation for speaking out. Both this email and Cappiali's email use the phrase, "reinvesting in a system that has already failed — rather than installing a guaranteed solution — is not only irresponsible but insulting."
Both emails also include the sentences, "This is not equity. This is neglect" as well as the using the same opening sentence; both refer to continued use of the geothermal system as "an experiment."
Cappiali said he used language he found in one of the emails "as a foundation" of the draft he was working on with Wistrand and that his goal was to ensure all stakeholders had a voice in the geothermal discussion.
Cappiali currently serves as the town's harbormaster. He was a candidate for the 150th state House district last year, but he lost that race.
Jones said the district has only received one email about the geothermal issue, outside of the allegedly phony messages.
"There has been no PTA or any other entity reaching out with concerns," she wrote on Feb. 26. "We have not heard from GEA (Greenwich Education Association, the teacher's union) who would reach out if staff were concerned."
The BET will consider the $5.25 million request to rebuild the geothermal system, and all other elements of the town's $523 million budget proposal, in the coming months.
If the geothermal spending survives the BET, it will need final approval from the RTM in May.
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