001chris taylor john weldon president and joe lombard president sir thank you okay we're going to rise from pledge of allegiance i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which he stands one nation under god indivisible with liberty and justice before we start the meeting please okay i don't find privilege because i have a we have three people we um passed away and i know we'd have time to recognize these people the name for the first one was leola john she was the parent president of player school she passed away june 26 the second person was jaime colon rivera he passed away september 20 2021 he was a driver for the school bus for christmas school also we have uh that we everybody know a student from
002strength high school his name is james hayden i'd like to have admitted silence for these three people amazing people they do a lot of job and they work very hard for our christmas school please i need a minute for signing for the for that piece okay okay thank you for that thank you i have one as well i am a point of personal privilege if we can just give our students a round of applause for joining us for our first their first meeting in a very long time [Applause] we hope you guys learned a lot thank you for joining so we have approval of four minutes this is the regular meeting of august 23rd approving those minutes okay any edits all in favor aye aye are you opposed abstain mrs martinez abstains second is the
003special meeting of august 23rd 2021 is there a motion to approve second moved by mr benahan second by ms allen any edits all in favor aye aye thanks dean mrs martinez abstains last special meeting on september 15 2021 their motion to approve martinez and mr lombard abstain chairman's report i'm going to start off by acknowledging our student representatives here um as i say your name i'd like you to stand up so we can all see who you are um from basic high school today we have ruth cruz [Music] [Applause] from bridgeport military academy angel serrano [Applause] from fairchild wheeler arrow we have alina khan and dashanelle holmes [Applause] and for fairchild wheeler i.t we have avery fletcher and michael hemmings okay um there are representatives also at central high school fairchild wheeler bio and harding
004uh and one other at basic who is not here tonight uh whenever they next come here we'll we'll recognize their presence as well [Applause] you do it's not marked off here which one the latisha okay [Applause] so the point of you guys being here is to see how this process works at this level i hope you learn a lot this year we'll look to you for your thoughts in what you think of some of the things we deliberate here and um maybe some of the things that uh you say will sway a vote so pay attention enjoy and and and learn a lot from this process the next item is a staff recognition mr gustafson are you here so i'm just gonna kind of briefly uh describe it i don't i don't uh presume to
005describe it as well as i think you would but uh for anyone who's not aware in the week before school reconvened uh mr gustafsson did the usual uh email blasts phone blasts reminding people that you know it's time to come back to school and encouraging them to be on time and he got a unusual response from one of his family's parents explaining that you know they had gone to afghanistan to visit family earlier in the summer and as we all know in the latter part of august conditions in kabul deteriorated very rapidly and they were not sure if they were going to be back on time or if they'd be back at all this spurred a chain of events that's a little complex to try to describe but mr gustafsson found himself in the position
006of playing an instrument an integral part in facilitating communication between this family in kabul and special ops forces that were working to try to extract them and so over the course of the last week in august it was a very tense time there were phone calls and text messages at all hours of the day and night and through mr gustafsson's efforts this family was able to make it home to bridgeward safe and sound all together and in one piece so i'm going to read this presented presented to brett gustafson principal james j curial school in bridgeport connecticut in recognition of service above and beyond that which is expected of the position of school principle during the week of august 22 to 28 2021 through actions taken to facilitate the rescue and return to the united
007states of a curiale school family trapped under fire in kabul afghanistan your dedication to your students and families is a source of great pride to bridgeport public schools and is the epitome of the district's slogan every kid every day presented by the board of education [Applause] you look like you'd like to say something um i'll be very very sure i just want to introduce you to the maseri family who were stuck in afghanistan um and that brings me such joy to have them here back at curiel school and um just thank you so much for this but it's even more important to me so [Applause] we're going to take a little picture okay thank you that concludes the chairman's report uh next on the agenda committee reports and referrals i don't think many if any
008committees have really met maybe one or two ad hoc district-wide branding initiative um there's no report but we will be meeting um next month on the 20th um location to be determined time is fixed in my career so contracts committee uh contracts committee met this past week we have a couple of items that are on the agenda this evening uh one is an issuance of an rfp and two are contract awards we'll deal with those later on tonight are there any referrals okay educational diversity equity and inclusion we have not met um but as i prepared to depart i would like to have one last meeting and maybe we can put together a commitment statement i'll talk to joe about that okay facilities is going to meet on october 4th we're going to have a
009presentation from the facilities department about the work they did to open schools this year over the summer any referrals for facilities let's make the chair i still not how many this time this meeting i can have um mr greg you know the facility you know come to talk about security i know i'm still waiting for that for a few months so i hope they can show up for this committee mr chair i have a referral um after having many conversations with some teachers i know this has been a topic in the past and i'm uncertain of what the solution would be there are a few ideas but i would like to discuss at facilities how we can either fix the heat in the school during summer hours or start in a different time of the
010school year the learning environment is just not conducive for the children and it's not good for teachers so um i would like to have a good conversation i will be there and see how we can you know fix this because they they can't learn or teach in 90 95 plus you know okay degrees in the classroom thank you finance the financement last um last week got a couple items coming up on the agenda so i won't go into a full report okay next meeting will be october 13 2021 at central 6 pm any referrals okay governance governance is scheduled to meet on october 4th um we have one item that we'll be discussing and that is um newly revised student handbook is that correct yes any referrals personnel met a couple of weeks ago made
