Special Meeting of the Instruction & Support Services Committee Wed 1/28/2026

001I motion made seconded and pass. Second item on the agenda 12 to the full board. the approval of the Boston public school of Bridgeport public school uh debate uh league's trip to Boston March 5th through 8th 2026 to participate in the Boston debates debates Boston debates leagues we have a typo here Boston debate leagues tournament at Boston Latin Academy John Winthrop and intra district m discovery mag is presenting this to be you can sit there and present it. You don't have to stand up in front of the crowd. >> Um be comfortable and just tell us about this. >> We have tried for those who are new to streamline field trip presentations. We used to get voluminous packages um with all the approvals and everything. We are moving on the presumption that all of that

002has been done by professionals professionally and uh we don't need to review every tedious little bit um that you have done your job professionally. Um so you can give us an a presentation of the field trip and what you're going to be doing. I I know that some bride that my mother attempted to go out. So why don't you tell us about this tree? >> Well, thank you so much. My name is Susan Barers. I am a seventh and eighth grade teacher at Discovery Magnet. I'm here tonight speaking on behalf of Mr. Ron Rice who is currently there is the um MLK day debate is going on right now. So he asked me if I could come and step in. So our wonderful debaters had the opportunity to go to Boston to participate in the

003Boston Debate League middle school debate. So it's a tournament from March 5th through 8th. We will be taking the train. There will be eight students, four from Winthrop and four from Discovery. And um our kids go, it's a policy style debate. Um I believe the topic is rare earth minerals. So our kids have been studying up on them and we are taking the training. We're going to go there and the debate is two days. So we go and debate on Friday and Saturday and then we are returning on Sunday. This rare earth stuff has been very topical given that they have to debate over Greenland as about the earth minerals that they might need in Greenland. Yes, >> I just want to add that these are >> um I'm sorry. I I now want to

004call attention to the fact that committee member Willie Medina has joined us online and go ahead. >> The debating team has this grant funded was a $75,000 grant that this is a part of and paid by the grant. >> This would be the grant that we got. >> Yeah. >> This year state department. >> This a job though, >> right? that our state senator helped arrange. >> Any questions? >> Any other questions about that or comments? >> Just add that we plan on winning. >> Well, it really is top what I said is true. >> Um there has been obviously a great deal of news about Greenland. Um the rare earths uh have been very topical underneath all of the about Greenland and whether we want to take it over or not is the fact

005that as global warming has occurred, more and more of Greenland has become exposed and more and more of the um natural resources uh in Greenland or underneath the ice of Greenland is uh are being u envied or wanted by various uh countries in the world including us. and that has been the underlying source of the controversies up there. So it's it is a very important topic and something the United States has been envying throughout the world. Um and this is a need as the country as the world goes forward with the uh development of technological developments I should say. So have fun and good luck. Uh any questions from uh yes um I see that everything is all set with the nurse you know the permission you know >> all the packets have been the

006parents they know I see that um it's going to be the Amtrak you know the train >> yeah cost because when I go to Boston you know sometime the crowd is something crazy people sometime they don't see the student the people they want to just shoot and get inside the train have experience Um so they will say you know parents they have to understand that have to be on time because they don't be on time they would lose you know the time you know >> there will also be seven adults going for the kids so we have them all >> cover you know that big break the seven adults are the parents or staff >> uh it's staff so I don't believe there are any parents gone >> the parents >> and There's a nurse

007and then the rest of teachers. >> The nurse signed off on the packet. Then the teachers, Mr. Rupe is going and I believe there's a school from Stratford that's also attending. >> Plug is wait I'm confused now. The set of adults they're all Bridgeport adults or they're adults. >> We have two adults going from Discovery. I believe there are two adults going from I think there's two from Y and then Mr. himself and then there will be two adults going from FL >> so there how many students going from flood >> uh four >> any questions Mr. Medina? No, thank you. Just a small comment. Uh would love to challenge them to be the very first to come back with some students to give us a report on how was the trip and their experience.

008I look forward to hearing from somebody. >> Great. >> As always, we appreciate that. >> Mr. Woodson, any questions? >> No, not for me, Mr. Tber. Thank you. Well, um then uh can I have a motion to refer this to the full board for approval? >> Moved by Mr. Benahan, seconded by Mr. Medina. >> Sure thing. Thank you. >> All in favor? >> I motion made second and pass very much. Thank you. >> Uh, next item on the agenda, referral to the full board for approval of the interd district discovery magnet schools June 1st through 3rd, 2026 overnight field trip to outdoor classroom in ivory town. Ivory Town. >> Yes. >> Hi, I'm Alicia Mount. I'm the science teacher at Discovery Net for grades five and six. I'm excited to about outdoor classroom, formerly known

009as nature's classroom. Um, a unique learning experience for sixth graders. We are going on June 1st to the 3rd to the Ivory location at Incarnation Camp in Bush on Bushy Hill Road in Deep River. Uh, we transport has confirmed our reservation. The trip costs $348 per student. We're currently working on fundraising still to lower the cost. Boys and girls are housed in separate dorms. There's two beds in a room. Private bathrooms and showering facilities. Adult will also have a private room and a separate bathroom facility. There'll be two female teachers and two male parents of the boys that are attending. At this time, there's 34 students going. Safety measures are in place, including trained staff, emergency procedures. There's a full-time on-site medic that handles all administration of care, medications, and paperwork. Emergency plan was attached

010to the board of ed field trip packet. There is a packing list provided to all the students of what to bring. The families fill out a family packet. The chaperones fill out a separate chaperone packet. So all the information and details are on record. >> Uh could you repeat? You said 348 per student. How many students? >> 34 students, 348 per student, $334. >> Over above the 348 per student. >> Yeah. >> 334 >> for the bus. Mhm. And how much uh how many uh adults you said >> four adults from discovery to male parents of boys attending and Miss Leafant who teaches ELA grade five will be attending with me and then the staff usually is five or six of the outdoor classroom staff. >> And you said you're going to and lower the

011cost too. >> Yeah, we've been fundraising throughout the year. Most of the fundraising at this point is covering the bus and then maybe about 15 to $20 off per student in the middle of collecting our second payment in February. [clears throat] >> Sorry, this Let me Yeah, let me just finish this. So, it fundraising does the bus at 15 to 20 per student for the sake of my math just easier. Um the 20 per student. So the 328 per student would be paid for by >> So the 348 right now the parents paid it'll be $200 the end of February >> have to pay for that >> and they'll have to pay an additional probably the whole the trip will probably end up being about 325 per student. >> Great. Sorry. Just had to finish

012that line. Okay. >> Uh Mr. Medine, any questions? >> No sir. Thank you. >> Mr. Woodson, any questions? No, sir. remember back to >> um sorry this is going to be the the trip >> June 1st to the third three days >> all the requests you know process about you know the same day y >> okay I'll take a motion to approve Um the referral to the full board for approval of the intra district discovery magnet schools June 1st through 3rd 2026 overnight field trip to the outdoor classroom in the I regran Mr. Medina do you want seconded by Mr. Medina all in favor say I. I >> I thank you sir. So motion made, seconded and passed. Item four on the agenda, referral to the full board for approval of the interd district discovery

013magnet schools May 13 through 15, 2026 overnight field trip to Washington DC. >> Hi, good evening. My name is Jennifer Brown. I teach seventh and eighth grade ELA at Discovery Magnet School in Bridgeport. >> Tell us what you're going to do in DC or about the trip. >> So, we contracted Silver Mill student traffic to plan an itinerary for the trip. It's about 7 It's $700 per student. There are 38 students going. We're taking a coach both bus, the bus, the bathroom. Uh we're leaving on May 13th about 7 o'clock in the morning and we'll be back Friday time. determined which is the 15th. There are 12 chapons, four teachers um 12 and eight parents that are going. There'll be two male chaperons and the ratio is about one chaperone to three students. The teachers

014might have four students like two teachers. >> Sorry, how many teachers did you say? >> There's four teachers and eight parents. >> Oh, I see. Eight parents, >> which makes 12 >> four teachers. I gota >> backgrounds. >> Yep. >> And what are you going to be doing? >> Uh, we're going to be visiting the African m African-American Museum, Smithsonian, Smithsonian Zoo, the Arlington Cemetery. There is a visit to a Capitol tour with a visitor center there. I don't believe we're going to the White House. It's like the White House. It's an experience. Yeah, this is a room with a video. We'll be seeing very little of the warehouse. So, and then the meals are included. >> Is this already set up and everything already? >> Everything is set. There is >> any changes in

