001Afternoon everyone. Thank you all everyone to be here. My name is the chair of this committee ad hoc committee. Um I to welcome everyone and have myself and online Mr. Joseph and Mr. Trevor they're part of the this committee. Thank you for being here gentlemen. And thank you for our facility to be here and everyone of the staff and our staff for being here for our school district to be here. Um first thing in the meeting agenda is approve the minutes for February 19th, 2026. >> Motion to approve the minutes from February 19th 2026. >> Um change executive >> Point of order. >> knowledge the human >> who are the members of the ad hoc of this ad hoc committee? >> Myself, you, Mr. Trevor, and Mr. Sakalidis. >> I thought it was Mr. Estrada
002or Jimenez, sorry. >> I thought so, but it's Mr. Sakalidis. >> Okay, and then I second that motion. >> Okay, Mr. Sakalidis he seconded Mr. Trevor. Thank you anyway. >> Well, Mr. Sakalidis moved it, so I'm seconding it. >> I. Um thank you gentlemen. Um Then second thing in the agenda is the presentation for our the facility master plan. >> Just follow now. >> Say it again? >> All in favor. >> Oh, sorry. I apologize. I was trying to talk to this meeting from Uh all in favor of that. Approve the minutes. >> I, Sakalidis. >> Thank you. Um as I said, the presentation of the facility you the plan. I believe uh the picture you have the Yeah, the floor. Thank you. >> Okay. Um Good evening. Um so, really quick uh I'm thankful
003we finally got to be able to talk about the facilities master plan. Uh Mr. Garcia is on the phone. There are two parts to the master plan. So, I just wanted to put that out. Part Part A was the demographic study um that falls within my department. Part B was the facilities master plan that actually falls in George's department. Difference being um for my part, it was projections that the company did. We walked through the classrooms. We took a look at uh all of the spaces that um you know, Bridgeport Public Schools has. We looked at classroom sizes. We also went ahead and did a breakdown of programs, where programs lie. Um in other words, where special ed um programs are in different schools. Uh we broke down um the uh district into what we
004call quadrants. So, we looked at the different quadrants that actually pertain to um Bridgeport Public Schools. Each school was assigned in their quadrant. Um inside that quadrant um is what we call attendance zones. So, each school has a zone um of children. Um and if they're in that zone, then they um go to that school. Difference is if they have a controlled transfer or something else, then they will be going to um the controlled transfer school. With that being said, I just wanted to give you an overview. This This took us approximately uh close to a year to put together. Um not only did we walk through every school to do the demographic part of it and had discussion and talked about it, but George's group um went one step further and they had a
005team go in to every single building and look at all of the facilities um >> parts >> the boilers. They took a look at other things that pertain to a facility. Um so that project took, you know, about more than a year. Some of the other things that came out with some of these studies and I'll let George jump in in a minute was that um the company's job basically was to put together um projections for what they thought the future was going to look like for Bridgeport. And on George's side, um they put together a cost factors for what they thought it would be from a facility standpoint to be able to upkeep these buildings and then take a look at what we may do what we may need to do for long-term plan
006um as far as the district goes. So with that being said, that's just an introduction. I'll let George um tie in to his part and then um I'll take my part as far as the demographic part goes. >> Good evening, everyone. So um like PJ had set the set the table. Um one of the activities of the facilities master plan was a FCA, which is a facilities condition assessment. So we've gone through every single facility, looked at envelope, mechanicals, millwork, um environmental concerns. Um you know, we've gone through every crawl space, closet, rafter. We've looked at every rooftop. Uh we have a granular understanding of every single need with the with throughout the whole entire district. Um you know, we've had a few meetings where we've discussed some of these things and as we all
007know, um the number was right around 700 I believe 704 million dollars of needs district-wide for our facilities. Um you know, and a lot of that has to do with the fact of the vintage of our of our buildings, a lot of deferred maintenance. Um, you know, when we think about budget cuts and and other things, you know, they have long-lasting and profound effects on the district. Um, and all of that was captured within this the the work that was done uh through the FCA. Um, the FCA is considered a living document where as we start to make investments in the district, you know, we start to reduce that $704 million. Um, whether it's construction or capital work, you know, um substantial grant work, um you know, we close the gap regularly as we continue
008to try and find different means to address that $704 million. Um, you know, with the closure of Bassick alone that saved us right around $80 million plus um against that $704. There were several other investments made through capital um along with grants and the fact that we are looking to build some new schools like the John Winthrop School and um, you know, uh special ed facility. Those things also drive down that $704 million. But with all of that said, you know, our number one goal is to continue to utilize this as a roadmap in our future request to the city council in terms of capital. Um, also in as we actively look at grants and work on our grants department, you know, uh whether it's uh through different grants in different state agencies or federal
009agencies or for instance a new drip grant that has come out with um two allocations of 1.3 million for this year and 1.3 million for next year or if it's the non-priority list grants uh that the state allows us to do for larger uh major equipment, we're continually looking for ways to shrink that $704 well, $704 which is a lot less now since uh we've completed this study. Um, so if there's any questions on that piece of it, um I have Jamie and Mike. I I've got a half hour window, um but there the team is well versed as we are in this book and we're looking at this data every single day to drive our decisions. >> Yeah, so so if I could jump in for a minute, obviously we we don't want to
010look at it as two sides. It's one side, right? It's it's the district master plan. I could speak a little on our part about um you know, enrollment, historic trends, um and give you a little bit of an idea of how the company really went in and broke down what uh the population of Bridgeport would look like um for the next 10 years. Now, obviously we know it's a projection and we know that things change every day and just because they projected out 10 years does not mean that what the projection is is holds true. So, part of the the breakdown was um we looked at the past 10 or 15 year enrollment trends is what we did. Um we have the company to take that trend and look at um right now um student
011migration analysis, migration patterns within the students. We also went in and took a look at our interdistrict magnet, um our English language learners, um we went inside and took a look at our um demographics and birth, meaning our birth trends and projections. We looked at what we had for Bridgeport home sale trends, um the housing market, different developments that we had at that time. Um from that standpoint, um we went in and looked at housing activity. Um from that housing activity, um we went inside the schools and took a look at class sizes and basically looked at what we had from an enrollment perspective inside of those schools. Part of the projections was to first off, take a look at the capacity of the classrooms that we had. What is the capacity? I mean, pretty
012much everyone knows. Um, based on our collective bargaining or contractual agreements, certain grade levels are only allowed a max of n number of students in a class. What ends up happening is when we look at some of these classes, and you're looking at potential um, enrollment in that school, if you have a, you know, two or three uh, pre-K. The maximum pre-K class that it allows us are 18 students per class, based on contract. We look at grades K and 1, the maximum is 24. And if we look at grades 2 through, um, 12, then our maximum, um, range is 29. We can have a maximum of 29 children in the class. One of the things that we looked at is when you have a special ed programs, um, that size goes down. So, the
013maximum sizes that we have right now, uh, from a facility standpoint, is uh, 12. So, when you look at 12 per classroom, if we are having a classroom of 29, that's 17 students that we have to place in another classroom to have a max class size for special ed students. So, for each school, what it says from a demographic standpoint, um, that could be changed or skewed based on the, uh, the number of classes and the different, um, grade levels that we have in that school. So, I wanted to just give you a a little clarity on how that goes. Secondly, um, Bridgeport Public Schools is not allowed to project when it comes to any building at this point, a third-party vendor that's mandated by the state has to come in and give projections. They