011some recommendations to mr testani about a couple of principal positions do you want to announce what they were sure so the new principal at park city magnet is deanna chuca happy to announce and deanna has begun last week in her new role as principal she was an assistant principal in naugatuck for 12 years prior to coming to bridgeport and new assistant principal who will be starting next week at fairchild wheeler uh mr michael kennedy he is a seasoned nine-year veteran science teacher and he's coming from fairfield public schools here today all right students and families student family we meet on september 23rd um five o'clock in central high school in the library if you all see my agenda was very long because we was behind a few items for two months on before we go
012vacation but everything was very clear we're gonna meet the next time october 2020 on october 21 2021. oh cool and i will have a question later about this situation about my eye related to the destiny hence report okay any referrals teaching and learning yeah teaching and learning committee met tuesday as well um some good news is we got we're able to reduce uh out of district placements by significant numbers of eight by eight which if everybody's been following us for a long time that hasn't happened in a very very long time but we're also catching up on the backlog of ieps caused by covert which is pretty good staffing is still an issue because we can't pay our staff to compete and we're always going to be short-handed until we as a district get enough
013funding to adequately fund our schools and pay our teachers what they deserve next meeting will be tuesday october 19th 2021 at 6 pm at central library and we also got some items coming up on later in the agenda okay your referral now that we've gotten a little ways into this meeting we have a new system here are you all able to hear us pretty well yeah okay good job all right superintendent's report mr testament thank you um several items uh i'd like to start with a few items of concern as we open the school year um i've worked over the last several months with our police chief garcia there's been some losses to the sro division based on sergeant being reassigned to the training academy who's been an integral part of leading the sro initiative
014over the last several years which has been extremely successful in being able to support students and families our sros did an amazing job throughout the pandemic delivering food work packets to families helping locate and engage re-engage families and students that were on remote that division has been decimated and it's an area of concern right now we are having additional discussions um and how we can repair and and really move forward for the start of the school year now that we're a month in uh there's been a lack of communication from that division that had never um occurred before uh under the new leadership and it's just going to be a matter of time before there's a breakdown and possibility of a child being injured so that is an area of concern that i have raised
015with the city and also been the police chief and i just want to bring that to the board's attention as well um a couple other things that were mentioned by mr sokolovics there are some staffing concerns in the areas of paraprofessionals as much as we've tried to close the gap in hiring over the last several weeks hr's been extremely busy on boarding uh 30 new pair of professionals we are also experiencing some issues when it comes to teachers we have about 55 teacher vacancies currently a number in the area of special education which is extremely concerning i've had some conversations with the state department of education on some ways that we can help rectify the issue there has been no solution offered and there are some some constraints as to being how we could be
016creative in trying to fill these vacancies at least with a certified teacher rather than a a revolving door of substitutes so if by the end of next week a solution is not presented by the state department of ed we may need to just take matters into our own hands to try to ensure that at least a certified educator is in front of children and not a substitute support staff are even more concerning when areas of speech and language pathology and school psychologists so we are working extremely hard with agencies in those areas to try to fulfill and contract out and this is also true for our school nurses so i will update you at every board meeting until these uh issues have been resolved but there is no stone that we haven't tried to unturn
017in order to fill these vacancies to make sure that we have high quality folks in front of our kids as mr sokolovic mentioned in terms of being able to retain we lost a significant number of folks to other districts simply because of economics this is more than just a matter of funding the school district adequately i think there needs to be a solution not only here in bridgeport and the other urban towns but also the rural towns who are being pillaged by the suburbans who are able to be more competitive in their salary and benefit packages so i have reached out to senator uh senator chris murphy's office jim heims's office i've spoken to senator marilyn moore uh representative philippe we are trying to gather some support with this cea but there's been a little
018bit of a roadblock from the teachers union statewide perspective since they represent teachers across all districts so um i i'm going to continue to reach out until a solution is found i have a couple of ideas that i think will be viable solutions to this problem but we have a an average of 10 000 difference and teachers pay across the entire salary schedule it's become more and more evident that we are going to continue to lose educators 40 of our teaching staff our certified staff are in their first six years what were some of those can you share any of those ideas well i think the probably the best and easiest solution is direct payments to teachers similar to loan forgiveness on student loans if you work in an urban district upon graduation you're able
019to verify that you work in an urban district or an alliance district a direct payment twice a year four times a year however government would like to do this directly to teachers in in the amount of ten thousand dollars um it would be extremely helpful rather than if there's a distrust that it comes into the budget and over time we'll try to supplant or eliminate positions to cover money somewhere else so i don't care how they do it i think it needs to be done desperately the other discussion we've been having and i've also teamed up with another vocal uh school leader and dr steve perry from capitol prep and trying to find a more conducive way to recruit and transition folks that could be teachers uh and educators into the profession um you know
020we we all know of and can identify para educators coaches and other folks that can teach but the barriers to certification are just too great and we're the only ones that are conforming because we receive state and federal dollars whereas these folks can go and they do go and teach at catholic and private schools without any issues um so i think it's a two-pronged approach trying to increase the pipeline into our cities and rural towns the alliance districts of certified educators but also then in in order to retain top talent when you have 40 of a large teaching staff in their first six years and then another 32 at the top step that just tells you that in the 10 steps in between uh it's only thirty percent of our staff so it's a little