015availability of access to >> Well, it changed the federal government. >> Oh, you mean if something's closed and we're there? Um Josh is aware and he would make adjustments should that need to be as we get closer to the time. >> Yeah. >> Josh is from Silver. >> Yeah. Our >> the travel company. >> Yep. >> Uh any questions, Mr. Medina? >> No sir. Thank you very much. >> Yes. I forgot to ask who was um the The kids going to be eating the hotel, the restaurant. >> So, there's breakfast at the hotel every morning. And then when we get there, the first night is Silver Hill Diner. Then the next day, it is I want to say it's Carmines, but it could be Harvard Cafe depending on availability. And then when they go for

016lunch, the tour company gives them $20 so they could go to the cafeteria and get their own food. And then they to bring their own money on the way down if we happen to stop at somewhere to get food or they can bring their own food on the way back. Um if we stop they could buy food or they can bring food with them. >> That's that's um but it's going to be part of the cost. So separate >> the if we stop somewhere and they use it back and they want to buy McDonald's. That's their own but they will get breakfast is included in the cost and their lunches and dinners included in the cost. >> And they do know somebody can alert you or something you know something like >> I have celiac

017disease. So I noticed but you don't know the the record something's there you know. >> Absolutely. >> Yeah. Everything's in there. The nurs's document with um allergies. We would have we have that powerful anyways but that's listed on there and she would give us anything we needed for the trip. U we also have a safety plan um included in the trip packet. >> You say I've got eight parents. other parents, you know, ask people questions is you should um they part of the school, they be involved, you know, they know what's going on. So you guys know, >> yeah, these are discovering parents that go on the trip for our Yeah, >> those are fact numbers. >> Thank you. Any other questions, Mr. Woodson? Anybody? >> All good. Thank you, Mr. Tre. I'll make a

018motion to approve the uh field trip to Washington DC on May 13th through 15 206 to refer to the full board. Moved by Mr. Benahan, seconded by Mr. Medina, seconded by Mr. Traber. All in favor say I. I. >> I. Dean, are you voting? Still here to vote? Motion made, seconded, and bad. The fifth item on the agenda, to the All board for approval of the leis and John win. >> So discovery is leaving us. >> If you don't mind at all. >> All right. Good night. Thank you. >> Yes. Thank you everyone. >> Now I have Morin and >> Yes. This is the March 30th, April 1st overnight trip to the outdoor classroom in >> I'm Laura Bla and I am the bilingual tag teacher at L Bunny. Um, and this is Pam Musanti

019with me and she's the uh third, fourth and fifth grade uh tag teacher at John Lrop. Um, luckily for you all, you have already heard a presentation about outdoor classrooms so I'll save you on all that. Um the difference for us is that we are going obviously on March 30th. Uh we would be leaving um about 8:00 a.m. uh just about and then we would be arriving back on April 1st uh probably around 2 p.m. That's been uh what we've done in the past. Um uh we have a total of nine shaper rooms. Oh, sorry I miscounted. My apologies. 12 shaper rooms. Uh three of them are teachers. So the two of us uh uh the other TAG teacher at Lithra and the rest are uh parents and they are parents for the students that

020will be attending. Uh we are taking TAG students from grades fourth uh fifth and sixth grade um in both Marin and Wrath. Um we had to include food is provided um from outdoor nature's outdoor classroom and they changed the name sorry um yeah they provide breakfast lunch and dinner for us and they provide sleeping quarters um like the other teacher had said boys on one side girls on the other not they're not allowed to cross over um and nature's classroom room staff are with the students the entire time except when it's free time then that's when the chaffer rooms are there at the chef rooms we also accompany the students in each of the groups and >> how many kids and how much money >> um we have a total of I believe 40 >>

02140 for you and then 14 for me so about 54 students in total um and then the money can you just talk about that because you were ignoring on top of that. >> So, TAG had a grant that we used the money for. So, we had $15,000 down. So, the cost for our students are only $135. Um, and they've already paid their $50 deposit and we're collecting the remaining $85 from each student, which is going quite well, personally, I think. Um, and they also have the the outdoor classroom packets, which notifies the nurse of any um medications or anything. and all phone numbers and everything. So, the parents don't only do a permission slip for us, they do a whole packet for outdoor classroom. >> And this includes obviously any, as she said, medications, any

022allergies. Um, and then the staff is aware of allergies when they're cooking the food. So, to make sure that children are given what they >> You've been there before? >> Yeah, this is our twice already so far. This would be our third trip this time of year, right? >> What's that? >> What's the difference at this time? Actually, we went April. It was early April the first time and it was pretty warm. I mean, they have heat. So, this is the earliest earlier. >> And the packing list, like I told the students, I said, "Give us till the week before the trip and then we'll know what the weather looks like to explain what you should pack." >> Yeah. >> More appropriately. So, >> you know, it could be warm and it could be cold.

023So, Um, I'll take a moment. Uh, any questions? Medina or >> Thank you, sir. >> Yeah, we had T funds from last year. >> So, we used those or else they would have disappeared. So we used those and had the deposit and it helped our students giving it much less of a cost >> because I think you also paid for the busing. >> Yeah, that includes the busing too. We paid for so we have two >> be sure that you have that money, you know, to be sure. >> Yeah. >> Yep. >> And each kid they say how much did they pay? >> Um 135 was the leftover. Yep. >> Mr. Medina, Mr. Woodson. >> No, thank you. >> I'm good. Thank you. >> Okay, then I'll take a motion to refer to the full

024board for approval to Lewis Munoz Marian and John Winthre's March 30th, April 1st overnight field trip to the outdoor classroom in Niger. >> Seconded. Um, all in favor? I I motion made seconded and passed. >> Um very much have a wonderful trip. >> Thank you. Enjoy your evening. Stay warm. >> Yes. You're welcome. Um, start by apologizing to you for the last minute requests. as uh Hughes and I are going to try and sit down two weeks before each meeting to flesh out what we want on the meeting agenda so that you don't get jammed up like this. I do appreciate what you put together recognizing that you all are working hard on the budget. U so I appreciate whatever you put together. If you've come tonight said you didn't have time I would have

025accepted that. So whatever you have here, I appreciate it. >> Happy to share what I have. Um, and when we get to the actual allocations, this report was run on 113. So hoping that we've seen some improvement by then, but we'll we'll we'll get there. Um, so we'll just start with um, thank you for having me here to talk about the pack and PTSO budgets. Um, and so on the next slide, it just talks about, you know, start with the celebration where we are. Um, all of the pack and PTSO budget action plans have been completed. There is one pending submission to the business office and I did speak with that administrator today. The action plan is complete and by the end of this week it will be submitted to the business office. So all

026of those are in there and um, packet PTSL leaders can begin if they haven't already um, to submit their orders. on the next slide. Um, we've talked about this before, but just again the guidance around the P10s. I know Mr. Dre Hollis, we've worked closely to make sure that this process is very well outlined, that parents know what their parent leaders know what their responsibilities are. Uh, the school knows what their responsibility is. And then for record keeping within the school, we do encourage them to maintain a binder um so that those records are kept in house as well. On the next slide, we'll just talk quickly about the expenditure benchmarks. So realizing that some of the there was a lot of change in leadership within PAT and PTSOs. uh some elections were held, new

027roles um were had and so there was for some schools to get up and running was slightly delayed. Um our where we would want to be as of now would be about 65%. As you can see, if you're reviewing the allocations, we have quite a few schools that are below that benchmark. Michelle and I were just kind of talking about that, reviewing where the schools are. I don't think it's time to panic. I think that it is time to just collect ourselves and start to amb um spending of the funds. Yes. >> Just to make sure because I think you are you're saying on the on the far right column percent used. >> That's correct. >> They should be at 65% used >> if we're following our expenditure benchmarks that we said at the beginning

028of school year. Yes, that is correct. >> Great. Thank you. >> You're welcome. Um and so, you know, this is a really great time. we're coming back from, you know, the the vacation, the holidays. Now, our planning needs to um be underway and the P10s need to be submitted in order to get on track for these benchmarks. Um on the next slide, I just wanted to share I've been supporting Miss Janette Heron on her efforts to support PAC and PTSO leaders. So in collaboration, this is what has been done so far to to support the leaders of the um parent pack and PTSOs. So uh Miss Janette Herren worked with the IT department to be able to assign each president their own BTS email address. We thought this would just help to streamline to be

029able to create a distribution list so that each uh parent leader has that access. So she has been working directly with them to assign them, calling them into um calling them here to be with her and get those assigned. Um so we created that distribution list. Uh Miss Angie Morales from the business office. She provided a very comprehensive training to the parent leaders and I gave you a copy of her presentation as well in case you wanted to look over it. Um she we hosted a virtual training for all parent uh parent leaders and she went over the entire budgeting process. Um we talked about different vendor opport uh vendor options for food as well as educational materials. We went over the expenditure bench lines uh benchmarks the procurement guidelines. And if you take a

