Facilities Committee Wed 9/3/2025

001Good. Again, this is the um facilities meeting of the Bridgeport Board of Education. Um today is Wednesday, September 3rd, and it's 5:37. I'm Jen Pres, committee chair. We have committee members Andre Woodson and Albert Ben online. Willie Medina, board member online board members. All right. Um the first item on the agenda is um the approval of minutes from May 7, 2025. >> So move the vanahan. >> A second will be >> I'll second. Um any discussion on it? All in favor say I. Hi. >> Hi. >> Very um I'm going to say Joseph's colle. >> All right. So, the first item on the agenda is a review of summer projects. >> Good evening everyone. Uh I want to start off by welcoming back all of the students, the teachers, staff, parents to the district. And

002um from the bottom of my heart, I want to thank the facilities team for all of the hard work this summer. Uh from the opening of the new bassic to completing so many projects and getting the schools done a week early in spite of having such a short staff, uh they really stepped up and did a tremendous job. And we're going to go through some of uh what we went through this summer. So we've uh created PowerPoint. Want to be visual on what we did because I think uh it's impactful what we've been able to do this summer. Um, you know, a lot of this is with the reserve capital that we were able to put aside. Um, along with new capital um, you know, from when Esser came out, we we sort of shifted

003our dollars, which gave us the the the ability to go ahead and have a truly impactful summer in spite of budget and everything else. So, we'll start with the first project, which is uh, the Bears School paving. Um, we're able to pave the lot. The lot was in terrible shape. Um, you know, there were some safety concerns and we we put a premium on safety in the district. So, we were able to repave and reshape the entire lot over at the Bearsley School. Second project, um, Hland School restroom upgrades. We're able to renovate the first floor bathrooms. Um, those bathrooms are in tough shape. Uh, years ago, we had infiltration of water uh, coming in through the side of the building. Uh we did tre a tremendous amount of pointing work along with waterproofing. We're

004able to make the building watertight and uh this is just an evolution of us uh continually making uh strategic investments in our buildings. So we're able to um renovate the first four bathrooms. Um we do have some residual cash left over. Um when we bid it out, the bids came in a little bit high. So we didn't want to take on more than what we had in our budget. Um, but we came in spot on in our budget in this project. So, we're going to go ahead and renovate the second floor bathrooms. We're working through the planning and the scheduling of all of that. Um, as you know, as the days go on, um, elevators, elevators are elevators have become one of those hot topics in the district, but this summer we're able to modernize

005Reed School, Dumbar School, and the JFK admin building. Um, so these these essentially are new elevators in these buildings. Um, but you know, we wanted to touch briefly on some of what we're uh experiencing in in this vertical of what it is that we do. Uh, when it comes to elevators, uh, the parts have become problematic to get. Um, you know, we've been reaching out to our vendors and the lead times are tremendous and at times they're not even able to give us lead times because the lead times keep changing for the manufacturers to the folks that actually get the parts out to us and do the installations. Uh, with that said, we are meeting tomorrow or no, no, Friday, I'm sorry, uh, with our current vendor who did all of our work this summer

006to have a deeper conversation on how we're going to close the gap on um, the elevator repairs that are needed. Um, what we need to do to ensure that, you know, we have common parts on on in stock and that we're able to close the gap on elevators a lot faster. Understanding that's hardship to schools. So another aspect of that is from the from the management team perspective. We're going to start managing elevators the way we manage HVAC where we put everything on a spreadsheet. We manage it granularly. We're meeting on it weekly and we're discussing where we are so there's no slippage on our end to ensure that we're staying on top of everything that's going on in this vertical what we do. JFK pool. Um so about 4 years ago we had to

007decommission um the black and pool due to its age and and the fact that all of the equipment is in the lower level subterrain level and all of the plumbing in crawl spaces and over time um with the the corrosiveness of of of the chlorine and the chemicals we had to decommission. So, we wanted to double down on the on the last pool that we had in Bridgeport, um the JFK pool. So, this summer we're able to complete what we what we deem a renovation of that pool. Um we had come to you guys for a bid and we contracted someone to scrape and repaint the ceilings um of the pool area. We had to drain the pool. Uh scaffolding and boomlets were brought in. They scraped, they pulled down old rivets, and they repainted

008the ceilings. But last summer we had done some substantial work there. A complete new HVAC package was uh put in place um for dehumidification and being able to manage that environment so we don't have a repeat of black them. Um you know years ago CO didn't call for these things but times have changed. Uh we also replaced the pool heaters. So that that now is a completely renovated pool area and in good standing and we are opening the pool for um you know the usage of the school 6 to6 and the parks department for swimming lessons. Playgrounds. We came to you guys with a couple of playgrounds uh some time ago for approval. We are to complete those programs. Uh the first is the Discovery School outdoor classroom which is completely phenomenal. Um if you

009remember that was replacement of the existing uh outdoor classroom was there tree fell down so uh we reinvented we put it in a different location uh due to the location there's some shading we didn't have to have the expense of of an awning over the top but the space is beautiful the feedback has been tremendous and then the JFK playground um this is the playground at high horizons uh last year we did the playground in two outdoor classrooms we did the playground for multicultural and then other classrooms for each school. Um we circled back and completed the playground for the Iris school. So now they have new playscapes. Um and we're going to be completing the fencing um around this playscape. Uh it took us a little bit of time to get the the POS