021less than thirty percent so is that something legislatively working on as far as certification exceptions for inner city schools well that's that's the plan we're trying to put together some exceptions some some easier routes i mean there are folks that want to teach that may be our change of career and um because of some of the barriers in terms of what is needed to become certified it's just too difficult for them to take the time at you know at that stage in their lives to go back and get another master's degree so um you know we're trying to come up with some creative solutions to present to the state department of ed that they could consider especially when when we're facing such a challenge here thank you um the welcome center as everyone knows was
022opened in early october uh we've we've registered and uh over 400 families have come through in less than two months early september october is this week october's in the future i'm sorry i'm russian so in less than two months we've serviced over 400 students and their families have come through the center uh we are also toying with the idea of becoming just a a one-stop registration for all families in bridgeport but that's going to take a little bit more planning we did not face uh some of the anticipated transportation issues that have been talked about a lot on the news we do have some transportation issues that we transport has been working out nothing out of the ordinary to the normal start of school whereas some districts are really having some challenges so i give
023a lot of credit to the folks that we transport uh student success day is october 6th that will be district-wide where students will be working on their student success plans and also that that will be um all students across the district will be working similar to what we did a day of coding last year which we're hoping to do again through the lieutenant governor's office the student success day is october 6th uh read a loud day in our district as much as people thought it would go away it is alive and well uh october 20th is read aloud day so if any of you folks are interested in reading to a class please reach out to joyce in carly's office and she will get you an assignment to read in a classroom on october 20.
024uh september is uh each month as i sent out earlier to the board each month is a different theme for social emotional learning september has been respect and goal setting and october will be anti-bullying we will also make sure that the board receives the monthly newsletter that lynn has issued so far for september and will issue monthly coming from the office of seo if you haven't been over to tisdale school as a result of the unfortunate incident that occurred early in the summer where the student young folks that were playing baseball at newfield park in the newfield park baseball league that's run by wesley payne uh experienced an act of violence uh i just want to give some credit out to a good friend of mine from urbani landscape and nick and mike from eminem
025fencing in conjunction with craig drizny who built the new baseball diamond over at uh tisdale school for the little uh little leaguers to be able to participate in a more in a safer environment they are now in their third month in uh participating in the baseball field that was all done free of charge uh donated time donated machinery from like i said uh nick from urbani landscaping uh who is a good friend of mine and uh mike from eminem fencing who mr garcia um tapped on the shoulder and was more than healthy um more than uh helpful in in the process so um in terms of we just negotiated a teacher incentive uh attendance incentive for the year with the bea uh to incentivize those teachers that through the pandemic will continue to have impeccable
026uh attendance over the course of this school year so there is a first semester second semester incentive where teachers if uh with perfect attendance can earn up to 2 250 additional for the school year uh it is broken into two halves of the year so you may not qualify in one but you could qualify in the second if your attendance is not exceeds four days or more in the first semester you will not be qualified for the incentive in the second semester so we're really trying to provide some incentive for teachers who do come regardless of pandemic or snow whatever the case may be their dedication to our students is impeccable a couple of updates from facilities because i know it's been we are ready on a friday to receive phase one of our air
027purification uh units so many of you have heard or received emails we have installed almost every cafeteria is completed a couple more days we'll have them all done there are air purifiers that have been installed in all the cafeterias in all our schools on friday we will receive our first shipment of the classroom air purification systems that's about 700 the remaining units for our classrooms will be received on october 6th that's the anticipated date and then phase three um our all the offices in the district will be uh outfitted over the course of the week or two after that so we should have air purification systems installed in every classroom office and cafeteria sometime by mid-august i mean mid-october i'm sorry we are looking to there's some lead time out and putting water filling stations
028first at our high school so students can fill up water bottles throughout the day and have cold drinking water um since covet we've had the water fountain shut down and then we will look to once do we we get an idea of what work is uh it takes to retrofit our current um water stations for the filling stations we'll begin to uh work backwards on our newer buildings in our elementary all the way through until they're all completed and last but not least i just want to raise uh everyone's attention we've had a couple of um incidents of vandalism as we in regards to some of this tick-tock challenges that are being put out on tick tock i'm sure the high school young ladies and young men know what i'm talking about we haven't experienced
029anything like some of our neighboring districts have but i just want to caution everyone that um these are disruptive to the school day and they cost and have a a cost that is incurred when we have to replace uh damages that are done within our bathrooms and other parts of the building so please as you see and you know just encourage your classmates um that this these tick tock talent challenges are not uh anything that's going to result in anything positive for them or for the and um i'm just happy to report today uh the governor's uh vaccine mandate kicked in and um to a pleasant surprise we had 85 of our bus drivers our fully vaccinated and 10 more do have one shot and are anticipated to receive this the next and the next