030look it's a it's a really great um presentation that she put together and one that we parents were not able to attend, we have it on hand to be able to share with them. >> U Miss Jenna Aaron is offering onetoone u budgeting support as well. So parents are welcome to come here to meet with her in order to support those efforts. [clears throat] And we're planning two professional developments uh for all packet PTSO leaders, not just the presidents. Uh so we have a professional development through ed advance where they'll talk about parent engagement and attendance. And then we're planning an advocacy training. Um Connissance Vickers from the um the mayor's office has offered her services to provide an advocacy training. And so we're in the process of scheduling those two professional developments um for

031February. And just lastly, I'd just like to share um for those of you who were able to attend the very end of November, we had our uh quarterly family resource event where we did our coat drive and had a lot of uh great representation there of our community partners and a lot of parent involvement in that event as well. Like I said, this this report was pulled on January 13th. So, we are hoping and when I come back again, I'm happy to give you an updated report, but we are hoping that there has been saw progress since then. But we are aware of which schools we need to work with and support in order to get caught up with our benchmarks. >> The executive director's interaction agenda will be sending uh weekly reminders. principles to

032be monitoring the balances. >> We call them one-on-one individual just to check and see where they are. >> Yeah, thank you Josh. I really appreciate you know >> I never thought you know your presentation and I told you I can close my eyes and I know it you know I'm very glad you know you and Miss Haron are you know doing this I know Miss Haron have a little tight situation about how to communicate well there's sometime they don't have the email correct they don't have the numbers um sometime they don't go to school and I know she's doing a lot you know she have a whole agenda she's very busy and I know I know she need help you know with situation. Um, can you go back a little bit on what you say

033about the the training, you know, main office for the mayor? I got lost in that part. >> Sure, absolutely. So, um, Janette Herren had asked Constant Vickers from the mayor's office to work collaboratively to offer a training, uh, um, opportunity for all parent leaders just to help them understand what are some ways that they can advocate for their students, for our community. And so, They've just uh started to look at some dates in February. It's at the very initial stages of planning. Uh but we do want to be able to educate families, give them some resources and um they're looking at putting together a template letter template uh letter and then some other templates for them to be able to refer to to use when they're looking to advocate. Because when you say like remember

034all the parents [clears throat] they have to educate parent help the parent you know resource stuff like that no one want to be look like oh they're going to help the students >> right have a workshop including the student the child so that's fine with that course you know the whole time but um my opinion I prefer that's my opinion everybody I have to jump in that pro you know you you and the team >> work for the pack of BTS >> absolutely >> why the reason I don't want to get involved the situation go you know I don't want you I don't want people think different you know because we all have a lot of things to do >> right >> I don't want things get mess >> that's the word I don't want

035things get a mess I want first before school you know I'm very glad they will help but I would like to have you know that's my opinion to have you home with general I'm working with the charges over here not include the city city have a lot they don't want the city come with different ideas they don't want parents get confidence I'm worried about that part that's my thing and um one of the best thing I ask you I don't know if you have reported how much money is in the current commission as that question from last year and I'm still waiting I don't know what is the scare secret because I was the last care during the parent convention 2019 from 2019 to we're in 2026 I don't have no much money there the

036parent convention that I know and I believe they never used it they used a little bit I believe when last year they didn't uh the school and um >> yes it was tough right they held a parents >> yes but I just want to know I'm trying you It's my understanding with the title title funds is they expire if they're not spent at the end of each year then they expire. >> Either they would spend it on something else or uh send the money back and I know we didn't send anything back. So I have to follow up with our department. >> That wasn't an answer from the state. >> I was voting for that for last year and have this now. surprising because I know it was there back in the day would never

037I remember when Maline was here just want to give the information they're coming from the state that the money from the parent convention that would never expire they will be there you know and that was the reason so I would like to full investigation because I think that I'm very surprised if that expiring somebody has to give explanation because they thought and I believe I believe Mr. Ina was with me when we had the meeting that the money was supposed to be there. So I'm very surprised that after so from last year I'm waiting for that and I'm very >> disappointed this way that very big money because it was $9,000 every year. Years back we started with $25,000. That's the way this starting. I was involved for almost 20 years for that. So now

038we got $9,000. Like I said was the last one 2019 and that money is supposed to be roll over. I know that title one in the grand panel for if you don't use the use but this point they never tell us that the money was confirm that and get a trails >> I would like to say that's the report you know I know I know miss um you didn't have a lot but >> it's okay >> I'll take that because if that money lost I wouldn't know why because I told you from last year I'm waiting for that report and now it's Go ahead, Mr. Thank you, >> Mr. Medina. >> Thank you very much. And I just want to um two quick questions and I want to just start by saying that I concur

039with uh Albert Bellham and my experience over the 20 plus years in the district. Uh that parent uh convention money that belongs to the pack as far as for the the whole pack. uh that is a different aside thing and it's always was straight to the right girls that was always uh added and we got confirmation even last year. So I will I am very uh mindful of choosing the words correctly and rather you guys gather their information to make sure before we make comments because that was very um surprising to hear such comment that it's either used it or lose it when that's not the case and it was never said and we've done our research. So please come back to us as soon as possible because that will be my number one agenda

040in the next month. Uh my second question is for um is how many schools uh don't have a pack or PTO's president? Do we have that number if there's any? So to I don't have that information [clears throat] on on PA PTSO presidents, but to the best of my knowledge and understanding because all of the budget plans were submitted from the PA and PTSO leaders that each school has that designated representative. >> Well, I look forward to getting a clear uh answer to that question and the list of those names of presidents and of the pack and PTSO sent to us. That'll greatly be of help because we want to continue to support them together. Absolutely. >> Appreciate that. Thank you. That'll be all, Mr. Traver. >> Mr. Woodson, any questions? >> No, I'm good.

041Thank you. >> No other questions. Thank you. Um, like I said, Mr. Russia, thank you. You know, um, I know you very, you know, I know you guys too far. I'm I'm very like I lost you know you just told me I cannot believe it but I hope not. Um going back to the P10 you know and I believe I sent you that form P10 I know the secretary do different P10 for the packet be said this I want I would like to have the leaders because I don't want leaders have tied and say oh I'm the president I'm doing this and that but they need to work you there for When you represent you, you are represented the school and it's good to have a big hand because they order they know what they

042doing why they order what they have how much money only two person sign documents is the principal and the park president and it's good they have one in the school and and one for the record for the leader in office the one different the one they do the um secretary is different that's the one she sent um for um what's the name >> yeah thank That's different. Some teacher, some um principal get confused. No, the the secretary to uh the Pent is two different people, you know. I did it for for many years and it was a record that everybody know what they have in in the school. It's very important that each they have that, you know, and we can get a training. I will help you. In fact, I told you on so

043many times from last year, I'm here to help you and support you. I'm not here to tell nobody doing nobody's job. here to support you. It's my passion for so many years, you know, everybody know it. So, um the other thing is the vendors. So, we have a list the most vendor. I know it's more vendors. Yeah. >> But we like to have >> the more we use more so the leaders they know >> so I don't get confused what you know that stuff like that. >> It that is yeah that and then we hear that a lot from the parents. And so what I did was I put together and um we added it to this presentation some of the most commonly used. And so we have a list here in this presentation I

044was providing to parents of a vendor list for food and then for supplies. And so just to give them an idea of some of the most commonly used vendors and the other thing we encourage them to do because we can't provide them a list because like you said there's thousands. Um but if they call us we can we can let them know yes that that vendor is approved or they're not. But here's the process to get him approved. >> The thing is I don't know why the city takes so long to get to pay for the vendors and we had you know each day they have the money. I don't know why they think forever right now. I got the I got parents I got vendors they call me I don't get paid I don't

045get paid you know stuff like that. So I got to you know send an email. I don't know why they think forever when the money is it's already here. I know they you know they do the form or whatever and then send out the form why the reason that's I always ask that question why the reason take so long to all these vendor get paid and sometimes that's why the vendors they don't want to do and I feel that because sometimes the vendors they do you know many vendors I have told don't go because you do a good service stuff like that that's a question why it take so long they get when the money We don't ask a grand or we waiting to get approved. The money already there. So >> yeah, I will

046follow up on that. >> Yeah, but I do know and I will say this year so far, I have heard that in the past a lot. This year so far, I've been seeing a much quicker turnaround and I have not heard of that happening yet this year. So I'm hopeful that whatever was called delays in the past, but I don't know the answer to that. I have a DJ they waiting for April last year waiting for his money and I send the information and I don't know him so I will all power to use the email um and he had a patient you know because he loves what he's doing and he help my parents but I don't want to lose you know so sometime you know business is business I always say friendship is