010back, but now we're in motion and we will be finalizing that project with the fence and that'll be completed. >> I just say about the playground. Um, I visited Highrise on the first day of school when the kids were coming in and uh, that was one of the first things I heard when the kids, they were excited about the new playground. Thank you, son. >> They love it. And the challenge for us is always keeping them off of it because we need a three-day curing time for the poor and place rummer. Uh, we typically have to post the SRO up over evenings and into the early morning to make sure we're keeping we're keeping the children off. But, you know, we're super excited to be able to create these spaces and be be part of

011that academic experience here. Um, we did the rooftop, we did some gym floor, we did a gym floor resurfacing and, um, we're replacing the HVAC. HBAC is right around 90% done. Uh, ventilation is up and running. Uh, this was a substantial project. I got to tip my my hat to to to my counterparts on the management team for for managing this driving this schedule, keeping this budget as best in line as we possibly can because there were a lot of moving parts. Uh we had a gaming ball on the side of the building most of the summer uh but we're airtight ready to go and uh you know we're finalizing that program. Um this was something that was needed because in this school we took the old Roosevelt chillers and and and HBAC equipment and

012repurposed it. you know, we're we're masters of repurposing and it was well class it youthful life, but you know, we got some mileage out of it and now we have a state-of-the-art HBAC system. Another project that is ongoing is um the central gymnasium uh for the Hills Hoppers because I know Willie and Jennifer are Hills hoppers. Um you know, this gym is iconic. It's a Bridgeport. Um and it, you know, I've been trying to get this done for some time. I'm not going to lie. Um but you know we were able to secure the funding uh through the city council through capital. Um that program is uh probably about 75 to 80% done. Um as you can see in in in the photos you've got some uh pictures of when they were tearing up the

013old flooring and then you've got some photos of um you know when it was just the concrete slab. We did run into a couple uh issues on that project. One was humidity. Um the other was that we had a leak that was a stubborn leak for us to find. Uh we actually had all our trades on a rooftop and we were able to solve that. Um we had to put down a vapor barrier which was a change note to us. But um you know now the soft floor is down and they're going to start putting the planking down soon. And this is just one of several rendering uh one of several renderings of what the gym floor may look like. Uh we'll be working with the central community to sort of lock that down and

014and create that final rendition of it. But you know this is an exciting project and this is going to complete sort of the renovation of central because this is one of the items that was taken out due to budget constraints when they did the renovation. Now we'll slide over to the warm waters summer cleaning and landscaping. Once again I got to tip my hat to the team. Uh it was a lot of work this summer. you know, a lot of shifting of of priorities due to, you know, having to do some things to move folks from and uh you know, having to uh drive the scheduling on um on the custodial due to shortages. Uh you know, we ran somewhere in the 120s, you know, um in terms of staff. Typically, we needed staff around

015180 really manage the district, but believe it or not, these folks, we had a we had a meeting in the beginning of the season and it was a rally call to everyone to step up. We know that we have this hurdle in front of us and everyone stepped up. They got done a week early. The landscaping got done. I tipped my hat to the logistics team. We're many they wear many hats. They were to get a lot of things done. We use some outside resources and everything came together and it was a good sense of of the accomplishment in the beginning of the school year. Um first couple days we got tremendous feedback on on what folks had had walked into in terms of our facilities. As you can see boom lift, we did some

016pointing work at central. Typically when we rent out a piece of equipment, we try to tackle as many projects as we can. This is one of about four or five projects I believe that we handle while we had the boom the boom lift off for a week. And then the unforeseen, the things that come up during the during the summer that you just don't see coming and hit your budget like a ton of bricks. Um, and this is the JFK uh multicultural magnet. It was a leak. Uh, the leak did some damage uh to some shelving. um in in in mill work and uh art room I believe um we were able to to this summer work through put up put in new mill work um you know this is this cost us right around

017$10 to $15,000 of unforeseen dollars and you know those are the things that you know we're never prepared for but we're always ready to handle on a driver was dying and I tip my hand to to the team for that um trailers as many of you know I've been haring on trailers for some time trailers are made for 10 years we've had them 30 uh you know and they're in terrible shape. We've got to start to strategically look and make decisions. Um I've already had conversation with cabinet and with PJ about you know looking if there's uh the potential of us shifting uh any classrooms and trailers into the school proper so we can start to decommission. We had to decommission last year the carry out trailers. This year we've had to pretty much start

018rebuilding a couple other trailers. Black being one. As you can tell, we had to put a new decking and stairs. The skirts are problematic. We've had to start to replace those. And once you start to take these things apart, you start to find a myriad of issues. Um, but the team has worked diligently, and I tell you, I pushed the carpenters this summer like never in Florida. Uh, this is probably one of the toughest summers we've had in a long time, and those guys worked their tails off to get it done. Um, Park City Magnet is another, um, example of us having to rebuild. This took up most of the summer for the garbageers. black them. We got done in about a week and a half, two weeks. This uh Park City magnet as we

019started unraveling, it was just more and more work. Subfloor, skirts, ramps, stairs, decking, uh you name it, we replaced it. Um now it's a safe uh environment for the students, but it came with a lot of pain. We're able to also replace the gym doors. The gym doors that we used to replace this were uh reused gym doors from another school that we decommissioned over the years. Uh once again we're wizards that re uh reinventing pace. Um training uh consistency is key for us especially with a smaller group. We put a premium on and investing in our staff. Um you know we have to go find spaces uh for our trades and custodians. There's slips and falls for all custodians. The coffee clean refresher is um our clearing house for all cleaning. So everyone is