030so we will be at almost 95 96 compliance with our bus drivers and the rest of our staff as of today only 354 folks are in testing protocol 128 of those will drop off in the next few weeks because they've either received one shot or both shots and are waiting full vaccination so um this is just a testament to the folks here in the bridgeport public schools and their commitment to keeping not only themselves but their students and their families safe and that will conclude my report for tonight okay any questions yeah good quick question about the well-deserved teacher incentives approximate costs and essa funds yes esther funds approximate cost unknown based on history not a huge amount um i think last year with perfect attendance we had 31 teachers total with perfect attendance if
031we went by the threshold here it probably would have included about another 130 so the cost is minimal unless um the impact is great but it'll be worth every penny have some um gotta count the beans now yes absolutely thank you okay yeah thank you uh mr sunny i have a few things to tell you and i know you said something all the police um i know we don't have um sro you know around and sometimes we need it i know before you correct me if i'm run that we have before 15. now we have like a five and um we had 15 at one time last year we had nine and right now we have allegedly i have not really seen the impact we have three assigned three and what i know we can
032bring into the facility meeting the way we talk about that but let's try to try to have those police officers back because you know situations happen less than one minute they can happen we don't want the students of staff or parents nothing happened they don't want later they say although education this is the kitchen for when they remove it so i just want to let you know for the record that we have to try to see we can bring the sro back because they are the one you know sometimes if they see they then he signed at the time they get a website look at what happened at central high school 26 minutes unless one minute something can happen we cannot be waiting for that our case is repriority that's why we're here you know
033our staff parents so we need to work with that because we don't want like i said they said border catcher this is the board the kitchen's fault so i just want to bring it to you so because it's our case i figured everyone but you know i understand the unfortunate part is i cannot assign police officers that's the the job and right now she has uh not prioritized that as um a priority and she's trying to cover shifts apparently on the on patrol so i will keep asking i'll keep uh requesting but there's really not much we can do beyond that all right other thing that i was the other day um friday i was in tuesday school and have on some parents with vpt it was amazing meeting amazing staff very professional but i'm
034worried about the crossing the crossing guard not crossing the crossing there if you see front of the school there's no cameras people they don't stop the stop sign i stop i stay there for 45 minutes they don't care who's crossing and i take my time crossing the street and people passing this to me like i don't care and there's no camera something happened because the cameras focus for the school they don't focus to the street so something happened you know it's something i know maybe we can talk in a facility or something like that or not just let you know because i was there and there's no camera for the for the police officers outside on a pole in the camera for the school focus for the school not for the streets something happened is
035that everything i was at tisdale this morning i i see exactly what you're you're speaking about i'm not sure that there's not a camera a city camera somewhere you could ask lieutenant grecky would know so there could be a camera somewhere i've walked the whole position on the cameras so i just want to let you to let you know also me to stand you know to see my agenda and i'm going to talk something brief and i'm going to give you the question about the pagan pta so i was a former ptso ambassador high school for four years you know what i went through and i fight to the end and i never give up because my parents need me my staff me right only three more members from here that help me and tell
036me to support me a lot that was miss martinez mr joe suckler and the former mr um turn on they always support me because you know they want to remove me that a lot of things happen my question for you is what we're gonna do to be sure all this packing pts or leaders they do the job they work they work very very well communication with the principals in this new staff they have to follow protocol and you know on the policy we understand that they will do it but if they when the parents the leaders feel not welcome feel they don't want to work together they don't want to work with the principal whoever's in charge of the building what we're going to do because i know from you you say that leave the
037packing ptso do the job let them know the principle of the date and let's work together you know very nice very successful so i'm working with that because i had the experience and you know that what i went through you know what they're trying to do but thanks to my parents and the three members i told you they helped me to support me to be sure i'm there for my parents so when i go in the pack leader call me because i know what they're going through trying to work very nice you know to you know okay together a great communication but if there is no communication or not all with the pac and ptsd on the school what we're gonna do you know so we do have a new protocol it's a policy they
038understand they will follow but we need to support them because mr destani you know that they give free time the value of time to be there for our parents and the staff they want the best so we need to respect that we need to value that so cartoony you are let them know let's work together and you know everybody in the same page we have two dedicated staff members that are there to support um when most recently that when a complaint was made by one of the pac uh presidents i personally went out to the school and there are some inconsistencies to stories that's why i went personally to make sure i can resolve the problem uh it's it's gonna be a process i think that our principals want to work with our parent leaders
039there's not a principal in the district that does not want to do that i think just like any relationship it takes time to develop you know there are going to be new leaders i'm sure this year especially after the year that was the colvin year i think it's important that we just give it some time allow parents and principals to develop that relationship and um you know communication is a is a two-way street so we have to ensure that not only our principles communicating with parents but our parents are communicating appropriately uh with principals because let's face it i see a great principal sitting in the front row and a great parent leader right next and that's a partnership that's developed over time um and if if the parent leader has an issue or the