047one thing and business another thing >> and you say something with Roa about the binder >> yes >> to be sure I would love to have to see each parent either some school have a binder let me see if you go or people from the state or somebody let me see your binder we use that you back and each month you have to see the sign sheet what kind of workshop you did what you secure to have that the record and then from there it's your fe and you can see how much money you spend it or you use it and who not say stuff like that another thing is very important I know we always say this the money is for use and for parents to do workshop we all know that it's not

048for the school it's not for the teachers you know stuff like that you know I know we have money there for any teacher like to do workshop I know they get paid for there and I love teachers you know do with parents stuff like that but school have to understand that money is for parents you know to educate I always say and the binder I lovely that and last thing I'm here to help you for you you know to be sure we represent Bridgeport public school I'm very proud for all my my leaders they do amazing job coming in the middle of the night they know I'm a passion and I'm here to help you anything you need me always that's what here for here for one situation for a kid and help a parent

049I'm not here to tell you what you have to do because that's not my job I need it nobody I'm here to take nobody I don't I don't want that either. I'm busy. [laughter] Yeah, I'm just going to support you. You know, anything you know need me, I'm there. But the big question, please let me know as Mr. Lina say the parent convention that told me that I don't know if I can answer. >> Well, I just speaking in general just >> for the overall >> Yeah. Please, I would like to get information. >> No question for Mr. Chair. Thank you. >> Any other questions? Thank you. >> Yes. >> Thank you for everything. Appreciate you going with me. >> Uh, next item on the agenda, item seven, referral to the full board for approval

050of the high school replacement statistics books lab license. That'll work. >> Yes, this is for uh replacing high school statistic books. in pretty bad shape. Uh for a total contract of a total payment of $56,593 round it up. It includes 225 uh books and nine uh licenses, sorry, nine structure instructor, nine instructor editions and then 225 um uh books and lab explain to me what an instructor addition >> teacher guide teacher guide >> sorry >> teacher guide it's been a long day guys >> so 225 books and nine teacher guards >> yes Um so the uh statistic books are just like manual like >> well textbook >> textbooks right and these are used in classes at all all the high schools or where >> I think he ordered to replace the ones that were in

051pretty bad shape across all the high schools. for a particular course. Statistics general course we offer a certain grade level or Mr. Medina I need a motion to approve. Do you have any questions? talk about licenses uh and how many what's the license uh cover as far as years? >> Six years. >> Thank you very much. No question. And uh if you read it from where you're at, sir, I will definitely uh >> motion to refer to the full board for approval of all of the high school replacement statistics books and lab license. >> So move Medina. >> I'll second it. All in favor? >> I motion made and passed. Seconded and passed. made on the agenda is referral to the full board for approval of the goal book I development and progress monitoring. >>

052This should be in the portal as as well. >> You hear that Mr. Medina? It's in the portal. >> Yep. I heard y >> Good evening. Thank you for the opportunity to present and request referral to the full board goal book toolkit. Go book toolkit is a high quality standards align IEP development, instruction design and progress monitoring platform. This platform will improve our IEP development and build staff capacity in developing datadriven present levels, standards aligned goals and progress monitoring. This platform will be purchased with crant funds. The crant will go before the pool board tomorrow. Um we had a demo in November uh and 35 staff members participated and 100% uh responded back in the survey that they wanted access to gold book to 100%. How many? >> 35 35 participated and all 35 responded

053back that they wanted access to this platform. Okay. So, we'll we'll get access to this program. >> Uh it will be our special education teachers, um social workers, speech language pathologists, um occupational therapists. >> So, a lot more than the 35. >> A lot more than 35, but in part of that 35 were teachers and uh speech language pathologists participated. We've also had our supervisors to have a demo with it as well. and all of the feedback has been positive. and our directors, uh, social workers will also have access, our BCDA, so pretty much all of our specialized uh, services and related services staff. Um, I'm looking at this on page three. And what I'm seeing is 133 is for this year and is there 133 for next year too? So, uh, the 133 will

054actually be for it's a combination of the remainder of this school year and if we purchase before June 30th, then that will cover next school year as well. And that's our goal to ensure that we have the funds to and our teachers will have access to it during the summer which is why we're also including to make sure that we start the access uh or start the purchase for 2627 before the summer. So it's not 133 for this school year and next school year. Okay. So the 133 covers from if we vote on it tomorrow we are these things being referred to tomorrow. >> I think >> It's part of the C grant uh which will go so the whole grant will go before the full board tomorrow. >> Sounds like the alliance got approved

055in total and now some of these items will bring in excess of 25,000 purchases. Now you really confused me. 25,000 purchases or 25,000. >> So this platform is more than $25,000. >> Yes. $133,000? >> Yes. >> So is this item voted on tomorrow >> as part of the full C grater? Yes, it's it's included the budget that was presented to operations included gold book and it included other platforms as well and other instructional supplies. So, it's part of the full grant. Uh yes, it's a part of that. >> Okay. So, um it's $133,000 and it'll start immediately. >> When will it end? >> It will end June 30th, 2027. >> The end of the fiscal year 2027. >> Yes. >> So the 133,000 covers over a year, almost a year and a half. >> A

056year and a half. Yes. >> Okay. It's a bit misleading to see it listed twice on page three. That's fine. >> I I see what you're saying. Yes. >> It looks like it's a double. >> It was part of this and then another. Yeah. >> Yeah. It looks like two two expenditures of 133,000 there. >> Yeah. >> And that's why I was confused. Um so it's one expenditure. It's not going to be a second one. >> No. >> See what I'm saying? >> Yes. >> Here, here is one thing. >> Yes. >> When I look at page three, I see another expenditure of 33,000 in the next school year >> and I will and we can table I mean >> no I'm not going to table anything >> you don't get that clarify >> no

057I just >> okay >> that it led to this question that's all >> okay >> just very valid we just want to make sure >> um that it's one expenditure of 133 did we spend the 74 out of seed last year >> no we didn't have seed last year so The C grant is is new. >> Oh, so the 74 is what we spent this year. >> So the 74 will be what's covered for the remainder of this school year. >> Oh, even more confusing. >> Is it broken? The 133 is broken down. 74 is for this year and they're not charging 133 next year, right? >> No. And and I I can go back when I look at this. I see what you're saying. I see. Yeah. Because Because if you look at it

058under the quote notes, it says that it's active until June 30th, 2027. So the 133 covers immediately when we approve through June 30th, 2027. >> And it's the 74 in the 133. >> What's the total cost for this? So for when we approve through June 30th, 2027, it's 133875. Are we currently using this program? >> No, we're not. >> Okay. >> So the pricing summary really is $133,875. >> Yes. Uh, Mr. Medina, >> thank you through the chair. Um, so I'm going to touch start backwards because I want to touch in the same question in line with what you're saying. So, you know, I do the math because I love math. Um, I know that he saw for lack of I don't have my iPad with me right now. I apologize for that, but um,

059you know, you mentioned the 74K. Um, so if it's 74K for the rest of this school year, um, that will bring up next year only being 59K. Um, according to my math. Uh, so if that's the case, my first question will be where is this what you call the C grant? Is that from this year or is that for next year? How is this grant being applied? Is it for this school year that we're using that 133 purchase or are we splitting it between this year C grant the way you call I apologize for not knowing the spelling of this grant and next year. So, the way that it's presented, the the purchase will cover both this year and next school year with the current seed grant that must be expended by June 30th, 2026.

060As long as we have we paid for it to cover through summer school, then it will actually cover this the remainder of this school year and next school year. We are targeted. >> We're target we're targeted to receive additional C grant funds for next school year. Uh and we will use some of those funds to cover the remainder of next summer and the next school year with the the grant funds that we receive next school year. So my question I would act it again may be simplified if if need be this might be simpler. So the the money that's being used right now in this grant for this 133 is the money that we have this year that we could use to purchase it for this year and all the way covering all the way

061through June 30th of 2027. >> Correct. >> I just want to make sure that it's this year. So whatever we need for the following after June 30th, we can use next year's uh GR C grant money. I just wanted to make sure it's this year's Greek seed grant money that we're using, not you know dividing it into two. It's this year's seed grant money that we're using that expire according to you June 30th of 2026. We need to hurry up and use that money. >> Yes. >> It's it's one of those use it or lose it. No, I use it. Let's go. Buy me pair of pants if we need to. I don't care. Let's use it. Absolutely. I appreciate that. I just want to make sure I was clear about that. I know there

062was confusion with the numbers. I haven't seen the contract, but I know this is being presented to the full board. So, just be prep be prepared to some of those questions to have some sort of clarity to make sure that we are get pushing the right information to the full board. So, I appreciate it. Um, and I think that was my only question because actually through the presentation you answer my two questions. Thank you very much. Back to you, Mr. Chair. >> Thank you. >> H6. >> Yes. And I believe what between last week when we were going before operations there there have been some changes. So again, this document, the single page is is what we're going with, but I will get clarification. >> Any updates before tomorrow's meeting >> because page six is