020cleaning the same way in our school system. Um and then we have all of our regulatory stuff like the OSHA bloodborne pathogen um the OSHA ghscom all those things are now um completed and we're completely in compliance right now. And then you know a snapshot of our annual annual regulatory testing and inspections. You know we're going through um our hair inspections. We're about 90% done. I think we have two schools left for a era. Fire extinguisher inspections, sprinkler inspections, fire system inspections, the PCB um we had to spend some money on PCBs. The levels weren't off the charts, but they were slightly elevated. Um you know, there's things that come up when it comes to regulatory that we can't we we have no wiggle room. We have to just address them. Um but you know,

021we are super excited to be able to sit at the table this year to be able to discuss the budget and create a budget for for facilities. uh because these are the things that we we don't get the chance to talk about on the financial end of it, but the impact of this is tremendous and we want to be better prepared for the future. So, with that said, I'm going to turn it over to uh JD Macar who will be discussing um the old bass and then Michael to talk about the stark difference uh from the old bass to the new bass. >> Good evening. Um the old Bassic High School we are still in decommissioning mode. Um moving most of the moving has been completed. There are a few departments that still need to

022move some items out of the building and into other facilities within the district but most of the items have been removed or moved to the new Bassic. um cleaning has been completed and any items that are left inside the building currently. Um we're going through a checklist to confirm that they can be auctioned and the auction will probably once we confirm all items take place in a few weeks. After that, any items left, we're going to discuss whether we can repurpose them, recycle them, or discard them. And um I think in a few months we'll be turning it back over to the city. Um we we we are in the works discussions to um have a last walk through with council alumni, any community members that would like to tour the building um before we

023turn it over. And currently um recently we had a walkth through with the school building committee chairs to show them the difference between closing and decommissioning Harding um years ago and now decommissioning the old bass. >> Let me just touch on that briefly. I mean you know uh what happened at the old gardening obviously want to ensure everyone that you know we've reinvented how we decommission buildings understanding that we have several projects in the hopper and we are intending on going after more projects. Um you know I think the collaboration has been something that you know is is promising for the future. You know departments handled the business folks more responsive and we're able to get to the point we are and I'm proud about the work that's been done. I I can't say enough

024about the work that Jamie's done and the team to get us to the point where, you know, we feel comfortable where we are with BASIC and then Michael discuss uh the differences of the two. >> Good evening everybody. Um yes, BASC, the old BASC is basically state-ofthe-art and new BASC obviously is state-of-the-art being brand new. Um the HVAC system in the old building basically consisted of a person turning a switch so that the boilers were on or the boilers were off. That was the control. A person turning a switch or the occupant of a room opening a window. Now of course there's a complete HVAC system where there's about 10 sensors and controls on everything in every room. So just as a uh forewarning so to speak, future maintenance issues and costs will be much

025higher for new bassic versus old BASIC. And I took a did a rough estimate today um based on other buildings and just electrical costs for new basic. I'm predicting about $575,000 a year compared to $200,000 a year old BASIC. So, we're looking at almost three times the cost of electricity. And I don't didn't have the chance to look up on filters for all the air handling units. Old Bastic has about three small air handlers. New Basic has about 15 that are about four times the size. So, cost of filters will also be greatly increased on new bassic versus old. that halting new basket in any way, shape or form, but these, you know, the costs will increase and I hope uh they've been taken into account in budgets or we will certainly be taking them

026into account um preparing and working with the business office going forward. Um and even just the number of windows and amount of windows in old basset versus new. Um the time that custodians are going to have to spend cleaning glass, keep new bass looking shiny and new is increased and we're doing everything we can to decrease it on utility fronts. Also, I received a couple of uh contracts today or pro well not a contract but proposals for upgrading steam traps at Park City Magnet Reed Blackum and Poker Schools to increase the energy efficiency there. Uh we've been working with UI with incentives and rebates in order to get these projects done and you know with we're working on the paperwork part of that now. So we are also doing what we can to decrease utility

027costs in all of our schools now that the LED lighting upgrades are completed in every school and going in onto heating and additional energy conservation projects. I can't say enough about the work that Mike is doing with energy conservation. I mean, you know, we have to think outside the box and how we approach um the dayto-day now. Um you know, even when it comes to the cleaning of the new bassin, we had two automated auto scrubers in the building that essentially gives us the same amount of work as a FTE. Um you know, in no way, shape or form are we trying to replace our our folks, but you know, we have to find creative ways to to have a healthy and safe environment. um you know and and the work that Mike has been

028doing with the utility. There's no capex out of pocket. So you know we're we're doing work that we're not spending any dollar on. I mean it's amazing what we've been able to do with utility event partners and we continue to uh develop and grow that partnership. Um so upcoming projects that we will be bringing to the board soon. um you know the 6 to6 well believe it or not we managed the 6 to6 uh capital in the business and uh you know we have to replace that elevator another modernization um you know we're we're working now with the attorney's office to get contracts once those contracts are created we'll bring those to the board and then playgrounds um we have Madison schooler school park city magnet and reed school will be replacements but this is

029capital One of the things that me and Jamie done recently is that we worked with OPM and city finance um and city council. We scraped a lot of our old accounts in capital that we had completed those projects. We had done a good job of keeping on budget understanding and we can repurpose some of those dollars. So we have a little bit of money that we're going to be able to repurpose. So the projects that you see in front of you right now are projects that are already funded through capital. But with some of the residual dollars, we um I can't say enough about the the new life and grants. Um you know, they have really done a good job to bring us some substantial um opportunities that we have jumped on and we're exploring.