014will not accept um Bridgeport public school projections. So, I wanted to make that clear in case anyone was saying, "Well, how did you get your numbers?" Well, Bridgeport public schools does not get their numbers. A third-party vendor comes in and does the projections and gives the state those projection numbers. So, in some cases, um the question was, "Well, some of our schools were underbuilt." In other words, you know, um the capacity of those schools, we know that we had more children. That's nothing we can do on on our side. Um that's something that the third-party vendor comes in and does that. Secondly, with these projections that are put out, these are the projections that are based on our facilities master plan. So, take it for what they are. Um they are done professionally, and they
015are put in the facilities master plan, understanding that we also do our own projections just to see where we lie or where we lay year to year. Um with that being said, um we did an extensive look at enrollment projection models to be able to take a look at what Bridgeport may look like. This year from last year, we lost approximately 700 students um in the district. So, we were at about uh uh I have it here somewhere. About like, can you help me find it? We're at about 20,021 students. Don't quote me on that. >> Yes, 20,020 students. >> Okay, we're about 20,022 students um in 24-25, and this year we're at 19,380, which gives us approximately a loss of 700, somewhere close to 700 students. Um what we do is just and again,
016we're going to get to the facilities master plan in a second, but I want to paint what we're looking at. Again, every year what we do is we take a look at why we're losing students. What what are those exit codes that associate a loss of a student in the district? And how can we look at what this master plan says? And even though at that point in time, a year ago or a year and a half ago it is now, how can we adjust? Um I think George said it best. Uh this is a living document, which is changing daily just like anything else. At that point in when the document came out, that's what the um company um came up with as far as our projections go and everything else. We do understand
017that as of today, if we looked at that projection, it would be different, and we'd be looking at a different number for the future. With that being said, the projections were based off of our elementary and our high schools, just so we can give some context to what's going on here. And those projections were done by some mathematical calculations that basically break down um a few different factors. So, for factor analysis, when they got in, they're looking at um a I think it was 0.85 factor, so that at that point, we would we wouldn't um over-enroll, we would be able to have space in the schools when we looked at it. And with that being done, with them looking at space in the schools, it gave us an idea of where we can go and
018where we can move if we had to certain students. Um I just want to make it clear just for the public. Um it is not our job um here to look at any type of closing schools or doing any of that. It's our job to give you the facts and put out um what the facilities master plan um has as far as our 10-year plan or what they see this plan may be um in the upcoming 10 years. Um, for us, we're we're here to supply the information, give you um the best look at what the information says and then be able to answer the questions the best way we can. While we're speaking now, um we are looking to change some of our program. In other words, we're looking at um our special ed
019program based on our quadrants. We noticed that quadrant three, there were a lot of programs happening inside of that quadrant. We asked the question, why? And a lot of times, there is no rhyme or reason. There was a classroom open, we're talking about from years past, and it would just say we need that classroom to have a, you know, class participated. We're also looking at the bilingual program. And we're looking to um based on the demographic um study facilities master plan, is look at repositioning where those classes may be. We know that there are really two gigantic um programs. One is at Marin, the other is at Batalla right now. So, we do realize we have a lot of children coming in from uh different parts of Bridgeport um into those schools. Also, we looked
020at and broke down just for the record, the controlled transfers because obviously um some questions came out about redistricting the whole district. Well, there's a there's a lot of controlled transfers to where if they went back to their home or neighborhood school, that would change the way you look at Bridgeport, too. All right? [clears throat] Um so, with that being said, um I wanted to give you a little summation about where we are, what we're looking at. We do have software that will allow us to look at One more thing I wanted to make clear. Students who are coming into your building who do not live in your attendance zone. Or vice versa, students in the your attendance zone who do not go to your school building for one reason or another, whether it be
021programming issues, whether it be control transfers, administrative transfers. Um, this is software that we're looking at every day. From the, um from the plan they came up with a capacity and utilization summary. So, on my end, I'm speaking of that side since that's the side that we closely, um, monitor at this point. So, the way that the company did it is they broke it down by grade level and we're able to see the trends in grade level. We're also able to see the trends in the district. We're able to look at, um, special ed classrooms, whether it be self-contained, RISE or AIM, whatever it may be. Um, we also took a look at our pre-K classrooms, what we need, what we what we need to look for in the future. Um, what it looks like,
022um, from a bathroom perspective to make sure that the classrooms, um, did have bathrooms in them, um, for those children. Um, so functionally we looked at a lot of stuff while this master plan was going on. Um, and with that being said, um, we were able to answer some questions that we need to do work, um, internally to fix some of the problems that we know that are here, but no one I know I don't really think a lot of people took a look at, um, those programs and said, "I have a fix for that." Um, we're doing that right now and they're documenting this leadership. We're taking a look at all of that and trying to better the district in a sense where we can cut down on bussing costs, transportation costs. We can
023look at getting some programming in the neighborhoods, which is what we're trying to do from that perspective. And I think just in general getting a better um hold on those programs that you know, we have in the schools that we can do better with how we support them and what we do from a district perspective. So, with that being said, the um last part of this facilities master plan is we did also do classroom inventories. And for my part with the classroom inventories, just get a chance to look at the class sizes, what the classroom was, what children we can fit in that classroom. In other words, you know, um was it too small to have a regular-size classroom? Was it a little smaller so we can call it a resource room? So, we can
024fit, you know, children in for resource classes. Um we kind of broke it down a large, medium, small. There were some classes that were huge, while other classes were standard size, and then there were some classes that were a little bit smaller than the standard size. We broke those down by taking a look at um art, music, resource, what we call other, any special ed classes that may be in the schools. Understanding at any time, you know, you may have a special ed class in the school today, but it doesn't mean that you're going to have that same class tomorrow. So, when we look at the projection aspect of it, we do understand that there's a standard error measure there, where we know just because we have 12 today, it doesn't mean tomorrow we may
025not move that program and gain another 17 students when you're in the class. Um some of the things that I think um George and I, and I can speak for George on this, that we learned when we looked at what we can do as a district is look at some of the conditions of the classrooms {slash} buildings. And I think that's where some of this comes comes out when George talks about his facility assessment. Um, when you're really looking at what we have for kids, um, what the classrooms look like in some schools, class sizes are smaller because classrooms aren't as big as some of the other schools where it's a little bit larger. Um, with that being said, um, those are all notated now. We have a system to where we can go in
026and start looking at these classes and we could say, yes, we have classes available or the max we're going to get in this classroom, even though it's 29 per grade level, is only 23 or 24. Um, so with a lot of that work being done, I think that helps us a little with understanding um, what we have from a uh, context of classrooms. Once we went ahead and did that, we broke down the capacities per each school and I know there will be some questions on capacity and we'll talk about that a little later. Um, and then we looked at um, elementary um, capacity and utilization findings. Um, one of the issues and and I'll talk about this until I can get George in in a minute was they were looking at the building efficiency,