063saying that there's going to there's 74,375 due in February >> and then an additional >> 133,000 due in June. And then another 133,000 due on June 30th of 2027. >> Yes, I see what you're saying. >> I mean, that's fairly clear and it's for the following school years. >> I will get clarification before tomorrow night's meeting. >> Um, and that it's effective through, if you see right up above that, the service end date is June 30th, 2028. And that's that's with the additional of that 2728 school year which we're not there yet. So >> well except that it's here >> right? >> So that's why I'm saying that we need to clarify that this would be that's the quote form and then that's followed by the two page. >> Thank you. So, but I'm happy

064to refer to the full board and you can figure that out, explain it to us by tomorrow. I since I I do support this, I do believe from your presentation that it sounds like a worthwhile tool to give to the teachers. We just have to figure out the cost and be clear about what we're spending. But I know that it's from this sea money that the state is made available and is hopefully going to make available in the subsequent year um that we have to come up with innovative new ways to spend. >> Yes. And we do know that we will get it for the 26 27 school year. It's a small >> certainly we believe we'll get it and it's going to be a lesser amount. So having said that, um I make a

065motion to uh refer to the full board for approval of the goal book sped IEP development and progress monitoring. >> Seconded by Mr. And all in favor >> I motion made seconded and passed. >> Okay. Item nine, referral to the full board of the senage in 12 ESL resource title three and state bilingual. >> Well, okay. This is for our uh it's actually typo. It should be K8 resource. >> Okay. >> Is there resources for our teachers uh who are pulling students into a resource room? >> Okay. So, I am going to uh uh we have made a motion so that's fine. >> Yeah. So, it's ESL resource. Currently, we're using Lexia English. Um and we really felt that we needed more for our teachers and our students. So we and we looked at in

066our high school we're using are using um edge and this is kind of the precursor. So it's sort of aligned totally with our our high school program for our world trade trailblazers and in impact. It's a digital platform and consum consumables for approximately 4,000 students for use with their language development and language acquisition for multilingual learners and the license for one year 303,853. $3. Do you have anything to show us on this? >> I don't, but I can get that for you before tomorrow. >> This is what >> it's a This is a quote for 303,000. It's consumables and a digital access for teachers and students. Tell me again what it's for >> their resources for our ESL teachers at the NK8. They pull students from classes and bring them they have time with their

067resource teacher for their multilingual learning and language development acquisition. And these are resources other than currently They're using Lexi English which is a computerized program, digital program and this provides u lessons for the teacher and to use with the students student consumables and a dig digital platform access teacher and student resources to enhance the the ESL time. >> Yeah, I'd like to see something about what it's like. So that a sample of a um >> usually we get some sort of like something to look at some >> presentation. >> Okay, I can >> um so and you're going to give us Sgage in the next item too, right? >> Sgage is a renewal of our edge. this uh you as you know we expanded our multilingual learner support services at the high school from we

068were at two and a half years we went to a four-year support this year and for that they they were using edge and we wanted to get all four levels we wanted to get resources for the teachers and for the students same thing consumables in a digital platform it's a three-year access for $5419 994. We're serving about 1,200 students for three years. >> 541, >> $541,994. >> That's the item 10. >> That's item 10. Correct. >> And it's it's a renewal of edge, which the current that's the current resource that they use. and lift is the the latest and greatest ren renovated program >> that we're currently using. >> Right. Currently using edge. Yes. >> And we're moving it to the K to8 with the similar program. >> Right. It's the the precursor, if you

069will, that would lead up to the the lift program in the high school. We're trying our goal is to find district resources for our teachers and students that were you know coherent and aligned right through K12. So when we do this we go out look for materials >> because this is a renewal. >> Well that would be t is a renewal >> renewal K to8 is not >> correct. That's great. When we do this, are we doing this in conjunction with the administration and the and the teachers? >> Uh, do we >> This quote was was was um was put together last year at the time. I don't know what the director did. Uh, however, we can certainly get uh surely get get some people involved in that. >> Yeah. because that that's sort of

070the direction I'd like to see us move in is as we have talked about them with curriculum talk about them materials too because people who are just buying materials that we haven't run by the staff to see if staff being administrators and educators u you know it it doesn't make sense to be buying materials that they don't think are useful and so just to see what they think about you know you just mentioned on the >> well the renewal wouldn't we wouldn't take out >> I get I guess that's something you've been using >> but I'm saying on the go thing >> one of the comments you made was that you had 35 teeth 35 staff people teachers and social workers and other specialists working with this >> No this is just our ESL teachers

071>> I get it I get it I'm saying when you made the presentation on that you had had a trial run that 35 staff people worked with and gave it 100% positive reviews. And so the more we do that kind of thing before we procure something, the better idea we have about whether it's a worthwhile expenditure of money. >> This was done under a former um multilingual director. we kind of inherited it and moving on. >> But we can certainly get that. >> One of the things I want to explore is make sure that we collaborate with the administrators through the union and and the educators through the union on setting up mechanisms that allow us to make sure that we run that run those kind of of trial runs. >> Sure. >> Input and

072feedback. >> Yes. before we spend a lot of money on products that get universally pay by the staff. >> That's we can go do that. >> Anyway, >> done. I just I don't know what the prior multilingual director did, but I can research that. >> Yeah, I understand. Um anyway, any questions on uh item nine referral to the full board of the con sendage ka ESL resource. >> Mr. Medina or Mr. uh Ben >> I don't have a question but I have a comment. Um so you can provide us you can provide us send you know information because we don't have any tomorrow night information. >> All right. Thank you Mr. Medina. No, thank you. I'll wait for the full board. Thank you very much, >> Mr. Woodson. >> No, I'm good, Mr. Chair. Thank

073you. >> Okay, I'll take a motion to refer to the full board the Sengage K to8 ESL resource. Mr. Ben moved by Mr. Benahan, seconded by Mr. Traver. All in favor? I >> I moved. >> And on item 10, referral to the full board of the Sengage Lyft High School curricular resource. This is a renewal and upgrade of a current program of upgrade of the ED current edge program. Uh I'll take a motion. So referred by Moved by Mr. Benahan, seconded by Mr. Traver. refer to the full board of the Sengage Lyft High School Curricular Resource. Uh all in favor? >> I I motion made, seconded and passed. And again, I would like to see material on that too late. >> Uh a hard copy of the material or show it up on the board.

074Okay. Uh I just think we need to we show it up on the board. >> You guys have a they have a special it's a special meeting tomorrow. So only the items that are on that agenda. So I don't think if you're referring to the send gauge I I don't think you guys can >> I think that's on for tomorrow. >> That's not on for tomorrow. >> Oh, but this is >> Oh, well that's fine. >> Yeah, your next meeting will be be on the 9th. Yeah, then you can provide it in the packet for the next meeting when it's presented. I didn't ask to be tomorrow. Let me restate that clearly. It the the materials can be presented to us at the board meeting that is going to do. That does that make more

075sense? Sorry, I misspoke. I didn't mean tomorrow. If that's not being presented for a vote tomorrow, it will materials will be provided at the board meeting of which is going to be voted on. I didn't want to have anyone to have expectations >> for correcting uh referral to the full board item 11 learning agency renewal. This is an online uh rating uh material for multilingual learners. We've been using it for several years and this is the online rum. And I'll have material >> 26,000. >> Will we be paying for all these things? >> This is through title three grant. >> Oh, it says title three. I'm sorry. >> Yes, through that. And then a portion of the K8 resource is also going through a small portion going through the state by grant. >> Yeah. No,

076no, no. You see that I I just >> it's okay to see it here. Um and um Okay. Any questions, Mr. Van? Mr. Medina. >> No, thank you. >> Okay. I have a motion to refer to the full board of learning agency renewal. >> Move, Mr. Ben. >> Moved by Mr. Bahan seconded by Mr. Traver. All in favor? >> I made second pass. Uh and again it would just be useful to give us a little at the meeting in which it's going to be voted correct M. >> Yes. >> Okay. And uh last um uh presentation discussion on the BDS built in program. Um before we get started on this, I want to put this in the context. Um you don't have to stand up. You can sit down right >> get yourself comfortable wherever

077you are. Um the uh the reason I've had tried to get this on the agenda for three meetings uh before the holiday after the holiday um is that we don't get a chance to I'm trying to engage this committee in discussion in areas that we don't get to talk uh often enough adult being one of them. Adult dead we uh adult dead has come up in different ways. Um and so I just thought it would be useful for us to have a a presentation and discussion of adult dead and why uh it has come up recently uh in so far as um I sit on a charter school board and that charter school is uh talking about expanding into adult ed next year. Um, and their statement in the board meeting that I sit on