030And one of those is um a play I think it's called playtime uh grant which gives us the ability of 50% um of a playcape. So, what we're going to do is we have um we've already had a site visit at Bryant um and then we're going to be doing a site visit of Dumbar if it hasn't already been done. I'm not sure if Allan was able to get that done today, but those two schools uh we'll be able to get 50% in grant and then we will be able to fund the rest with some of those residual dollars when we came with the budgeted projects. So, you know, we're we're tackling an area that, you know, we want children to be outside and have a great time, but we want to be safe. And

031these all of these projects are essential for the safety of those um grants. We've talked about this in the past. This is like Jason Boys and Friday the 13th. This project has died and come back several times and finally, I think we're on the road to now start get contracts out there. Um, I know that our partner uh uh Yukon has um awarded a contract on their end for uh Lorero Group to help us to now develop specifications and we will do our part and implement uh get RFPs out and start to get this work done. But this will be transform transformative for the district as we'll be creating smart schools. But once again, we're we're tackling the big the big ticket items that, you know, um if they fail, the district will be struggling

032to pay. So, um we'll be working on that and we look forward to continue to work on some other grants. There's some non-priority list stuff. Um so, when we think about the facilities master plan and that huge number, um you know, we've got strategies that we've been working on in parallel when that started and now we're starting to look at how we develop those dollars to be able to start tackling that. So, there's three uh two different opportunities. There's a drip grant that, you know, there'll be some automatic funding coming to the district. Uh we will allocate all of those dollars. It's dollars over two years. I can't remember the dollar amount, but we'll be discussing that with you guys in uh future um u committee meetings. But with that said, um we are also

033looking at non-priority. Non-priority is you think of the school construction where you have a reimbursement. Um, I believe that this grant we can do the nonpart rooftops, HVAC, air conditioning, and you don't have to put it on the priority list and I believe there's no reimbursement. So, we are going to go fast and strong and build out as many projects as we can um to see what their tolerance is because the district needs it. The final piece of this all is um we have our approved capital for 2026 and the projects are maring floor replacement the Barnum playground we're going to be resurfacing that black rock exterior doors we're continually looking to do exterior envelope work so when we do our energy conservation work that holds true and we really realize those savings the clear

034playground resurfacing that's another safety hazard Columbus sidewalks that will encompass the whole stairwell in the front of the building that's failing. Um, Columbus HVAC, Cross HVAC controls, um, continuing the chill beams over at Fairchild Wheeler, Kylin Boiler Replacement, Booker Boiler Replacement, JFK Highrises, exterior doors, the nutrition roof, and that will and uh, allow us to do some solar work there also to drive boss down, read exterior doors, south end HVAC controls, and then some selected asbestous ament, JFK, and Bra School. And that concludes our report. And I want to finish by saying thank you to the board um making all the approvals in a timely fashion. And you guys allowed us to get all of this work done this summer. Any questions? >> I just want to thank you and and Jane and Mike for

035coming in and sharing all this. This is like amazing work that your team, you know, 120 staff members were able to do this >> throughout the summer. Um, great work. Um, I have a few questions and I guess I'll take them to the committee. Um, just like how many, um, schools right now, if you got that off the top of your heads, um, have elevator issues like non working elevators. >> Right now we have barsville, which is the main crossb was down also. Um, they were able to get that one up and running. That was a programming issue. It's the physical parts that need to be replaced. So at one point uh the elevator had I believe at Barnum was it that got stuck. Uh Barnum elevator got stuck. Fire department came in. Uh they

036were a bit impatient. I get it. So I'm stuck. You want to get them out. When they um maneuver the door open, they did some damage. Doors are extremely difficult to get in the elevator world. And then um the Wingsville, we executed that. This is I feel bad for the guy I'm meeting on Friday. um we executed that I believe in May, June um for those parts. There's no excuse. I understand that there's there's issues and but you know these are critical items. So we're going to get to the bottom of that. But those are the two that are currently down. >> The JFK or the black commission for good. >> So I'm meeting with a group of philanthropists um that um believe strongly in in um swimming. Um they've done work in a lot

037of uh big cities. They want to do something in urban district. Um they funded up to $8 million for the building of a new pool. I'm meeting with them I believe Friday or Monday. Um and I'm hopeful that maybe we can uh come to some sort of an accord where they help us rebuild that black pool. So you know there's some folks that I believe that you know we've gotten through the audit, we've gotten through the budget stuff and people are actually reaching out now and asking how they can help. >> Yeah. And then in in in terms of that, since Blackum is on that facilities mastermind, that list um if you did if you did invest money into that, would that be touched if we get a new building for Blackstone down the line?