040principal has an issue they're going to talk to each other they're not going to feel as if they have to go around and go to an uh a third party if that's the last resort i understand but that can't be the first reason because then that relationship i understand it's a process but i told my leaders you talk with the principal he's the principal he's in charge of the building if you think you're not happy that's why we have superintendent of the school correct very simple though well and i'm sorry this is not a topic that i should harp on but i think also proper training for parents i think if they understand sure their role and and what they shouldn't shouldn't be doing or that that's a true partnership with principals and teachers they're
041not the owners of the building they are not to go in there you know and disrupt or dictate they should be partners it's all a help you know um but i think that the partnership is incredible it's been incredible for us all of our parents that's why they're trying to do uh and so when you get properly trained or the parent leadership institution is incredible plt i am a graduate you're a graduate it's an incredible situation it's empowering for parents um and also mr destani just to let you know for the record that i have to say thank you to dr jenkins dr morgan dr black and mr planet for always help me with the parents when it's a process if something happen in any situation you know i will call you email you i'd
042like to say thank you so much for helping my parents you guys are amazing and we assume you know happy to have you and you know you resolve the problems for my parents i really appreciate that so much thank you so much okay that's the chair no more question scholarly did you have them no i was just going to ask if we could check in with our student reps to see if they had anything oh they do they're prepared right lolly okay did you have your hand up yeah my question was for mrs hastani i know that we are we have transitioned into this new school year i know we did surveys um to to figure out what was going on with parents and students and stuff like that has there been any talk of
043the new transition with everyone now that we're back into school and is there any updates on that um parents need support children need support any of that that yeah we've been working through some i guess sensitive issues where there are some safety concerns um they have not been widespread i can say that there are some parents that have had some concerns regarding sending children back to school i think overall we've been able to work through most of those concerns and try to ease parents anxiety it's a difficult time the news doesn't help us and what's being reported uh on the news and i think some of the information that's put out on social media doesn't um doesn't help situations but i can tell you it's been great to see students back in the building this
044morning at central high school i started my day seeing kids come in then over to dunbar and tisdale and it seems like you know kids are happy to be back and as you can see from our staffing vaccination rates that that has really eased their minds that they can come to work and be able to provide teaching learning and support to their students without having to worry about some of the things that they they obviously have to worry about pre-vaccination awesome and um just to add to is pi it was something i was going to talk about with the district-wide branding committee um i know that a lot of parents really were supported um via via the um survey but also from your your you know hopping on facebook and addressing them is that something
045that and i know you're busy it doesn't have to be every every week but is there something where we can see you yes and see parents because it was a good opportunity for them to ask the questions that they may not show up to a meeting to act so starting in october we will begin a weekly initially weekly and then see as necessary facebook live interactions with the superintendent again perfect thank you that's all my questions also mean this is stunning today um um john winter school to have an open house uh the staff was there the principal was there the pack presses then it was amazing a lot of parents show up so it was very turned out today before i come to the meeting it was good it was it was very nice
046okay do you folks have anything you'd like to talk about come on guys we ready for your question let's go um turn your mics on press the button i didn't have anything yeah um i don't want to say stuff that i'm not educated about you know i want to make sure i have stuff to back me up yeah so yeah that's all i want to say i don't have anything to say sorry that's fine that's mine anyone else i have a question okay um she was talking about sro and i was wondering what really sro is a school resource officer it's a police officer who's been specially trained to deal with students do you know who they are in your school well they weren't in the buildings they were patrolling outside so that you had
047safe passage to and from school before they were also very helpful if there was an incident inside a school they knew how to respond since 2012 with the sros that have been allocated from the police department we have been recognized not only statewide but nationally for our reduction in school arrests because as mr walden mentioned the training they have received allows them to come into a school and defuse a situation deal with a student in an appropriate manner and not just throw the handcuffs on and drag them out like they used to years ago put them in the car and take them to to the juvenile detention center so it's it's been a huge loss because these are some of our our our officers that have built relationships with you guys and your families some
048have left for other other departments unfortunately because um they were being reassigned and they saw other employment and were grabbed quickly and some are just been redeployed to patrol but so it's a disappointment because they they know how to react in a situation with young folks and families and work with schools and they're not just typical patrolmen who just come to the the school and treat it as if it's a criminal investigation okay any other questions okay yeah i got another one okay um so she was talking earlier about the heating and um stuff that's going on in the schools and from my experience i've been at two schools specifically where i've had that experience where you have heating and i was wondering like what is the procedure and steps that you guys are gonna
049take furthermore speak somebody just eat them she was saying that she experienced the heat that i was speaking of in the classroom and what is the steps to take so i referred it to the facilities committee meeting which is on october 4th i'm gonna go on a little tiny tangent i really envisioned all of you students picking some committees where you would want to engage and learn from there i think there would be a lot of interaction and we're the board members i'm gone in november and i'm not re-running but i'm still my son is a basket high school student so i'm still here um but i would envision you getting on to a committee and that's where you can engage and we can learn from you and and and give you kind of fulfill