027um, how many children we have in the building compared to how many children we could actually fit in that building. They looked at a breakdown in capacity to see if it was well utilized, moderately well utilized, under utilized, or very under utilized. So, um, in a breakdown that they were looking at some of these, they were saying that there There a potential that um, some of these children or some of these special, um, classes that we have could be moved to other facilities because they would have some of the space that they needed and it would take those classes out of some of the larger facilities that are that are having certain issues. There are certain schools that are overcrowded every year. Um, one being Johnson. Every single year there's certain grade levels that are
028overcrowded, um, from day one. Um, some of those schools it's due to the fact that they have certain programs in those schools that, um, uh, that we have. And secondly, um, it's the district's responsibility from an overcrowding standpoint is to make sure that we get that child into a building that we can support that child's needs, whatever those needs may be. Um, with that being said, George, if you don't mind, um, I'll have you tag on a little bit on the facilities assessment side, um, just to give them an overview. >> Sure. So, I just want to make a point to what PJ was just saying about classrooms. Um, you know, not every building due to the different vintages is ideal for the different needs of all of our students, right? So, now we're utilizing
029facts and data to sort of drive that, right? So, now when when there's the need to open a special ed room or pre-K room, you know, we're utilizing data to make sure that we're going to be able to actually achieve the highest level of education for the student based on the facility itself. As you know, we had a gap in, uh, several of our buildings where you just truly can't provide a 21st century education based on the layout of the building, uh, the vintage of the building. So, you know, we want to ensure that every time we're making a decision, that decision is based on facts and data and that is why this document is so important to us. Um, in terms of the facilities condition assessment, we need to continually look at what we
030are doing with our facilities because the utilization is a big part of that, right? So, when you look at some of the documents, I don't have all of the documents in front of you, unfortunately, but there is a page where you get to see cost per cost per square foot, cost per enrollment. And it's a stark difference in a lot of schools because when you start thinking about schools that are 30, 40% enrolled, you're paying 100% of the cost for that facility, even though it's at 30% enrolled. Um you know, so when we look at our facilities condition assessments, you know, we have to start thinking about where we're going to make our investments and where our investments are best made with the biggest return on biggest return for our taxpayers, students, our teachers, and
031our administrators. So, you know, the granularity of the information is very, very important for us as we move forward making these decisions. Um the the good thing about the study is that, you know, my team got to spend time with the data team going through on their end of business, and the data team who joined us on the facilities condition assessment, um and I think that was very important because we worked hand in hand as we start to um look at the district as a whole, and whenever there's a need, now we're at the table, and we understand uh this district intimately. And I think that in itself, you know, there'll there'll be some uh some savings in in transportation based on where we're putting special ed in the quadrants. Um you know, uh where
032we're going to make our next investments, where we're going to build a school. Um you know, where where we need to focus strategically if there's grants out there. All of this is driven based on that data. So, any questions on the facilities condition assessment, I can take those. >> Thank you, Mr. Garcia. For the record, I'm I'm not aware of William Medina and Mr. Andrew Wilson are online. I'm taking um um comment first with the committee members. Um Mr. Suggs, please. >> Uh yes, um I want to go back to the um what you call it? The the population thing. I'm sorry. That I wrote it out. Yeah, yeah, yeah. >> Projections. >> Have we got any updates of projections and utility capacity versus utilization, the latest numbers? Have they shifted in any significantly in
033any of those areas? >> Yeah, we do. So, so, you know, every year we're uh producing um our projections due to the fact that um we have to give it to finance and so they could take a look at cost savings and everything else, if there is any um with that being said. So, we just provided them with projections what what today? Today, um we just provided the special ed department and um Dr. Avery with projections today and um what they're doing now is taking a look at to see if there's any cost savings we can get out of that for next year. I think the two problem areas, well, I know right now um March when we're looking at kindergarten, correct? Um that will be an area that will be needing to look at.
034>> And pre-K. So, those two this year um I'm hoping to see an increase in kindergarten pre-K, but there's no guarantees that we're going to be able to see that. >> Mr. >> And PJ to that point, Joe, if I can real quick, to that point that gives the facilities team the advance notice that over the summer we can start looking at that. So, beginning of the school year these things start to happen seamlessly. Uh because in the past when you were just looking at spaces um just based on space versus the way we're looking at it based on facts and data, this gives us the ability to be proactive as opposed to reactive in getting these uh spaces ready and picking the best locations. >> Yeah, and as March said, Joe, one more thing
035that we're looking to reduce also the special ed classes. Um the class size is what we're looking to do. So, right now there are some classes that are over the max right now, and what we're looking to do is make sure that we don't hit that capacity level. We're trying to level it out and do a better job of being able to make sure that we could support those special needs students in a proper setting or in a setting that doesn't have as many students as what we had this year. That was another area focus that we were um that we were putting our eyes on. >> And then next next question, how closely is it following the demographic study the current enrollment? Cuz we had we had we had from what I remember we
036had yearly projections. >> Yeah. Yes, we do. >> And and how how how close to the mark were they on their projections? >> Well, you know, as I as I said, those are company projections. We kind of tend to look at differences and variations for our own projections. I'll put it that way. Um again, the document >> our projections because we're the ones that going to have the students. These guys are going to Guys are gone. I want to I want to know how reliable reliable that information is going forward. >> Yeah, understood. And that's why I look at our projections also. So, when we're looking at it, I do have a document that shows their projections against our projections or against what we do. Again, as George said, this is a living document. So,
037when they did their projections, we're going based on current data, current um uh current student populations, they were doing it based on the information that they had at that time. Um ours will always be a little more up-to-date in what we're looking at because with enrollment trends and different, you know, things that are going on here. I think we do a little bit of a closer look than what they did, you know, at that point. Or there may be things that happened. No one expected with ICE we were going to have a drop of somewhere around 700 children. I would have never thought that, but the reality is that I'm not saying it was all ICE, but I do know that there's families who will not register because they were afraid. So, I know there
038are a lot of people who did go back to their home country. How do I know? Because of the exit codes. It tells us exactly where they're exiting to, um, and where they're going. So, um, in looking at that there's always a case where we can get an influx because something happens where we get an influx back with all the students. So, we we've got to be prepared to where we can handle that. Um, there's also the case that you know, based on funding, and we know again, we don't know too much about funding where some of the other schools, you know, um, what happens? I mean, we got another five or six thousand kids who live in Bridgeport who do not go to a Bridgeport public school. What happens if some of those kids