038>> Um so if we if we weren't able to lock in a deal to get something done immediately long term, yes. Um, you know, I the city may have to we we're going to have to negotiate what the reimbursement rate will be on the pool because it's not difficult. But, um, you know, one way or another, we got to get that pool up and running. So, we'll fight for that. Um, oh, and then so the cost of um utilities will go up for this um the new high school. Um, have we looked into like for new projects? Um I know you're doing I know LED lights have been installed and everything like that but other I know you've done doing this but like what are some other um rephrase that question what are some other

039um energies like alternatives have been looked into? >> So we we're looking we've been exploring battery uh storage. We've even looked at the potential of a cogen or a micro grid um at JFK. Uh we looked years ago we looked at a Michael uh Coen um over at um Aquaculture. Um you know right now batteries seem to be stable enough where there's a potential there. We're exploring that. Me and Mike visited um uh one of the local battery manufacturers um out in Danbury. Um so we're still exploring that. There is some funding that's out there that we're exploring now. Um, but you know, there's there's there's different opportunities that we're going to keep going um in tackling. We wish we had a little more horsepower on that side. Mike's doing that work by himself, but

040um you know, I help out when I can. Uh but he's been doing a tremendous job and we're saving over a million dollars um in the last few years. So, and our new buildings are built to lead standard. So, everything that we put in has to be as energy efficient as possible. Sort of like, you know, like your home when you buy new appliances. Mr. Ben. >> Yeah. Thank you, Madam Chair. I have some question for you, Mr. Garcia. >> You hear me? Very clear. >> Yes, sir. >> All right. The first one I'm going to ask you when you do the presentation about Holland school did um the way you show me you show us the Holland school the bathroom are there a handicap for students or any events or parents you know any

041pack you know school have PTS or whatever are there handicap >> yes sir any >> okay um I know you say something about the pool and I just And uh the pool will be I'm going to ask you just in case. Um but it will be um to rent it for outside will be like a training or dopetation stuff like that. >> Actually had that question too. >> So yes um we've had partnerships in the past. Um and we do have request rental. Uh one of our renters is uh parks and red. They do their lifeguard training there. They also have uh swimming lessons there. In the past we had a partnership with Sagar University. Um so yes it's open. we're ready uh to to potentially build some revenue so we can start to fund

042the pool through its rental like we sort of do with our fields now. >> Okay. And I see you talking about the playground. Um do you have the chance to see the playground from Dumbar School? >> Yep. Dumbar School I believe was visited today or will be tomorrow. Um that is part of um a grant that we applied for and received. We're working through those details now. Um myself and Jamie were able to reallocate some some surplus dollars and capital. So we'll be able to we have the match. We've met with the grants department um the finance department. We're ready to roll once we get these final documents up and then we'll be bringing that along with the other playgrounds that we have capital to the board for approval so we can uh get to

043rocking and rolling on that stuff. >> Great. I just want to uh let you know this for the record. You know uh the former uh Mr. Hernand, right? >> Yes. >> Okay. He's working with the company. He's the one help us for the boot back on Saturday. He will contact you because his company want to help you with the playground. So he will contact you. He will try to do something because his business is about next to Dumbar School and try to his business like to help the the students from there. >> You're welcome to support um if you have his contact info, we'll make contact immediately. >> Yeah, I will say uh Korea school. You talking you was talking about the gym. Uh when I went to visit the gym um the school sorry

044with Mr. Plana the gym was not ready for the kids using it was something in the middle of the gym trying to fix the the roof you know and know the principal stopped you know not using the the the the gin they really done with that. >> Yeah. So um that we're finalizing that work when they did all of the HVAC work and the duck work and then all of the equipment starts to be fired up. There was some dust that was on the duck work there. Um, so we went ahead and erected scaffolding and we used an aerial lift to clean that stuff. I believe it's done. And if it's not done, it'll be done this week. Uh, but it was something we needed to get done and we just ran out of time.

045I approached these gentlemen and these ladies and men this summer like never before. >> And also when me and Mr. Plana, we opened the door, I feel like I was in in SA. It was hot that building. like I'm oh my god, how come the staff and students and whoever come can work there? I was there and I walked um few classes with uh Mr. Blana and the principal and I was sweating. I'm like I cannot believe this room the whole school. It was hot. So what is the plan for the you know for the AC for that school please? >> They have a brand new AC that's going in. We're about 95% complete. Um there's some wiring that needs to get done. It was an RFI, which was a request for information from the

046contractor on site to the engineer that designed the the the the system that has been answered. They're working diligently on that now, and we should see completion in the near future. They'll have a brand new HVAC system. Over the last two years, they've had sporadic ACFs. So, they're going to have a brand new watertight roof and a new HVAC system. >> And also, in the back of the playground, I don't know if they remove it. It was, you know, the metal dumping, you know, the throw garbage. Have they removed that? >> That's been removed. >> All right. Thank you. You were talking about the trailers um and from the school. Um how strong they are, you know, how strong they have um you know, sometime you pass the years something's wrong. >> I mean, you

047know, every time we touch something, we got to repair it. You know, they're in tough shape. But you know uh unfortunately a lot of the schools that have trailers have issues in terms of capacity. Uh one of the things that you know in our grant discussions and in our and our in our current reviews of those grants there is the potential for uh new trailers. So you know we've got to just do that work. Um you know right now we're finalizing the summer work this uh this tranch of of projects. We're creating the other trunch of projects for money that's in the bank. Once we're done with this uh project plan out, we will start to look at that non-priority list opportunity and if we can replace trailers, we will. But I did discuss with

048uh uh Mr. Karafa and cabinet today about the potential if there is the ability to shift those classrooms that are in trailers into the school proper, then we could just decommission and um you know, sort of uh get away from these trailers. But, you know, right now we're safe, but you know, we can get a call any day that there's an issue, but we're ready to respond at a drop of a dime. >> And the wood, the stairs, that wood is, you know, they're strong enough for, you know, different weather, especially when they come the winter. We don't want somebody fall or something happened. So, I'm ask >> Yeah. So, everything is done to cold and everything is uh pressure treated uh for the environment. Um, you know, we we replaced stairs over at Park