050needs if there is and you can you can learn from us um but that is where we're gonna discuss it i was texting the director of facilities and he already has some solutions so it goes to the director of facilities and george garcia is amazing i'm quite sure we're gonna come with some conclusions so you have to understand there are some parameters so you the school year has to be a certain length right and so you're either going to get some warm days at the beginning of the school year if we decide to start earlier so you end earlier or the other opportunity that can be presented is eliminate eliminate vacations during the school year which you know becomes tricky as well or we can we can engage for grants and donations and possibly get
051every school air conditioned but that's a long shot so and that's all the stuff that we talked about in the facilities committee so that's going to be on october 4th if you're interested in that we would hold that meeting at central high school in the library okay go ahead oh okay i have a question so this pertains to a fair child in general but i was wondering if we could open the snack bar again which it would create because now if you're a child all schools eat at the same time so the lines are ginormous so i think the snack bars would lessen down the lines and also they will be pre-packaged foods so it's all safe through covet-wise everybody wears masks all that fun stuff and also it's money that goes right back to
052the school or back to the food in general so i was not aware that the snack bars was not we're not reopened yet um we will get on that to hopefully have those open for monday yeah thank you just to allow you you just made an impact i'm gonna choose for monday i'm not sure if the items sold in the smack bar can be ordered and received by monday yeah but as soon as they can be ordered and received the snack bar can reel thank you all right so uh the way this works i'll just explain it to you we have two categories old business new business new businesses just that new in this scenario let's say our first item is an agreement with footsteps to brilliance you guys have a copy of the agenda
053yes if we couldn't come to a conclusion of this tonight we would move it to old business and pick it up the next time so there's nothing left over from the past in old business so we're going to move on to new business and the first item is discussion and possible approval of agreement with footsteps to brilliance or online literacy program so someone here to present this mr styles anna is here from footsteps as a representative to the podium just to give everyone that was not at the committee meeting some background in some discussions with my colleague dr michael connor from middletown public schools um just having some some discussions about the impact over the last couple of years that footsteps the brilliance has had early literacy in his district as we all know is
054a critical component to the academic success of all students he has seen tremendous gains the beauty about footsteps is that we are going to create uh an innovation city here in bridgeport connecticut um the goal is not just to give access to our kids in the bridgeport public schools to the program but any child in bridgeport will have access to the program regardless if they go to a bridgeport public school charter school catholic school private school or they're not in school yet at all and that doesn't increase the cost to us as as a district um it's it's a an app downloaded to uh any device android computer tablet uh iphone whatever and to utilize the program it does not require connectivity any use when not connected to the internet because they do gather a
055lot of data and will provide us with that data on usage will be uploaded to their system once that device gets connected to the internet the next time so it is a extremely unique um program but also extremely effective program so i'm hoping that after it came out of teaching and learning unanimously now to the full board that we can improve that tonight and um so if you have any questions particularly outside of the overview anna's here to help uh facilitate them okay this this material was given to everybody in their package okay let the record reflect dr fabian has to beat him so this material was given to you guys in your packet and do you have any questions for anna any questions yes yes so oh yes so as superintendent testani was describing
056we envisioned creating a model innovation city where every student that's born and lives in bridgeport before they even enter your school system whether it be a community-based organization pre-k or a school pre-k we would like to gift parents the opportunity to actually start and engage their students with rich literacy at home so as i hear as i'm sitting here in the audience i know that community building is very big for bridgeport and a part of doing this model innovation city is bringing everyone in the community together we also last week during our presentation showed how the police can collectively do this and they can have the app on the back of their business cards so the interaction with the police officers and bridgeport and students are now positive going back to what john weldon was
057saying about the special police officers that come into the school are trained so that relationship is built there's so many different aspects of using this model innovation city that it just bridges the gaps that are lost because we really you know are trying to catch up from that literacy loss up to third grade but also bring in our parents and our communities you don't need the internet to get on that's not internet but like how are they going in public the device we are a one-to-one device district now you can put it on your your phone um you can put it on any device so students will have access no matter where they're at so what i'm saying is you have like i'm always in a community and i witness who i hope that a
058lot of parents do not have believe it or not they have one cell phone if you have multiple children our lives wanted to make that available to them i get it i like the program but again now you have to look at it okay you can afford access to the internet a lot of people right so we are a one-to-one device district now so we will provide the device so as your child has their ipad we're gonna start with pre-k and we're gonna start rolling up slowly um those in the community sites that are currently enrolled in pre-k will also get a device to utilize and then those folks that are not richwood public school or community-based sites that is an option that is out there for all parents whether to put on their one
059phone um or their one device uh where their child can spend some time on the program i know um oh excellent so with those devices they're part of the bridgeport package where they can download the apps and then once they lose wi-fi if they're home and they don't have wi-fi students can continue using this application once they get back into a hot spot all of that data that superintendent tassani was talking about gets uploaded so the the students are not redoing any types of activities and getting bored but what we also can do is we can create community centers where going to mcdonald's and they can have a mcdonald's hour or so to use their wi-fi a part of this community um initiative there are many ways and footsteps of brilliance has been doing this