039start coming back? So, they're all what ifs, um, and that's part of what projections and looking at how we look at things in the district. Um, and we're always going to have those questions when we go forward. >> And can can you, uh, tell me if what, if any, the change in kindergarten age has had an impact of, uh, enrollment? >> So, Mike, are kindergartens down right now? >> We're down everywhere. I mean, um, so I I I I would love to say that it would have a big impact, but looking at it looks like pre-K and kindergarten are down and what we're we're taking a look at um, where they're going, what they're doing. I would have thought you know, on the other hand, we may be up in one of those grade levels,
040but it looks like that, you know, we're down and our projections are not as high, neither was the company's projections um when it comes to pre-K and kindergarten. I'm not sure if if that's an influx on the birth rate, that's what it looked like, um but um that's kind of where we are at at this point. >> So, can can you get me a number? I'm just out of curiosity. I I don't have the numbers in front of me. You know, I can probably do it as well, but like just the kid but the K through 12 portion cuz it it if it's a dispro- disproportionate number, it should be kindergarten would show higher than 1/30 of a drop. It's I'm just wondering cuz cuz that'll be telling if um cuz eventually that'll pick up
041through the >> Yeah, we're going to try to get a sheet for you on that. >> Thank you. And um final final question, um the is that are we looking at the impacts of all the new building and construction coming online towards the updated projections? >> No. Um as far as we go right now, business as usual for us, um and what we're looking at um what we're looking at what we're doing at this point, um we're you we're using the um same schools, same um business that we've been doing um you know, that we've been doing consistently. So, as far as any new schools or anything else, that's you know, out of our purview right now, and some of that stuff will happen, you know, in the future, um but for right now, we're
042projecting what we look like for next year and you know, the year after, and you know, right now, um that's how we're projecting. If the board decides to have us look at something in a different manner, that would be your decision to make us aware that um that's how you'd like us to look at something, but our projections are just based off of the same schools we have now and we're running business the same way we've been doing it. >> Okay, thank you. That's all I have. >> Thank you. Mr. Chairman. >> Yeah, do we get any the company that did the original projections? Do they provide are under contract? Do they provide any updates? >> No, um so those updates at this point if we wanted to, we can bring them back in to
043reassess as far as those updates go, but that was uh the way the master plan was done. That was their where they are and if we needed to bring them in, there would be a cost to bringing them back in to update. >> So this the state requires somebody else to do that, but the state doesn't require any professional. The numbers that they've come up with are stagnant. >> So so let me put it this way, yes. So if I'm just saying, let's say tomorrow you told me we're going to build a new building, building X. I could say, well, I know I know all the kids who are around that building and I project, I'm just making a number up, 750. State doesn't care what I project. State's going to say, you know, Mr.
044Bennehan or Hollis, you come in and you do that projection and you know, his firm may say 550. Guess what? We're 550. >> Even though he said 550 3 years ago. >> And we couldn't use theirs from 3 years ago. >> Yeah, because historically we've had problems with the state. We have on numbers. And the state historically projects low, very low. Um so we've had that problem historically. So, in order to get a a more accurate recent projection, it would require new expenditure of money. >> Yes, a new expenditure to bring them back in to reassess. >> What would be the approximate cost of such an expenditure? >> Uh >> [sighs] >> George, do you have any idea? Oh, he just just left. I honestly >> Well, just I don't know. >> I wouldn't I
045mean, I wouldn't think it would be that expensive. If if you want I can >> You know, just give me Are we talking tens of thousands? >> No, I would not cuz it wouldn't have to go through what they did here. I I I would assume you know, again, I'm making an assumption. You know, we could probably have the company work >> taking first born. >> I don't know. I don't know. I'm I'm you know, >> I'm Marine anyway. >> Yeah, we haven't done it. >> I have you with my button. >> Yeah, that's true. Um, we haven't done it. So, I don't want to even give you an estimate. I would say, you know, if I was somewhere between 5 and 10 is somewhere around >> At some point it may be worth our
046while to pay to to put out that kind of money to get a more up recent up. Now, there are factors. You mentioned one, the the the the ice rates, the changing political environments that we're living in. Uh, I don't know if you caught uh the governor's speech the other day, but the governor's advocating strongly strongly within his speech for regionalization of of space. >> Space, yeah. Yeah, yeah. >> Which will come into play. >> Um >> So, and exactly how that gets set up would come into play. Would they be regionalized say in you know, with our new school being built, would that be Bridgeport students or would they be a regional state school? >> Great question. >> Um, we don't know. He He He clearly didn't articulate that, and he still has to
047have that fight with districts in the suburbs that are going to be strongly opposed to that. So, I mean, that's years down the line, but again all that stuff is going to affect us in the future. >> Right. >> One way or the other. >> Yeah. >> So, all that stuff is going to affect this whole planning down the line in the future. >> Agreed. >> So, at some point it may be worth our while to get one of those state endorsed um numbers. Uh you know, as we make our plans. >> Sure. >> So, right now we're working with them. >> Yeah. Yeah, we're working with this document and >> And you're going to give us your opinion of those numbers based on your own projections, but that would be your opinion to guide
048us. >> That would be my opinion, absolutely. But if you ask the state, they don't care my opinion, so you would have to get a third party looking at >> Right. >> Yeah, okay. I understand. Thank you. But Mr. Chair, >> All right. Yes, by courtesy, I know we have two board members, Mr. Medina or Mr. Wilson. Do you have something to say about this um project? >> No, I appreciate the um appreciate the the the let me comment if I if you could. Thank you. >> Mr. Medina. >> Yes, uh I'm sorry if if you couldn't see my hand, but yes, thank you very much uh I just wanted to ask, I know that you guys all and I've been listening um and I just wanted to see if you guys can uh see
049to it that when, you know, some great point that you guys made, uh specifically you uh Mr. Corrado is, you know, when we're looking at these numbers, and I want to say when we, I'm talking about the entire board, um I look forward for when you guys are sharing data when it talks about capacity. Uh a building capacity or a school building capacity is different numbers when you talk about, you know, like fire, what how many people can you get inside the classroom? Just as you mentioned in the past and also present, you know, when you talk about programming, what type of uh classroom you have or what kind of program you have inside that classroom, you know, a classroom that can technically hold 25 kids because of the type of program it's holding inside
050that classroom or how it's being used, you know, we're dropping, you know, to 13 or 12 students or even eight students at time. Um so, when we talk about getting data from you guys, I look forward to maybe getting that comparison from, you know, the school building side to the program side because that all matters. Um also, with uh the whole pre-K I would love to see if you guys can share with the board, um you know, what is the class requirement size uh for the space. So, if you're saying it's pre-K through pre-K and kindergarten, you can only hold so many kids, what is the requirement that the state says that space needs to be? Uh what are the requirements of what it needs to have inside that classroom? Uh during my tours and
051visits to school, I know some classrooms are supposed to have uh because of the type of classroom it is, whether special ed or the little ones, supposed to have bathrooms in it. I know some of our cool kids don't have that space or that those things. Um because I'm looking forward to planning on these new buildings to make sure that these things are are being looked at properly. Um also, when you talked about the dropping of, you know, close to 700-plus students from our district, uh is there any way that you can produce with us the demographics of those students? Uh and what I mean by demographic is just, you know, your you know, some of them might left the country, if you would, like you said, or or what ethnic background they are or
052whatever, that way we can, you know, tell the state this is why it's happening. It's because of our school system, it's not because of anything except that this is the reason. Since this situation particularly the one that you have mentioned with ICE all of a sudden kids and families are, you know, doing other things because of that reason. So I would we would love to have that data as a board, I believe. Um and then you said pre-K and kindergarten enrollment is down. Do we know what that number is? How is it down? Like what is that? >> So So, Mr. Medina, we go year from year. So, most of what we look at when we're looking at um pre-K or kindergarten is what it looks like and then we look at our birth rates