049City Magnet and at Blackum and replaced a ramp at Park City Magnet. We feel good about the work that was done, but you know, this is a district that hasn't had much uh investment. You know, we're we're not only getting finally getting capital, but you know, we're actively getting out there looking for every dollar that we possibly can to close the gap on all these districts. >> And when you talk about that training, how long they take on your staff take that training? How many times in a year? >> Uh we do it every summer. So when you're onboarded, you have to sit down and do the training. And everyone when we first implemented the system, everyone had to take the training themselves online. Um take the tests, pass the test, and then now we

050have refresher courses every summer to ensure that everyone is on the same page. And then any changes in the industry are captured in that training. So for enhanced san uh sanitization or new methods of cleaning or if there's a shift in uh chemicals that we use, we address all of that every single summer. And then we have the regulatory training that is mandated by the state and the federal government that's completed. And then you know we have um you know we we work closely with PMA. We have a a safety committee um and we work closely with PMA to go ahead and have those enhanced trainings like aerial lift, forklift certifications, um you know, confined space uh you know, all of those things. So, you know, we have a highly trained and effective staff. >>

051Thank you. And I know Jamie was talking about the old um Bass High School. They did um I know she say something but I didn't hear very clear about the antique stuff. The stuff they're supposed to take it to the new um Basset High School. They already did that. >> Yes. So uh Dr. Riola had a teacher that he put in charge of that. So that is um one of the activities that they were handling. Uh but I believe everything has been transported to new school and they're going to start to display that stuff. >> So timing was the biggest for us. There were a lot going on. I remember I remember I was there with you and because I know we really take picture, you know, antique stuff like a plaque and lamps, you

052know, stuff like that. They remember school, you know, that remember B for so many years. The locker, the locker, they have the old B high school. Uh you can u do some sales or something like that because I know they're metal. So you can save money with that. >> So they are on an auction list. Um, so you know, hopefully someone will purchase them, whether they purchase them right under scrap uh, pricing or if they decide they want to reuse for us, there's there's not enough value for us to move those somewhere else. Um, but you know, we're hopeful that someone will purchase them. >> Thank you. And I don't know if she was clear to say um, walk with the building committee that was they're going to do another walk with the building committee

053to um, with the basket. >> We walked with the two with the chairs of the building committee. um they they wanted to ensure that you know as we transitioned to the new bassing that there wasn't going to be any hangups to the old bassing. So we walked um the two chairs both co-chairs through uh for an in-depth walk and um you know they were happy with what they saw in terms of the preparedness for turnover. >> Okay. Me and me are part of the building committee and I know Miss Paris too we would like to work with you guys because I know it's part of building committee to see what's going on. you know, not only to people around the building community, it's a group. >> Yep, I'm with you. I'm with you. Um, you

054know, understanding folk schedule and trying to just make sure that in the in the condensed time frame of scheduling for us that we had folks get through. Um, but we are open um, you know, you can coordinate with Penny can set up something to get everyone through. Um, and then we can assign someone that can walk you through. >> Yeah, I know. Um, sorry, I forgot his name, but he talked about a gentleman with you, Mike. Right. >> Mike Circle. Yes. >> Yeah. He said something about the build of the the lights going to be three time, you know, because the new Bass has high school. I know it's obviously is obviously that everything is going to be high, but I never I don't like when they about when it's about the students and they

055say about the money. I I I don't like that because when it's about the present, the future, the money, we don't even complain about that. So, I just I understand the bill is going to be high. Not only that like everything's going to come high but when it's about students and it's the future like a new bass high school you know let's be a little more positive you know because whatever money we spend is for the future for our kids and I know our not only B high school I feel that all Brisb public school deserve you know a nice you know nice school and I know little by little nothing's going to be done one day to other I know they take time and you do you and your team do amazing job so

056you know I cannot complain about that >> I mean you know what our our number one job is to make sure we keep you the board informed of uh you know what is to come. Um you know we did have a tough budget season. Um you know and we we just want to make sure everyone is aware that we may be having to make this money up at one point or another in this year. You know so if we don't talk about it and get it out then you know we're going to be you know we're we're not good stewards to the information that we uncover as we work through these things. But >> now that we have a new bass high school and I hope it's no issue, but always something's a little surprise

057because nothing is for, you know, forever. Nothing is perfect. So the elevators and AC, they're working very well. If something happened, are will you be able to fix that thing right away? You know, just in case you want some questions that are kind of, you know, making me want to respond. Um, so >> All right. >> I'm I'm just saying because I'm just saying, um, Mr. Garcia because it's a new school, $129 million. You know, it's hard. >> I hear you. I mean, you know, when you're talking about a facility with tens of thousands of mechanical parts, something's going to go wrong. Um, with that said, with that said, we have one-year warranties on most of our mechanical um our mechanical equipment. Um, you know, it doesn't cover everything, but it covers a good portion

058if something fails. With that said, the recommendation for new buildings, especially a building of this size, is that we hire a new HVAC technician and electrician that will manage that building for the first five years. We have three HVAC technicians for the entire district. So, as you can imagine, it's a daunting task for us to be able to manage things on a daily basis to the level we'd like to. With that said, we have the very finest technicians and craftsmen on staff and we're going to do everything in our power to maintain that building to the highest standard that we possibly can. Will it be hiccups? Without a doubt. Will we handle them? Without question. >> No, I know. I I understand. That's why I want to be sure. I don't want after two or