078was there's a a need for more adult debt in Bridgeport, which just shocked me when that statement was made. Um, and I thought, well, if there's a need, why aren't we meeting it? Um, now that notwithstanding whether that's an accurate statement or not, it made me realize that I didn't know the answer to that question. So, I thought we should talk more about it, but I need to know more about it. In the same time, adult head has come up with regard to facilities and whether or not we need more adult head facilities and that also would suggest you know a discussion of need and space. So I thought well let's just have a discussion and he's come down and meet with us and it's late so I don't want to make it a long

079discussion but I thought if we could begin initiated discussion about it all dead and uh sort of how many how how we how we honored how we you know I've gone to the graduations I attended and heard but I actually haven't had and gone to some things during the year but I thought it would be useful for us to initiate a discussion about it all that it's a part of our program and you need to know more about >> and for that I'm grateful thank you very much thank you to the board for having me here tonight um I welcome the opportunity to share the exciting things that are going in adult education. Um I'm just entering into my third year in adult education. Um so I wanted to I wanted to start just by

080sharing a little bit about adult education. Um you know it's different from K through 12. So oftentimes I do receive questions. So I thought it was just best to start with an overall um perspective on the program. So sure advance this. >> We can also go to Sam. >> It's not clicking. >> Oh, wait. It is clicking on here. Hold on. >> Why is that? >> It's not advancing there. >> Do a intro. Sure. Okay. >> Um, so I do have extra copies if you'd like of of the power. >> Okay, perfect. >> Um, so what adult education is, so adult education is available to students um, 17 or older who have withdrawn from their high school. Um, we offer a variety of high school programs. Um, if you go back just a couple of

081slides, we offer a variety of high school programs um, for completion. We have our our credit diploma program. We have our GED program. And we also have what's called our NEP program. >> Now, you just phrase that different than your chart. So, I want to ask you a question. I'm sorry. You sent students who have withdrawn from high school >> students >> chart says not enrolled in public school >> because they didn't withdraw. >> Okay. Um so but any any 17 plus year old who's not in school can go to adult death. >> Correct. If they have officially withdrawn from school >> it's it's a requirement. is a requirement that they have to >> any 17 or 18 year older does have to have a withdrawal form on file >> to enroll adult education. Um

082so we do offer the three high school programs which I'll I'll discuss in more depth um in a future slide. Um we also offer ESL services and a citizenship program. Um we are a grant state grant funded program. Um so therefore we required to adhere to state and federal regulations. Um and additionally um we also follow the state plan for adult education and family literacy. Um additionally we uh have annual performance reports and you'll see some of those reports in a future slide. Uh so there's a lot of regulations that we must follow to follow. We also use a state management system which enables us to track data uh real time and I'll talk a little bit more about that as well. Um, and then lastly, um, something that is a little bit different from

083K12 is that the adult education program is aligned with the college and career readiness standards and the English language proficiency standards. Um, they are a rigorous uh, standardsbased instruction that provides academic growth, language development, and successful transition to post-secary education and employment. I really want to highlight that because when a student enters adult education, it is our goal to make sure that when they leave adult education, we know what that next step is for them. So, it's not just about earning the high school diploma. It's ensuring that they're successful once they leave us. Um, and to that end, the state does require that we track outcomes for one year postexit from our program. So, we do we do also track that and that actually um does inform funding at a federal level that we have

084those to outcomes. Okay. Um Okay. So, what Bridgeport Adult Education does, we um we serve residents of both Bridgeport and Fairfield. Um we offer flexible scheduling. Um this is really important because our students coming to us have a variety of um family situations, work obligations. So, we really try to be as flexible as possible um with our program to ensure that students can on board and sometimes even switch their program throughout the school year. We do offer open enrollment so that students can come in at any time during the year. Um we currently have five locations that we have services at uh the adult learning center over at 418 Kuth Street. Uh we also have Battalia School where we offer a child care program uh in in collaboration with the family resource center. uh Central

085High School uh our evening program and then we also offer ESL classes at uh lead and uh any classes at Bridgeport Public Library as well. Um we offer pro comprehensive guidance and counseling services. So when a student comes to us, we do a full assessment to determine what their needs are and the best program that that fits for them. And those services are ongoing. We want to make sure that we are addressing the barriers that students might face to their education and we also want to make sure that we're helping them to plan for their future as well. Um, so that's really a strong component of our program. >> Favor, >> what's NEP? >> So I will talk about it in in an upcoming slide. It's a national external diploma program. Um and then we

086as I said we incorporate our workforce development so that we ensure that students academic plans really um set them up for success once they exit our program. Um so just a little bit about our three high school completion programs. Um the credit diploma program is where students transfer their credits from their high school to our program and they continue to build on those programs to meet our 25 credit um minimum requirement. Uh students have a variety of ways that they can earn credits. They can do in-person classes, they can do online classes, but we also offer credit for things like volunteer work, um military experience, uh independent study program, and um and work as well. Um so this is that this our requirements are four English, four math, three social studies, three science, one humanities

087and then 10 elective credits. These credits are aligned with the state expectations for adult education. Um, our GED program, which is what most people correlate to adult education, is just one of our programs. In this program, we uh provide students an opportunity to build their skills so that they can sit for the state exam. State exam is made up of the four core content areas, science, social studies, math, and ELA. Um students work in small groups um to build their individual skills. Uh they also work in larger uh group settings. These are all with certified instructors as well. Um and then what students are eligible to take the state exam once they've turned 17, they've officially withdrawn from high school for six months. Um I should say also that there are some active links on

088here. So if I can forward you the PowerPoint presentation and you can click on the active links. Uh the national external diploma program is a program that uh is people are less aware of. Uh it does require students to be independent learners. So students are completing a set of competencies to demonstrate that they know what the skills are to be successful to be a high school graduate. Um it actually originated after the Vietnam War when there was a recognition that when um when men and men at that time came back from war um that they had uh they needed high school diplomas. So that's when this was developed. Um since then it's become much more rigorous um and really aligned with those common common core college and career readiness standards. Um, again, independent work. Students

089work with an assessor to help guide them. However, they're expected to gain the information and demonstrate the information on their own. Um, we collaborate again with Bridgeport Public Library. Um, students will go to Bridgeport Public Library, have an assessor, and then um, ultimately we will award them their diploma upon completion of this this rigorous program. Um, additionally, Mercy Learning Center offers program and adult education does sign off on their diplomas upon completion of the NADP program. And then uh lastly, we have our ESL program. This is our largest program. Uh, it currently comprises about 75% of our student population. Um, and you'll see those stats in just a few minutes. And this is where students who um English is not their primary language can come in and learn. This is about life skills. So students

090will will go through a series of levels to demonstrate that they have the life skills to be successful at work uh be successful at life successful at supporting their children in schooling. And we'll talk a little bit more about that in an upcoming slide. Um again flexible scheduling day and evening programs. We continue to work with students to ensure that they they are in the appropriate placement and should they want to switch their program they can to a to day or evening programs. So enrollment as you can see since um 2022 our enrollment has increased. Uh we are as of the last fiscal year we closed out the fiscal year um with a total of uh 1743 students. Um this we did see a decline. This is I started in 2022 2023. We did see

091a decline um during COVID and I think this we're steadily seeing an increase in our student population now. And this is an enrollment by program. So you can see here that our um our ESL program is our largest program. Um we are starting to see an increase in both of our GED and CDP uh programs. NPD actually does not show up on here. We have a very small set subset of NADP students. I think we graduated 18 last year. We currently have 11 enrolled. Um so it's a very small program. Uh but we are seeing an increase as you can see in both of our our high school programs which is exciting to see. Again, I we're attributing this um this trend that we are seeing here is a trend that we see across the

092state and um it's attributed to the the rebound from COVID. We believe this is specifically our high school enrollment and as you can see we have had a continuous increase in our high school enrollment. Uh the blue line represents Central High School. The orange line represents adult learning center. I want to highlight adult learning center because we did put an initiative in place last year to expand our adult learning center program, our daytime program. Um we had only offered online programming at that site. We did expand hiring full-time teachers in each of the core content areas. Um and really promoted it to a large degree. Um we had unexpected amount of students enroll in our uh adult learning center program at the beginning of the year, which was exciting um to see. I believe it

093was about a 750% increase. This is um enrollment by ethnicity. As you can see, the majority of our students fall into the black or African-American Hispanic uh range. Um and that's been pretty standard. our our primary languages continue to be uh English, Spanish, Portuguese and Haitian Creole aligned with what the district is seeing as well. Um and enrollment by age, you can see our largest population is between 25 and 44. Uh what we have seen is a steady increase in our 17 and 18 year olds. Uh I'll talk a little bit more about that program that we offer for 17 and 18 year olds at our daytime program um which provides wraparound supports for them but but truly our our 25 to 44 year old is our our largest age group. Um and this is