053and take a look at um what it's supposed to be. I think one of the issues inside of Bridgeport is we do have a lot of charter schools. We have a lot of pre-K programs that are around. We also have, when you're looking at it, um private and parochial. Um again, the number fluctuates, but it's somewhere between 5,000 and 7,000 children we have that live in Bridgeport. The report is called R2. It's a state report that comes out through our PSIS system and PSIS is nothing more than it's a public school information system that the state mandates to collect information on every single child that we have in the district. The one good part about that system it gives us a an eye view of how many kids we have in Bridgeport that are not
054attending Bridgeport public schools. Um a lot of that is because a lot of our kids are attending charter or a lot of our kids are not a lot of them, but a decent amount are going to parochial also. When you take a look at that at any time when we're looking at grade levels and we're saying what we could incur like from a student perspective, um we have to take into consideration some factors. And those factors are safety factors and space factors. So we would have space if in an event not all the children, but you know, a majority of the children came back. With that being said, um we are looking at that a little bit closer to where um we do have a break down of why every student has left us. So
055the state mandates us to capture exit codes on every single student. So everything we do in our office is data driven, as you know. We plot everything on the map, and we also, not only plot it on the map, we give you data tables that break down every single move that's being made. Now one of the things we we haven't talked about either during this is our mobility rates. Cuz our mobility rates are high in the district. No one wants to look at that. Everyone wants to look at, you know, here's where we are. We have students who move three, four, five, and even six times during the school year to different schools. >> Mhm. >> Um now when you look at that and we're doing some analysis on where kids may be or where
056they should be, um that's not from an educational standpoint, that's not good for a student educationally to be moving to three, four, five or six. So we understand that. We have a breakdown of those kids who are doing that. We've got to do a better job of intervening and getting in there and saying, "Hey, look, we have an issue here." Educationally, it's not good for a child socially, emotionally, it's not good for a child to be able to do that stuff. So those are other things that are not put on the table that um we do take a look at when we're looking at some of this stuff. And you know, that information, you know, you you speak to the boss, you know, the superintendent. And that information we do have, um and we have
057to look at that based on all the other factors that we're looking at. And I just want to make it clear, when you say redistrict at this point, and you know, we get this idea of we're going to we're going to redistrict Bridgeport, and we're going to put kids back to where they need to go. Some kids are educationally sound now, meaning they've been in a school because of a control transfer for four, five, six years. Now, you want to take a kid out of that you know, and you want to say, "Oh, you got to go to another school now." Our schools right now, there's only like six schools, five or six that are K to 6. So, you really look at it, that's one transition, right? Then our other schools, the majority of
058them are K to 8 or pre-K to 8, however you look at it, and they're really transitioning if they stay in that school all along, they're making one transition. They're going to transition to the high school. So, for those kids who are transitioning based on mobility and and family issues, I I'm going to be working with Carlie. That's something that I think we really need to take a look at. No matter how we plot it out on a map, what we look at, those moves are being made each day. You know, kids are leaving to go to another school, and, you know, um my point is, when we're doing this stuff, you know, it's subject to what it is as of that day. And I do agree with you, Robert, if we're going to do
059something um to where we're looking at things a little bit, we would need to look at redoing those projections at a certain point, just to align us to where we may need to go. And when we start moving programs, we're really going to be out of alignment of program projections, but I think it will be better from a district perspective. We have to start thinking of the child, we got to start thinking of locations, we got to start thinking of families, what we can do to um ease the burden of a parent having to do something that they really don't have to do. We could do it right in your neighborhood. Why are we not and why are we not looking at it? I think those are some of the things we need to really
060focus on when it comes to logistics and different programming. >> Thank you, Mr. Miller. Thank you, Mr. Miller, for your question. Mr. Traynor? >> Yeah, I I just since it was passed around, I want to be clear about something. Uh Mr. um Curafo, when uh PJ, when we district we district based on where the students live, right? Where the concentrations of students are. >> Yeah, so based on their attendance zone. So, each school um has what's called an attendance zone, attendance area that is just aligned and associated to that school. Inside of that, there's there's little um study zone. We have Those are zones of 100 students. So, you kind of compact it around. Um I didn't make the maps just so everyone understands. These are maps that um that were given um by the
061city and the areas of what There was a company, D Young, and not D Young who does our social work. I say that all the time. But, the company D Young that company is the one who put together the um the breakdown of what the maps look like and what the quadrant areas look like. What Mike and I do is we take the data and we overlay the data based on where they said it was aligned. That's a whole different thing if we're going to go look at redistricting. I know there are some areas that we have a challenge that we need to move kids cuz what the company said doesn't make sense cuz you can go right out the door right down the street and there's a school. So for whatever happened at that
062time that needs to be looked at and you know realigned at a certain point but I don't want to go there yet. You know but that's just something we need to do. >> But we don't district based on political districts. >> No. We don't district based on political. Now in the past I can't speak of that. I can speak when I got into the position that it's all about where the attendance zone is. >> That's where that was the house. >> Where students live. >> And what the need is. The concentrations in the neighborhood. >> Yes. Yeah. >> Not political districts. >> No. And and you know I I we do find because we have software that I think everyone would would kind of you know when we give it to you would be interested
063in saying why don't these children who are in this district go to this school. Now some of it is a control transfer but it's not everyone of them. So when you're really looking at things we're also looking at from an enrollment perspective. Did you have a control transfer? Were you supposed to be in another school? Are you using another address that is associated with a different school but your attendance zone is in this school. We have a lot of that going on too where do we know if it's the proper address? No. We don't have anyone I think right now special ed has one person who can go out and look at addresses. The district has no one else who can go out and say I need to check on A B or C and
064see if they still live in Bridgeport. And that's one of the other issues that we're trying to work on with the enrollment Saturday enrollment room is to figure out who these outliers are and the question is why do you want to come to Bridgeport public schools if you don't live in Bridgeport. It may be because they've been here and they want their child to, you know, finish up in eighth grade. There could be many factors on on on why a child does that. But we are finding them, and we're finding them as we speak. And those are some of the things that um also playing part in are they even our students who we're, you know, educating. Now, I know education is education, but we also look at taxpayers and what we have to do
065um to make it right. So, we're starting to look at that stuff also to try to get a better handle on on, you know, who's in our schools. But no, it's it's it's done by the attendance zone. Um and we do have attendance zones, so we can give you a map if you want to see it of the attendance areas of each school that will outline what that looks like. Thank you. >> [clears throat] >> Thank you. Thank you, everyone. And for the record, the reason I let um Mr. Garcia talk first because we already know but not all of his family. So, you know, that I respect that. That's the reason we did he had something to do with after that's why I let him talk first. But I'm going back with the agenda.