059three months something happened to new investig what we just opening. But for the finally, the only thing I can say is Mr. Garcia, thank you for everything. Thank you for everything. You, Mr. PJ and uh Dr. Avery and your team they do amazing job. I cannot uh complain about that for the day one you was there. I know it was not easy. You went through a lot. Your team went through a lot and I know that your employees sometime they are like octopus when they doing something here they doing something different school and people they don't see that how far and how hard you guys work to be sure our school are very you know in good condition. Sometime I know I see your employee taking a break and they working at the same time

060because they want to have the job done because they have one employee of your they doing three or four time you know a job of somebody and I know you're short of that and that's worst you know and I respect that and I I'm telling you from the day one I say you know thank you for everything and your staff are doing amazing job and thank God you with us because we with you without you and your team I don't know what bridge football baby do. So, I really appreciate that everything you guys do >> and I want to I want to express some gratitude to the leadership of Dr. Adrian. Um, we had a stable opening of school. We had a stable summer. We didn't have any distractions. We got to focus and when

061we focus, there's not much we can't accomplish. Um, you know, there's there's going to be some some hardships this year. It's just a fact because of the the staffing levels. There's no way that we're going to be able to maintain this district to the level that we want to. But you know with that said you have dedicated people that gave you 110 every day but stable leadership has been a blessing to us to be able to accomplish everything we did this summer. >> I agree with you and always as I said with a good communication respect a great successful and I'm very proud of all of you everything you do for principal public school. >> Thank you madam chair. No more questions >> Mr. Winston. >> Um no question just a comment. And I just

062want to uh thank Mr. Garcia for a guoring me on a tour to through the four schools um Tisdale Iris is multicultural and scheme. I wanted to say that the buildings look amazing from um the summer when I had originally seen you know some of the buildings from to where it to where it was brought to it looked excellent. I want to thank the staff on a uh first day smooth first day. No, everything everything that was that that that was accomplished was accomplished because of them. So, just want to thank them for our amazing job and the schools look wonderful. The only thing that I didn't hear was the thing for Tisdale. They had a little issue with their uh ceiling in their calf. >> Yep. So, we're working through that now. Um we've

063reached out to the solar vendor. We're waiting to hear back. Um they've got to remove I think six, seven panels for us to get to that area. Um once that repair is made um the vendor will have to put those panels back and then we will do the repair to that um area in the ceiling in the cafeteria. >> Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Very job well done to the staff. >> Thank you, Mr. Wilson. >> Mr. Sullivan. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Um yeah, I'm I'm going to take a different track a little bit. Um focus a bit on the finances again. Um, Mr. Garcia, thank you for all your hard work and Mr. Zurkel and the rest of your team. I forget the other lady's name. I apologize. I was there to see.

064Thank you. Thank you. I'm sorry. Yes. Um, yeah, you guys did phenomenal work. I first like to thank you for the basic and the decommissioning. As you know, I was part of the board back right after the when Harding stuff was hitting the ground and we in we instituted the whole thing and then you guys took over and you guys took the reigns. You did an excellent job. Thank you. Um, I'd also like to thank you for pointing out the I think it was about $300,000 in additional operating costs for the new BASIC. That's very important to point out. >> Just in one, >> just that one piece, correct? Yes. Thank you. And and you mentioned the cost of the filters, which is also going to include increased staffing costs to change those filters that

065didn't exist before above and over the 2425 budget. So, it's important that you guys keep highlighting it and you guys feel empowered to bring it to us these additional costs because what's going to happen is it's going to be an additional say, let's just make a quick guesstimate of $400,000 and unanticipated costs that we're going to have for next year. So, our asking the budget would need to be have have to be $400,000 more to cover those costs. So please, please, please continue to bring those up even if you feel pressure elsewhere because as you know your your department has been decimated as Mahan says our schools deserve the very best when it comes to money. While we shouldn't complain about spending the money, we do have to advocate for the money. So we do

066have to know that money is necessary in the district. Um, that being said about that, um, as far as the geothermal portion of BASIC, I was under the impression and I think a lot of people were as well in the community that that was going to be a cost savings measure on energy expenses. >> Um, right now the the thermal loop um is not complete. Uh, they're working right now. I believe they've reached the University of Bridgeport campus. So, they're working on the campus on the construction end of it. All of the connections are there and ready for when they're done um getting the the the plumbing over to that area. Um and we won't know until we fire it up, you know, cuz even even with um the the utility cost for for the

067new Bassing, we'll I'll get trend data through construction, but it's very different once you start to occupy the building. And you know, I think there will be some savings with um the the thermal loop, but you know, and so I see that thing working and it's not going to be much. I just don't know us being at the far end of the loop if they're going to be able to supply us enough hot water to be able to to make a major impact in terms of savings, >> right? And I'm hearing a couple of things u also with the green energy. Yeah, it's nice to be environmentally friendly, but it sounds like it's creating particularly challenge. You just mentioned uh Mr. Woodson asked about uh one of the schools. I can't remember which one it

068was. >> Tale School is a roof leak um that's underneath two solar pins. Yeah, there's challenges. >> Right. Right. because we went green, we got to do an additional step for a simple basically what amounts to a simple pair repair and it increases our costs as well and basically puts uh no additional resources in the classroom and actually detracts from them. That that's just the point I want to make there. And the la last thing um what was I going to say? Um the playground at JFK. Did you say we had a SRO guarding the playground for the time it took to cure? >> Yeah. Uh or PD? Well, I don't believe it was SR. I think it was PD. Um that, you know, we'll have to ban a good portion of the time there.