094the number of students in Bridgeport public schools who have parents in adult education. And I really think that this is worth noting um because it's it's a significant amount of students. Um, our goal in adult education is to provide support in all areas of of life to ensure that students can be successful. And this is where it really becomes a multi-generational program. Um, we offer different programmings for students throughout the year to provide them with services that might be of assistance not just to them but to their families as well. Um, we host uh different events where we have community agencies come in. um we help support them in how student uh how these students can speak with their teachers uh with their administrators to ensure that their students can be successful in the school

095setting. Uh measurable skill gains this is how adult educ one of the ways in which adult education measures uh student growth and program success as well. So measurable skill gains are a documented improvement uh demonstrating the adult learners progress towards either academic workforce or l English language goals. As you can see, we've seen a steady increase in our uh measurable skill gains for our students. The target for the 2526 school year is 39.7. This is a state implemented target. Um I'm happy to share that we are on um on target to meet that goal and I think I'll I'll talk a little bit more in a future slide about the fact that it really I think is um due to our targeted efforts to support this. Um this is a specific breakdown of um our

096AE program. So AE comprises our high school students that are functioning below the secondary school level uh lacking basic reading, writing, numeracy skills uh to function. Uh so I I want to highlight this because a lot of adult learners that we see coming into adult education do lack basic literacy and numeracy skills. So they're starting at a at a at a low level. And so when we when we see our adult learner come in and they want to earn their high school diploma, but perhaps when in a pre-EST, they uh they test at a fourth or fifth grade level, we know that we have um we have our work cut out for us to, you know, bring them to that point where they're showing those gains and they're ultimately achieving a high school diploma. And

097I I think that's what makes graduation so exciting to see because they do get there. And these are measurable skill gains for our ESL program um as well. And again, these these gains are aligned with speaking, reading, and writing to um for individuals to attain citizenship, to become more involved with their children's schooling, and and really make greater use of the community resources that are available to them. So again a continuous um improvement here as well. Um and then diplomas awarded by a year. So you can see we had a dip in 2022 2023. Again this follows the state trend. We saw a decrease in our high school enrollments uh across the state. They saw a decrease in the number of diplomas awarded that was pretty much aligned with the decrease in enrollment. We are,

098as you can see, um, starting to demonstrate a rebound from that. And I'm excited to share that our projections for this year, um, indicate that there will continue to be an increase. Uh, and that's just a snapshot of some of the initiatives that we've been working on over the past three years. Um so initially when I was onboarded in 2023 uh it was really my goal just to really assess the program um ensure that uh resources and workflows and alignment to the state district and plans were really put in place. Um we refined some of our organizational roles within the program and updated some practices practices to really align them with the um with the state expectations. Um, additionally what we did was we um we moved from a handwritten uh registration process for our

0991400 students and went to an online registration system. I can tell you that was a game changer uh because it's it's a lot to register 1400 students by hand especially English is is not their primary language. So, we were really excited to have this put in place and and I just have to share too that we have a great team at adult education and really it was all hands on deck to make this happened. I really want to acknowledge that great team. Um and then additionally, we also um launched an outreach campaign uh back in 2023. We created program flyers. Uh we hosted high school counselor sessions to ensure that they have the necessary information to share with their students. Uh we did bus advertisements and we did a billboard display. As you can see

100here, this was on I95. Um 2025 2026 we um again moved away from paper and pencil but this time it it was due to our testing. We moved to electronic testing. Another game changer. Now we have the ability to see real time information about student levels and be able to make targeted efforts to support these students. Before with paper and pencil it was inefficient. It took us weeks to assess students. Um so this really enhanced our efficiency uh promoted accurate and consistent scoring and it really strengthened our our accountability and that was that was a ma major goal for us. Um, additionally, uh, I put a lot of focus on ensuring that, um, our professional learning opportunities for staff are aligned with our program goals. Um, trauma practices continues to be very important. Um, as

101we know, a lot of our learners who are coming to us um, have had um, or experienced trauma in their lives, I should say. Um, also just really ensuring that our teachers understood the college and career readiness standards and those English language proficiency standards. Um, and also uh ensuring that digital literacy became uh embedded into our program which which you'll see in a future slide. Um, as I believe the board knows, we applied for a federal grant which we did receive. it gave us an additional $110,000 to really promote some of those um initiatives around workforce development and uh digital literacy and also uh supporting our 17 and 18 year olds. So, that's something that um that we've really it's a three-year grant that we continue to receive. It is a renewal grant, but as

102long as we're demonstrating how it comes to them, they'll continue to receive that in the upcoming for one more year. Um we've expanded our collaboration with community partners. One thing that that we know is that Bridgeport is communityrich and um it is so important that we have all you know the deck to provide these services for our students that are available to them. So we've we've been able to engage other partners um I'm currently in conversation with LifeBridge to see if we can offer services on site for our students which I'm really excited about. Um and really just to address those wraparound supports for our students because we know they come to us with a lot of barriers to education. Um and then lastly I extended uh our evening session to include uh elected classes.

103So I expanded the opportunities for student students to gain credit and also gain uh really important information about digital literacy, financial literacy and career exploration as well. This is an example or just a little bit of information about our 17 and 18 year old program. Um we call it Pathways to Success. So again, this is funded through our federal funding, not on there. Okay, I apologize. Um that this was an addition. I had my staff review my PowerPoint and they all said you need to include this in there. So I apologize. Um this is our 17 and 18 year old program. Um so the goal really is to ensure that um students receive the support that they need to be successful. Um we know that our 17 and 18 year olds who are coming to

104us require more than just academics. Um so we engage with community mindfulness project to um provide mindfulness activities on a monthly basis. Um we engage with a program called empower leadership where they do experential experential learning activities um to really teach students about uh being a leader collaborating um productive struggle as well. So students have really enjoyed this. This is the picture is an example of an activity um that students engaged in. I can tell you that they became extremely frustrated doing this activity and that's why I wanted to share it because one of one of the um students spoke to the facilitator and said mister would you just make this easier for us and his response to the student was no I will not. You know why? Because nobody's going to make life easier

105for you. You need to figure this out. And they did. and they were empowered just like the uh the uh name of the program speaks to. Um also we uh we uh engage with the workplace on a regular basis. There's a strong collaboration between adult education and um the workplace. So we intend to um continue that collaboration. being discussed um posting site of an adult education site at the workplace or at career resources I should say and also um then funding to adult education to provide services to our students as well. And lastly, as I mentioned, we are engaging with LifeBridge um on a regular basis. They come to our school monthly to talk to students about mental health um and also to our staff members to discuss trauma-informed practices as well. Um this is

106a digital literacy program. A little bit of information. Again, this is funded by the federal grant. Um so through this federal pep grant, we've been able to hire four digital navigators to support instruction and student success and also staff as well because we know that an important part of this is really empowering staff to be able to support their learners. We use a couple of programs. Our primary program is Northstar Digital Literacy. Again, this is offered um in that 5:30 to 6:30 time frame that I um and additionally our digital navigators like to use the golden digital literacy curriculum uh to support student learning. Um the digital navigators push into classrooms regularly. Uh we use a variety of digital platforms that do require support of a digital navigator. Um they offer student hands-on help logging

107in um and navigating the platforms to make sure that they can be confident not just now but really as uh not just as learners now but really when they leave our program. We want to make sure that that students have the access and the ability to apply for jobs to fill out that college application. So this and to support their children. Um and then lastly uh we know that programs that have become more independent, engaged, and persistent. Um we definitely see students empowered um from the time that they come on and they don't know how to use a computer to the um time when they complete this program. And lastly, here we are this year. So, um, this year we did launch an electronic attendance tracking system. Um, I'm excited to share that we now

108have real time data about attendance which is aligned with our pre and post testing. And again, we really rely on this to demonstrate our outcomes in adult education. Um, this relieved the administrative burden that we saw. So I can free up our data manager to do other things like view data in form instruction um as opposed to entering in attendance which was a requirement of her based on the paper and pencil uh setup that we had prior to um we've expanded our community partnerships. Uh we we will continue to do that as well in the upcoming year. Uh but we currently have partnerships with the workplaceic community college bureau of rehab services literacy volunteers community mindfulness project empower leadership and life bridge. Um, and lastly, I initiated quarterly meetings uh with partners to have discussions