066I know we have a public a public speaking. So, please be sure um the people that are going to speak we got 3 minutes. We have a Mostani of the first person I want to call the City Council Maria Pereira. >> Good evening. I'm City Councilwoman Maria Pereira. I represent the 138th District and I just want to be clear Edison and Barnum school will not be closing. Um this is what the map will look like for my address. The entire left side of Boston Avenue, which is a state highway, was I-95 before I-95 was built. It goes from Maine to Florida. It's one of the most dangerous, most heavily trafficked state roads in Connecticut. We would have one school near the Trumbull line all the way near Vazzy's and there would be none on the
067left side of Boston Avenue and there would be six neighborhood schools on the opposite side. So, we won't be having that. Number two is you have an extensive school closing policy that you all have not followed in any single way or fashion, and we sued Dr. Ramos over this when he tried to close Dunbar School in 2010. We sued him. I was instrumental. I raised over half of the money for that lawsuit, and within 10 10 days of filing that lawsuit, he withdrew the school closure. You are under statute of board making a policy-making board. You have one person that you supervise, the superintendent, and you make policies that you want students, staff, teachers to follow, but you don't want to follow your own policy on school closing. So, that will be addressed. I already
068have a plaintiff from Beardsley. We're trying to find a plaintiff from Edison School. Number three is Mr. Carrafa said that we don't We're not here to talk about school closings, but your own expect specifically says that the New East End School is to replace Hall, Edison, and Beardsley, and it says they're pre-K through sixes, so you don't even know what your grade levels is cuz Edison and Hall does not have pre-K at all and never has. It also says that Beardsley was built in 1904. That school burned to the ground. There was a new Beardsley built 10 years later, so you don't even know when your schools were built. Um and there's a number error in You did an expect for 840 students, and then earlier this year you took away 90 kids. How's it
069become more expensive to build then? That's what I want to know. Uh Edison and Hall were built as bomb shelters. They're built with the finest materials. Beardsley School is also 76% capacity and doesn't have K through eight. You just put K through eight in it, it's going to be really well at capacity, and the state standard is no high school should be over 80% capacity, and no elementary middle school should be over 90%. And Mr. Carrafa, you said Gerald Johnson is over capacity, and it is. And if you redistricted, what you would do it would you move kids to Columbus, which is neighboring and at 77% capacity, and Curiel, which is at 66. That's why you should redistrict, which you haven't done in three decades. Boston Avenue's data, it's one of the most dangerous intersections
070and sections in Bridgeport. Every time you see a book pull out on Boston Avenue, it's in the top 25, top 15 most dangerous injury-prone intersections in the city. All of these dark colors, the dark purple, red, and yellow, top 3% of most most dangerous stretches of road, and we want kindergarten to 8K is to walk that across the street. Not going to happen. I run that district, and that's a promise. >> Mr. President, have a uh big slot by final page. It's tremendous. You're really welcome to sit down in the chair, please. No worries. Thank you. tip. All right, I want to show you how to park in Department of Veterans Affairs meeting. Thank you for coming. You're really welcome. >> Good evening, everyone. Um I spoke before some of you on Monday, April 27th,
071regarding the fact that the Bridgeport Military Academy um has not been given a space for next school year. Um I'm a faculty member at BMA for over 10 years. Um also a delegate-at-large for Bridgeport Education Association. And I'm also a proud Bridgeport resident. I came before you on Monday as we have not been spoken to by anyone since September regarding where our school will be located next year. Not sure if you're aware, but our school was separated earlier this school year. Our senior class was placed into Bassick High School, and grades 9th through 11 remained at the 164 Iranistan location. Um thankfully, we were reunited, um, but that was very disruptive as many teachers had to pack up all of their belongings. Um, some teachers just simply had to unpack them back to their classroom.
072Some teachers had to move and then they had to move back again. It caused a great disruption for our school, um, our staff, our students, and I just am here again today to advocate for our school that we have a space together that is comparable to the location we're at at 160 Renaissance Avenue. Um, if you don't know about the Bridgeport Military Academy, we are a first responder and military school. We have graduated dozens of students who currently or formally served in the armed forces and first responders. I'm very passionate about it as I come from a family of military veterans and first responders. Um, and again, I'm just here to advocate for us to have a space to call home for next year. >> Thank you, Ms. Watson. Appreciate it. Um, we have, um,
073order in the agenda and discussion regarding the process for Bridgeport Learning Center and Bridgeport Military Academy and Mr. O'Grady. >> May May I just clarify one thing? What I spoke about ICE, I just, you know, people were texting me so I want to make it clear. We have not had any incidents with ICE in Bridgeport. Um, at this point, that That doesn't mean that the parents, you know, at this point aren't afraid, but there are no ICE agents who have come in and, you know, come into our schools or done anything like that. Just want to make that clear, um, in case somebody's watching. Um, yes, sir. >> We have had ICE in Bridgeport. Maybe not in the schools is what we're talking, not at the school. You need to be clear. ICE has not
074tried to do anything in our schools. Our schools are safe spots, safe havens for our children, right? And we have maintained that throughout, you know, probably throughout the school year. As we stated in the beginning of the school year. But but ISIS a factor in our city um in so far as they are a presence in our city. I know because I know people who have been at the courthouses helping protect people um at those courthouses where ISIS have been in the presence. Um so it is a factor in our city. Yeah. And it is a factor that is affecting people's um consciousness and behavior. And absolutely as it is that we haven't experienced but other major cities like Los Angeles and Minnesota and you know, Minneapolis and all. And um Chicago and places like
075that. We've fortunate that way. But ISIS unfortunately been a presence in our state. >> So I want this one more clarifying question that was brought up. When we talked about overcrowding, those children who are overcrowded, they are put into a different school. So the school is not overcrowded when you look at that. What happens is when we find that a school that is overcrowded capacity, those students are then moved based on the district provided if if we try not to have any transportation at this point, try to locate the closest school to where they're at. But in cases where we can't find the school that is within walking distance, then it is the district's responsibility to get that student from point A to point B. And not that we have those, but it would be
076our responsibility to do that. >> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And I'm very I'm very happy you clarified about the ice because I received information about that. Yeah. But we can try to say thank God we don't nothing. We have never had no had nothing in the school. And trust me, for the worst possible member of our staff, and what not, I'm going through our parents going, you know, nervous and stuff like that. And you know, we are team, we're not going to allow that, you know, so I want to be sure the parents and the students and staff to be sure we not we prepare for it because I know that they already have a plan. Um, thank you for that. Um, so >> It it is very important for people to understand the district
077has prepared. And the district is prepared to try, you know, to be prepared to deal with it. Should that come up. And it hasn't come up, thank God. >> Thank God. >> Um, but it there is there are there are people who are preparing in our community, you know, for the unfortunate event that ICE is in our community. Uh, and ICE has been in our community. And ICE has been in Connecticut, as we know from recent events up in Wallingford. Uh, you know, so we have to always be vigilant. Um, and there are people in our community who are vigilant and trying to be prepared. Thank God. >> One of the reason we're here is to protect our kids. That's why we are here. That's our job. >> Absolutely. That is our job. >> Yeah.