060nationally so we have different options and we look forward to working with you any i have other questions is it going to be available to bridgeport public libraries i know it's a separate board but i mean that's one way for kids to have access to it and if so will be available at the same time absolutely i i envision every student having access to it and i'm very happy that you mentioned that about the libraries because the app actually has thousands of books on the application where students can use and utilize so it's a perfect fit for using it in the library has it been presented to the library board to be available no this this is going to be purchased by bridgeport public schools once it's finalized it will get pushed out citywide um
061how the marketing of that becomes uh done is still up for discussion with the folks from footsteps to brilliance and then so again we're trying to create an innovation city here and give access to all parents for their children well we can plan that in uh somebody want to make a motion i will um i make a motion that we step into an agreement with the steps to brilliance for online learning literacy literacy lift program second by ms martinez all in favor aye are you opposed okay thank you very much next is discussion possible approval to issue a solicitation for athletic training services who's here for this no uh mr denton i've seen it um i was at the committee meeting thank you thanks thank you is a standard rfp through the city just to
062uh obtain a contract to provide athletic trainers at each of the three high schools for the sports teams this is critical because we are under uh our our contract last year expired because of covid we really had a little time so we are on a temporary agreement with the former training services until january so um with your approval we're going to go put the rfp out and see how many folks respond to it the current provider of athletic trainers is struggling to be able to cover all three schools for athletic events we're hoping that we can find a provider even if it's a at an increase in cost that can cover all three schools for all sporting events um practices and such because right now we have limited coverage and that person would have to
063bounce around or we do have some supplementary coverage like for example friday night at the soccer game basic soccer game against immaculate we had an ambulance on site for any injuries that may have occurred but um they're not there to treat um some of the minor things that an athletic trainer would um be able to treat and under the contract so um we want to get this out and hopefully are able to solicit someone that can provide adequate coverage uh during the course of the rf the contract okay any questions okay again this is just to solicit the actual recommendation for award we'll come back in the end so i'll seek a motion to issue solicitation for athletic training services presented in this rfp moved by ms allen seconded by ms brown all in favor
064aye host okay thank you discussion and possible approval of contract with access educational services incorporated to provide after school program at classical studies magnet academy state your name for the record hi i'm lindsay davis i'm the principal of classical studies we are seeking approval for our contracts for two of our community-based organizations that we partner with funds come from an extended school hours grant and part of that money goes right back into investing in our community partners so access is one partner that we've been working with for several years they provide um lego league junior services to our second graders and they're also building on that program but i'll speak about that when we talk about the carver contract so we're looking to partner with access again and provide programming for our second graders uh
065through the extended school hours grant questions want to make a motion to enter into this agreement some moved by ms martinez seconded by ms brown all in favor aye aye aye opposed okay next a similar agreement discussion possible approval of contract with the carver foundation to provide after-school program at classical studies magnet academy okay so i should say also that last year we were able to have a virtual program um this year we're doing it in person again we're really excited to provide that opportunity for our families again um carver foundation we started partnering with a few years ago and they actually um take our grant funding and they supplement it they do fundraising so that we can bring more funds to that program this is for third through sixth grade and we work with
066a lot of other community-based organizations like the maritime aquarium we provide programming such as karate and lacrosse and cooking so many different kinds of things as part of that program we also offer academic support which i think will be key this year we have an hour of academics to start that program and then an hour of enrichment activities and those are big boys so we're looking to partner with carver again to bring those opportunities to our third through sixth grade students questions no both are in person it was virtual before it was virtual before it was all right is there a motion to enter into this agreement with the carver foundation i'll move moved by mr bennigan second seconded by ms allen all in favor aye opposed okay thank you thank you discussion and possible
067approval of fy 2021 2022 operating budget who's here to talk about this mr siegel's still available i'm available oh there she is here we are virtual marlene all right are you ready yes we're ready all right uh good evening to everyone and in regard to the 2122 uh budget um i believe you'll recall that uh the target number in order to balance was 17 million dollars there are four components in order to cover the 17 million dollars four components are state and city revenue grant revenue the internal service fund and deficit prevention mode so i'll speak briefly about each of those components state revenue in terms of an additional allocation to the alliance grant is about 1.5 million dollars city revenue is 2 million dollars for a grand total of additional revenue state and city
068combined of three and a half million dollars the next component is grant revenue which would include such grants as title 1 uh the repairs act and other grants where we are able to charge influence with the guidelines various uh services that are within our strategic plan uh and our in uh compliance with the guidelines um and that component is approximately two million dollars so for state and city revenue we have about three and a half million uh grant revenue about two million uh grand total so far uh would be five and a half million dollars um the next component is the internal uh service fund and uh that component consists of about nine and a half million dollars and um i'm going to explain uh the various um components of the nine and a half
069million enrollment and the fourth component is deficit prevention mode which i've discussed on many occasions and deficit prevention mode incorporates strict cost control and management which we have practiced in every year the last 10 years and it also includes the savings that are derived when there are vacancies that are covered by substitute staff as a result not being able to do higher either quickly or higher qualified certified staff in the case of teacher positions um so go capture those savings uh through those savings and in that way we build reserves and maintain control balance uh the budget uh so that compelling is uh projected at this point at approximately two million dollars so in summary state and city revenue both about three and a half million dollars um rent revenue at least two million dollars