109about how we can align our programming across the board, not just in adult education, but within the community, recognizing that there's very similar needs um in different uh within the community as well as adult education. Um, and again, we expanded our course offerings as I mentioned um earlier. We did uh add on additional full-time teachers so that we could offer um content during our daytime program and and we did increase our enrollment by 750%. And in the evening, we were al also able to expand and offer some elective courses as well. And yes, you I think I saw a comment on um here this is our students and our science class during the daytime dissecting owl pellets. Um they really enjoyed this process. And lastly, looking ahead, um we are going to continue to expand

110our curriculum and our instructional alignment. Um we really want to make sure that we are offering students um rigorous uh curriculum that will prepare them for the life after they graduate uh adult education. Um we also want to ensure that uh students transition from adult education u ready to enter the workforce training or post-secary. So making sure that we have a comprehensive program to support their individual needs. Uh and lastly as I'm or not lastly almost lastly we're almost there. um strengthening community partnerships with our local partners to really really work together to provide those opportunities for students um not just in the workforce but also in the wraparound uh support services as well. Um and strengthening community access uh to adult education programs. Uh right now I'm in conversation with several partners uh and

111Mr. Traver I think that this speaks to what you were saying earlier on um really assessing where there's some needs that perhaps we're not meeting. Um, as I mentioned, we we continue to do outreach. Um, one thing that is is not unique to Bridgeport Education is that we know there's a large population of individuals out there who need high school diplomas, who need English language services, who are not accessing those resources. So, again, not unique to Bridgeport. However, um there are different things that we can do to try to identify those pockets. So, really working with, as I said, the American Job Center is one of them. Um Alliance is another one uh that we've been in communication with and the Bris Bridgeport recipe me mission as well. Um and then I I really um

112continue to promote uh relevant and timely professional learning uh to meet our growing program. um really trying to make sure that we have a continuous cycle of improvement. I really encourage staff to be involved in the process. I think that's why we are here, why we've gotten to this point now is because staff are really engaged in the process and really help me to understand what the needs are not just of the program but of our students as well. Um some of the resources um that I talked about are included on this slide right here. Again, these are active links, so you can go ahead and select the links um once I forward this PowerPoint presentation to you. Um and if you have any questions, I'm happy to answer them. This is these are also

113our socials that you can access. Um if you're listening online, we have um we welcome students. It's it's never too late to learn and what we always say. Um I always tell students the first step is the hardest one probably to adult education. Um but we're excited to have you. So if you know if you have a friend um or if you have a family member, please encourage them to come. Come come to our daytime program, come to our evening program. Um we are there to serve you. >> Any questions, >> Mr. Medina? >> Thank you very much. I couldn't wait to get on the mic. Um I just wanted to say thank you to Miss Miss Stevens and her presentation also. from a huge plane that she knows also of the school's counselor, Miss

114Anna Freda. Um, I've worked with them directly and indirectly for with so many students and I and I encourage all of you that if you got anybody that wants to enter into this program, uh they are fast, they are fast, they are motivated. You know, I appreciate her repres uh presentation under 2023 and beyond. uh she sets forth challenges, notice challenges and she has gone way and beyond. She's made um different benchmarks uh for herself and she's always motivated and moved the bar every single year and she has exceeded herself in everything. So, I can't believe somebody would want to try to uh compete against her because this program is rising and we're going to continue to to help. Uh, Miss Stevens, thank you very much for all you do and and and all those

115students that mean the world to us because those are our students parents that you're teaching and bring it forward. And when this, you know, we're meeting those students uh when at their crossroads with when it comes to education if they don't want to and they can't, you know, do the studies inside the classroom for whatever reason. Um, they can meet their need and and and get their GEDs and get their diplomas through this program. And many I've seen many graduate and so many millions of jobs that's open because of this program because now they have their GED and they can go on to uh to higher education or also to trade school because of the program that she runs with her people. So just want to commend you again. Uh you know how much love

116I have for you and for your program and anything we can do and I can do directly let me know. Thank you again for coming. Thank you Mr. for having them come um and and report to us and I applaud you also in that 750% uh uh increase in that uh section that you had uh told us about. So keep up the good work and anything we can do again traver thank you for bringing them forward to us. >> Thank you Mr. Medina >> Mr. Wilson Mr. >> Yes I do. Thank you. Um thank you Lyn. You know you and your team they always do a phenomenal job and I'm very very proud you know everything you do and your team they are I know some parent they get up from there they very proud

117they have the GD and the way they help them you know I like the team they take the time to be sure they understand they learn you know they have any questions I know some staff and they have communication with the you know with parents and listen in the weekend can you help them with this and I I respect that I I respect that the staff doesn't matter what or let's say the weekends, they always communicate with the parents. When the parents call, they you know, they take the time. But I have a big question. Sometime [clears throat] when the our district ask for help for another district, they always give it excuse. They can't they they always take something. But my question for you is I'd like to know the reason why um sir

118Fre was um an agreement that was established um before I I was here. Um but I will say that it is a common place for um towns to come together to for districts to come together. So, it's required that a district offer an adult education program, but not every district um has has the funds or the means or wants to support the program, especially if they might have a small population. Uh it might not be economically efficient to do that. So, they'll join on with other programs. So, there's a lot of regional programs. Um so, that would be the intent of why Fairfield joined on. They do pay into our program. So they do they do pay a fee for their for our services here in Bridgeport. >> The students pay a fee or the

119town >> the town. >> Good. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um in response to Mr. Medina's point, one of the other reasons that I wanted to begin this discussion is that I think that it it goes back to Mr. Benah Graalis Rember many years ago. many. It's not It is many now. Um we explored um the creation of a community high school at best. Um and we took a bus load of parents and staff up to Lynn, Massachusetts to uh visit community high school up there. And um the idea was that we were going to expand the industrial manufacturing program at Bassic um which was working with Lucatonic to uh to teach our students at Bass to provide them the skills, get them the college courses that seek uh and get them to graduate

120with the skills necessary to be able to go out and get high paying jobs in industrial manufacturing, light industrial manufacturing. Uh and uh we were working at the time with Representative Strom from that neighborhood um with the anticipation of there being uh 3 to 5,000 job openings at Sakorski in the 5 to 10 years after that from retirement alone. Um and then of course the high need in the state alone, >> those kind of jobs. Uh and the idea was the community high school would be not only to educate our students in the high school but to educate adult uh students who had dropped out um or adults that wanted to come back to high school to acquire skills so that they could do more than work at McDonald's. Um, and I've recently raised that

121issue again with the superintendent of going revisiting this question at the New Massage of exploring us doing something like this in the community to provide more substantive jobs because of course these are jobs that are going to pay 50 to 75 or 75 to $100,000 a year with pensions and benefits. um and they're good jobs for the people in our communities. So you know this is what I want us to explore as we do this those kind of possibilities um of taking our program and exploring how we can expand uh what we're already doing what you're doing what they're doing at those high school at that high school to create more skill set skill set development um and offer this to the community as a part of our mission. >> I Mr. Chabber, I I

122I love that you're saying that. I couldn't agree more. You and I have talked a little bit about this in the past. Um this is the direction of Bridgeport Adult Education. I think the more people involved, the better. Um I that's that's what it's all about. You just summarized it very well. Um we are that quarterly partner meeting that I that I discussed, we have people at the table that are talking about how do we align our services? Um we have the American Job Center who has free training for individuals. Um they place them at Wisconsin Community College. Um what can adult education be doing to prepare those students before they get to that point? Um is it offering math for manufacturing or math for healthcare? Um so really aligning our services so that each

123community agency understands what's available, what's needed for our cars members. >> Right. Great. So to me, this is the beginning of of a discussion, ongoing discussion on how we can maximize what we're doing to further that in the community. >> Wonderful. I welcome the opportunity. >> Great. Well, I appreciate your time coming. Are there any other questions? Mr. Woodson, Mr. Medina, Mr. Ben Graas? >> No. Thank you. >> Just just one comment. Just one comment, Mr. Cher. >> Yes, sir. Mr. Woodson, go ahead. >> Yes. to to bring up the point that you know ear I think it was earlier last year we had lost a job court and you know with the you know going with all the money being taken away from um federal um education you know and stuff like that. So,

124I was hoping that maybe we could do something in Brisport that could replace the things that JobCore did. You know, I know a lot of kids from from this area went went to that program. they got skills, you know, they got like driver's license and you know, what I don't know what exactly JobCore does, but I know it's a it's a it's a real important part of um um educating kids that, you know, have a hard time, you know, going to regular schools and stuff like that. So, there's something that we can do that is similar to what JobCore has. And, you know, I think that that that that will help uh boost the program up a little bit. That's my opinion. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Woodson. Okay. Anything else? And I'll entertain

125a motion to adjourn. >> So move. >> Moved by Mr. Ben. >> Seconded by Mr. Medina. All in favor? I >> Thank you all very much. Stay warm as you can.