078Thank you, gentlemen. Um, so as I say, um, discussion regarding the process of Bridgeport Learning Center and Bridgeport Military Academy. I believe Mr. Vivian, you have the >> Yeah, so so right now, um, we've been looking at, um, we've been looking at multiple plans on what we would do with, um, Bridgeport Military Academy. Um, at this point, um, right now, uh, we have a plan in with the state, as everyone knows. And we also have a plan right now that we were looking at to get them a facility to be able to, um, utilize right now for, um, uh, to call home. The facility's master plan at this point also has a um plan for Bridgeport Military Academy. And that is, you know, up a little bit, but it's also looking at what we can
079do in the future to be able to support the Bridgeport Military Academy with having their own building. Um again, logistics right now and where they would go, um Dr. Avery will um be meeting up with the school I think on Friday to um to have a discussion on um exactly what's going on. I'm not at liberty to speak of a few things because it some of the things that we have right now are still um with the delegates and um when we get word back from them, then um Dr. Avery will come back and make sure that um he has that conversation. Um just to for the record, um no one's hiding anything. Um in fact, I think the district is trying to um take a situation um that was done maybe five or six
080years ago or whatever it may be, maybe seven, um and trying to um help Bridgeport Military Academy um get to where they need to be. Um there were some decisions made with prior administration. Um and again, when you change administration, this is one of the issues that we have that, you know, one superintendent can make one decision and now we're three or four more be by the time that happened. And things change and plans change and um things happen. So, um I'm going to leave it at that um and say that the district has um um Bridgeport Military Academy um and we are looking to do what's best for them, what's best for the district. And um tomorrow um Dr. Ravery will be meeting to discuss that and talk about that. Um I just wanted
081to make it clear that we had multiple plans, contingency plans, just in case one did not work. Um and at this point uh you know, we're a firm believer that we want to see Forestville Military Academy succeed. We understand that they have um one of the highest, if not the highest, graduation rate. Program's unique. Um everything that they've talked about um as far as during our um board meetings is absolutely true. It's it's unique in what they do. My son's a Marine, um still an active Marine right now. Um so I understand the importance of what that means. Um due to the fact I'm still going through that every day. And um my son was in Japan, my son was in in Australia, my son's in California, he's all over the place. So understanding all
082that and understanding what it can do, the district is looking to fully support the sport military academy in the best way that we can due to the circumstances that we have been given to us. I do want to make it clear that this is not Dr. Ravery. This is something that's been handed down. That all we're trying to do is make it right. Um and that's where we are right now. And I'm hoping um that you understand, just like the we're hoping the public understands. And tomorrow Dr. Ravery can speak with everyone and you know, have that conversation of what school's going to look like for you guys um next year. Let me uh Let me add something to this uh which I you know we have we're sort of halfway there. I've been chair
083of the ad hoc advocacy committee on the funding plan. I look at this facilities master plan as a Blackham former Blackham teacher. Blackham was supposed to be at the top of the list 10 15 years ago. I understand your frustration. Blackham was supposed to be fixed. I don't know how Winthrop got fixed the second time when Blackham still hasn't been fixed. There's nothing that frustrates me more as a former Blackham teacher to know that Winthrop's getting a second refurbishing and Blackham is still not being fixed. I live in the Edison neighborhood two blocks from Edison. Edison has been needing repair since my daughter started in 1993. And my granddaughter will be going to Edison this fall. So things like this don't get fixed quickly. And so the frustration level of the shell game we play
084with buildings we have had the I remember balance on the high school with Harding when he planned for 850 and it went to 1150 in middle of construction. I remember the Rubik's Cube we did at Central. of construction. And Bassick just got completed and I joked with PJ earlier about the numbers game not building it big enough because the state insists on us using smaller lesser numbers to accommodate the need we have. For some reason all the dwindling suburbs affects their thinking and they assume everybody's shrinking. And we're not. So the frustration on all of this and then not letting us put students into a facility that has 4 500 extra spaces is ridiculous. Just just completely ridiculous. So, in this finance thing we're hopefully going to get the money we need and not have
085to make more cuts. That's the game we're fighting in Hartford. Who you know, while the governor and people are saying they got a funny. They just don't spend it wisely. We all know that's not true. But they all There's people up there saying that it's true. So, we're going to see over the next week the deal got cut in the last few days. The devil is in the details of that deal. So, as we're working on the devil details and I was on the phone this today with people about the details. We're going to see what those details are and how it's going to impact us. And we'll learn that. It'll roll out over the next probably beginning of next week and we'll we'll find out some of those details. Um so it's just incredibly
086frustrating and and I completely share what has been laid out and I don't know what Dr. Avery's going to tell you tomorrow. I don't. Um but I'm sure he will lay out the best he can. But why why this has to happen is just ridiculous. Why are students, whether they're the students at BMA who are deserving completely deserving to keep in my neighborhood which are completely deserving. Um regardless of what my councilwoman says. Um the uh you know, it's just all over our city have to go through this. Um and you see the building plan we had which you know, if we go forward with any of these plans, it's 4 or 5 years down the road that any of begins to come to come to fruition. So, it's it's You just you you have
087every reason to want to scream. Um and it's fully justifiable. So, hopefully you have a productive discussion tomorrow with the superintendent. Um I don't know what that's going to be um cuz I haven't heard any recent uh developments from our personal uh but it is just incredibly frustrating. I share it with you. Um but >> if I may, I know that when the deal was made um for Winthrop School, one of the deals was that they keep Winthrop students together. Um our problem is swing space, as we know. When when we have a building, they I wasn't in any of this before. Everyone looks at me. This is just the way that it is. Swing space is one of those things that um God forbid if something happened to a school. Like for instance, Blackham,
088where we have a thousand kids. We don't have anywhere to put a thousand kids. What I'm saying is even if we had to split up 500 and 500, to just make that happen with construction. So, that's some of our reasons that instead of giving some of the buildings back, you know, some of the things we do, I think, you know, you we really need to think about what we can do. Now, obviously, everything comes with a cost. I don't want to go there and think about that, but I also want to talk about those areas of need that Bridgeport has. Um we do have evacuation plans and if things happen, what if we do what ifs? What if something happened in a certain district and we could it was a flood or something else to
089where we couldn't bring kids back into a building. What would we do? Those are things we ask all the time and those are things that we say, "Wow, we don't have a space to put those kids. Do we have to now do a hybrid session of learning? Do we have to do a full virtual session? What do we do if we come into one of those situations? So, all of those I keep getting asked all the time, and I don't have all of the answers for what we would or wouldn't do. But, I will say that that's some of the reason that that came into space when um BMA BMA going into BASSIC. The difference was they under projected BASSIC and did not realize that BASSIC was going to have a whole bunch of other
090children um that were going to be there, and it wasn't going to work. So, that's some of the issues that transpired during that. >> I went to school on a year on a shared space school. This was in another state. And those things are all horrible. >> Thank you, Mr. Trout. Mr. Weston, I know your hand was up and go down. You have anything to say before we're done? >> Uh >> Do you hear me? >> Can you Can you hear me? >> Yeah. I see your hand was up and then go down. You have anything to say? >> Yeah, I I wanted to ask if if if how do we get to listen uh to the meeting? Is there a way that that we can listen in on a meeting with Dr. Abel and
091the and the staff tomorrow or is that like a private meeting? >> It's not a notice meeting. It's a It's a meeting with the I I assume you can go there, but I it's not a broadcast meeting. Do you hear us? >> So, I asked Dr. Abel to speak to my staff to let give him an update, and uh and that was the time I had available 3:00 tomorrow on my campus. >> Right. So, 3:00 tomorrow at BMA. >> All right. Good. That was uh Commander Lent. All right. BMA. If you don't mind, I'm sorry. >> No, no, not Not at all. Not at all. You know, I'm very glad you brought up That's what I'm saying. It's It's not a broadcast meeting. It's just a pri- It's a private meeting. It's a private meeting.