070the internal service fund nine and a half dollars and deficit prevention mode approximately two million dollars and with those four component components uh combined uh we have the balanced 2021-22 budget now before i conclude i just want to come back to the internal service fund i think it's important for everyone to understand that we have been carrying forward uh two million dollars which is the pre-2018-19 pre-connecticut partnership of funding from now and that was a two million dollar surplus that was in the isf the interim service fund prior to 2018 19. and fortunately we have not needed to use those funds to balance our budget in subsequent years and therefore that two million dollars is still in the fun uh last year at the end of uh fiscal year twenty 21 year before the school
071year 20 first pandemic year we uh deposited the internal service fund at the end of 1920. uh six and a half million dollars and so we carry forward throughout the uh 2021 to school year the year it just ended throughout that year uh total of eight and a half million dollars fortunately he did not need to draw on those funds in 2020 21 those funds are still deposited in of proven fiscal management and uh the funding that we had as well as reduced spending level uh across all categories uh results endemic the deposited service fund savings uh approximately eleven 11-7 and so only in federal services currently here we went to one two we have a planned port of approximately is currently committed to balancing the 2122 budget to closing the 2122 uh gap um
072it's also important to understand that this is a projection and so we may not need nine and a half million dollars close to the gap as we move through here we may need nine million people will need only seven million uh it could be lower than obsession or higher or um max extent possible wherever appropriate can be visible so um in accordance with the guideline um to help you obsess um there is expenses that are part of our plan instead of utilizing our standard operational sources we are utilizing the srv sources because they are designed for the technological needs that we have arising out of the pandemic so that's an example now we're going to continue to utilize our um esr funds meet all the needs the rising ice and the pandemic and strengthening our
073infrastructure we emerge after um the three-year cycle that's for funding with a much stronger foundation are there any questions anyone have any questions joe yeah yeah i just want to um can you point out the danger of using asset funds to cover some of our operating costs and explain a little bit about the fiscal cliff and uh structural deficit we're facing all right well i didn't i didn't say we're using extra funds on cover operating costs i said we're using esser funds always in accordance with the guidelines governing funding um there are situations that arise where if we didn't have esser funding we would have to use our operating budget absolutely i understand we had to replace uh computer devices at this time and we did not have any estimate funding we would have to
074utilize our existing resources but esser funding allows allows for services that address the digital divide and strengthen a district's psychological infrastructure so that learning can be enhanced use of technology on a on a sustained basis absolutely all right let me rephrase that question then what for sf funds being used in this allowable way what would our deficit be this year and how much cuts would we have to make yes so so we're we're using nine and a half half million dollars from our internal service fund to balance uh our budget um if if we when we utilize funding from the internal service fund if we actually have to use that amount uh those funds are not going to necessarily replenish and and so there would be a gap of that amount in in subsequent years
075thank you yeah anyone else okay i'll seek a motion to approve the 2122 operating budget as presented by cfo second by ms martinez second by ms allen all in favor aye the opposed last on the agendas discussion possible approval you can stick around if you want or if you've got better places [Laughter] ready to go faster mr chair we have one last item discussion and possible approval to arp and sr funds with city of bridgeport through joint youth and education committee mr trustani yes sir so i was approached by city officials prior to our application uh being right before the submission for the arps or application to the state the state had created some buckets that they were going to utilize to put out rfps in different areas one of them being youth they asked
076if we would match funds at that time [Music] in order to broaden the use of those those dollars across um community agencies that can provide support to kids here in bridgeport um i thought it was a great idea since one of the uh requirements of arp esser is to involve community-based agencies to provide services to support students learning social emotional growth and different physical activities as well given the fact that um a lot of these agencies can provide the services not only that you know what they do currently they they're they are and have the capacity to expand if the funding was available and they also do a much better job in some cases because that is their area of expertise they also have lower operating costs in many cases for us to run a
077program that involves trying to find teachers number one that will work the program and then following the contractual obligations in terms of the hourly hourly rate um and then being able to monitor gather data we just don't have the capacity in all instances so uh it was brought to the board to do that since then um the city has because of the overwhelming response to the rfp and at first glance some of the amazing proposals that were submitted they have up their dollar amount to three and a half million per year over the course of the three years uh not asking us to match but just maintain a two million dollar commitment that would provide five and a half million dollars a year to be able to award grants to the rfp on the submissions
078from these community-based agencies so we did present that at the finance committee it has been brought before the full board i think this is a great opportunity not only to collaborate with the city but also uh to involve many of our community-based agencies in being able to support kids uh through the programs that they have any questions okay i'll seek a motion to approve um pooling district arp and sr funds with the city of bridgeport through the joint youth and education committee moved by mr benham second by ms martinez all in favor aye aye aye your host and that concludes the agenda is there a motion to adjourn bye ms allen second second bye mr benehand all in favor aye opposed okay plus i stepped outside when they were doing my agenda items i don't
079have to hear it yeah