092I assume that you can go there, but you check with the superintendent. >> You have to ask. >> Okay, I'll do that. Thank you. >> Okay, wait. Okay. All right, I'll get you back on this. All right, good. >> Um as the chair of the committee, yes, I I would I would listen to you because that's the reason that we're here and then you guys place, you know. I want you to be I want you to understand everybody what we're going to. >> I apologize with all respect. I just want a quick clarification. So, this this you're telling us there was a You did have a meeting with the superintendent. The superintendent had a conversation with everybody? >> No. >> So, the plans that you have, the backup plans, the contingency plans, all these plans
093that we had, >> That's a cabinet. So, was it It was discussed in cabinet. >> But the superintendent might not have anything for us tomorrow. >> He He may. He may not. I mean, right now we're waiting on um one thing that's up with the state and um it's in the Senate and I am not sure if tomorrow is the day that it happens or if it's Monday or Tuesday. So, that's why I said I'm not I'm not at liberty to say cuz I really don't know, but um I know the bill has passed the house and it's at the Senate right now. That's all I can say and um >> That could be a May 6th deadline. >> He also He also has a a meeting with the State Department of Ed on Fridays,
094too. >> And everything everything is a protocol. >> Yes, he has that regular meeting with them. Where he may get more information out of them cuz that's not required that that's not dependent on any bill. So, there's there's a couple of balls in the air there, some of which may be dependent on legislation, some of which is dependent on State Department of Ed um approving. And I will I will say that as as Mr. Traynor said >> Am I right about that? >> You're absolutely right. Mr. Traynor said the State Department of Education is fully aware of the BMA issue. Um they have been aware since they've been in here, so they fully know what's going on. So, I just want to make that clear so you have an understanding. Um the ball will not
095drop. Um I'll I'll leave it at that. Um that's why we have multiple plans to be able to support Bridgeport Military Academy in the way that we should be supporting Bridgeport Military. >> Mr. Cafa is regarded as the staff person to be somewhat of a politic than I am me. Um the State Department of Ed has not has been less than collaborative in times with the Bridgeport Board of Ed. Um and it has been frustrating for us. Um when we ask for simple, straightforward answers and get cryptic answers, and that's about as politic as I can be. But you can put in more colorful words in there if you like. Uh >> Everything Everything is like I told you on the Monday, everything is a process. It's you know, the the reason I'm not going
096to do the decision is the board that makes the decision. You have to read the committee, and then you want to talk with the staff, and then you got to come back in another special meeting, talk about what's going on with the plan. You know, it's a process. It's not something we're going to do in 1 month, in 2 months. We want to be sure, you know, all you know, the staff be okay, the student be okay. And of course, with Commander Lynn, he will be the door. You know, that's this school has to be, you know, the way it is because as I told you, I know boxing's it's passion, but BMA, too. You know, you guys know that. So, you want to be sure everything is correct. You do not listen negative rumors.
097You have one big choice. To call Dr. Avery. He will listen to you. He will make it up for me because he know that's what we want. Any staff, any person, any any thing they don't know nothing or rumor or something like that, go straight to him. And he will listen to you. He will sit down with you. He will answer you any questions. This is the way not early people they say a lot of negative or rumors or stuff like that and I don't like that because then they go out and then everybody go crazy. No, I told everybody talk with Dr. Avery and he will answer you. One of the board members maybe they can talk to you. But that's what we here for to be sure and that's what I mean in
098bringing this to the committee. We don't bring it last week. We got the situation happened one of the uh Mr. Garcia, but that's why we bring it, you know, today. So, we want to be clear what we going through, you know, what has to be the next step. And I have a lot of faith for Mr. Garcia. I have a faith a lot of with the uh family. And of course, you guys and Dr. uh Commander and you got Commander, too. So, I know everything's going to be okay. Just when you heard negative something like that, you contact Dr. Avery. He will He will answer you. Uh Mr. Medina, you have any question? Please be brief because we got to be done. >> Oh, I'm glad. Thank you very much. I appreciate your time. Um
099This is towards the cabinet. I know that the Avery's not here. Um Is there any location has been looked at to build a permanent space for Bridgeport Military Academy at the moment? >> Did you say? >> So, in the facilities master plan, we do um there is a space designated um that we would propose and like to uh build um a brand new Bridgeport Military Academy. >> Do you know what that space is? >> Uh I do. It's um right now it's on the Park City Magnet uh lot and it's part of um a priority two construction projects that are on there which also um looks at a new uh Park City Magnet and Classical Studies campus together as well as um a uh Bridgeport Military Academy. >> Thank you very much. Um I asked
100that question because this is the first time that I heard the word build come out in in conversation and in looking so this is what I had read. So I was was wondering about the space because that's what it says that a facility with construction for a permanent facility was being looked at and this is the first time that I hear about it in this capacity. So thank you for that small update. Back to Mr. Newton. >> Thank you, Mr. Newton. And thank you uh Billy for the information. Uh Maybe you know, you never know after the whole three you know, you know, we find another place where we could go for. >> That's true. >> Yeah, maybe for right now we can say that. We know we will never know later. We have you
101know a better place so we never know. We have to pray God in this short stay. >> Absolutely. We going there. >> Yeah, it's a master plan. >> So I mean, you know, if if there is another area that we we we deem viable, the possibility could be there and you're looking at the future. But that's what we're looking at now to support um Bridgeport Military Academy also in that manner. I'm again, you know, George is better adapted to funding mechanisms and how you go about it. But those are things that we've been talking about and you know, hopefully in the future we can realize some of this. >> I would say that I have a faith with George and all of you because I know all of you guys going to do that thing
102what is supposed to be done. And as I say, any negative thing you can report, contact Dr. William and tell me he will give you an answer but don't listen what is out there because we don't like it out there. Negative way don't I don't want parents go crazy either the students, you know. So trust me that we try to do the best for our PMA and BMA and they are that's what we are here for. Question number 56. So be thankful everyone to be here. Thank you for all all of you being online users or I make a motion to adjourn the meeting. >> I'll do chair. >> I second the meeting. >> Yeah, you got a second. >> I I second it. Thank you. Thank you. All in favor? I. Goodnight everyone. Take
103care. God bless you all. >> Thank you.