069So, you know, uh, for instance, at Morin, you know, the the PD was out there for from, I believe, 5 to 9:00, you know, cuz we need curing time on those. So, if you can imagine, if it's like concrete and someone runs through it, those are not easy repairs. >> And those rubber those rubberized floors are are pricey, but the safety is is second to none. So, >> right. I yeah, I absolutely agree with the need for somebody to be there, but who's paying for these police officers? And police officers cost much more than our security guard, especially when we're talking about overtime hours. Uh deciding who gets mandross and typically uh they wouldn't send us a bill if it if it was on our tab. So, we haven't seen anything. We don't anticipate any

070bill for that. Um but, you know, we've been working closely in stewardship with them also. Um, so you know, we have we have a good working relationship. >> Right. Dr. Avery, I see you online. If we do get approval from the police department for any of this, can you please f bring it to the attention of the board? >> Absolutely, sir. >> Thank you. All right. I have Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you. Thank you so much everybody. Um, that's all the questions I have for now. >> Thank you, >> Mr. Medina. Thanks guys. Uh, God bless you again. Oh. Um, you answered some of my questions already, but I just wanted to maybe I'll touch up on certain things. I got a whole list here as we're going to. So, when it comes to

071the playground, you had definitely spoken about dumbar. Um, and you said that you cuz one of the questions that I had was, is there any money for those emergency kind of like things that maybe was, you know, missed by oversight or whatever it might be. So, I know Dumbar is a huge and I think you said either somebody went or they're going there tomorrow. Um, I would love to continue to get an update of that because it is a very dangerous situation there. That was one of my schools that I had to go visit um with Mr. uh PJ Karafa and we saw it hands-on and it's just very dangerous. I mean, I don't know if those things can be patched up or not, but it's just something that we I think as a district,

072we you know, I think we already highlighted, but I just want to highlight it again that Dumbar is at a huge you like safety issue. >> Yeah. in Dumbar. Just to touch on that briefly, um you know, we've tried several times through uh the low performance school grants. So LPS, um that was slated for LPS3. I haven't heard anything. Uh LPS the grants were sort of on the clock for us. So we thought we should have had that money pre uh presum uh for Dumbar, but you know, we made a shift. There's a new grant opportunity. We jumped on it. We got awarded and now it's just a matter of us finalizing the details. Yeah, sounds great. Uh, I definitely heard about the report about curri and I got your answers and you said it's

073you know the project is 90 95% uh, you know, completed. Was was there a problem outside? Was that scheduled to be completed prior to school starting because I thought that's what we were you know that was in the plans >> to have that project completed. >> Yeah, our plan was September. Um, you know, we knew we were going to land into the first few weeks of school. Um, we actually gained a little a little couple days on that project. Um, but you know, like anything, something comes up. There was an RFI that went out on some electrical connections that needed to be answered. Um, that took a couple of days, but you know, we're striking distance of our original our original schedule. So, you know, on budget, on schedule, just about everything that we did

074this summer. Thank God. Knock on wood. >> Okay. Now, you actually cover my my next question by saying those statements. So, I'm going to say, but I think you just covered I just wanted to know about the gym at Central being at 75 to 80% according to your statement earlier. Was that still that is is that still being on track of your original schedule and you just said that everything is working at that thing. So I'm good with that. Um uh I I appreciate you stating like Mr. Sakovic said about the whole basic I have it here and my nose cost increase and and and you know to keep it at the forefront of conversation because you know my question is was that not in the planning when you was that in not in the

075statements and the planning when basic was being constructed that we knew and that was important you know that I'm new to the board in that sense of a year and a half but this project has been under works between seven to five years in the past you know has was that not in discussion prior to, you know, let's say now that we have it the building open. >> So to touch on that, we get trend data that says, you know, you're going to potentially expend X and and uh kilowatt hours and what have you. With that said, there were a lot of different dynamics in this program. I didn't get that till very late, so it was after the budget cycle. Um, I don't like to come with with um unchecked facts to the board

076because I think it's important that, you know, we we we torture test our data to ensure that the message we're giving to you was accurate. But, you know, we received that that data after the budget cycle. So, it was it was not valuable to to bring it up because we didn't have true data. But, you know, now we know Mike's run his numbers and um you know, we're we're here now. Definitely appreciate that. Um, >> now you mentioned about the pool at JFK campus. Is that already being in use at this very time? >> Um, it's open and ready. I'm not sure if the schools have used it yet. Um, you know, I know that the parks department has been eagerly awaiting the opening so they can do their uh their swim lessons and some

077of the trainings that they need for lifeguards. And then uh you know eventually the PD will rent it out also for some of their uh uh regulatory stuff that they need to do with the uh the harbor patrol. So you know um if it's not currently in use, it's going to be in use uh in the very very near future, but it's ready to go. >> Great. Um last thing um I believe according to my notes here. Basic BASIC. Uh I definitely have a group of graduates that I've been you know speaking with and speaking with uh Dr. Avery and everybody that's can you know facilitate this and I think I sent an email to you also and the team. I definitely have a few graduating classes that just had a re uh a reunion

078that they would like to tour the old bassic and the new basic before. I know you spoke about items that might be up for sale and everything. Can we get that list and to know that we can maybe contact some of our connections? You spoke about the decommissioning of the building. I don't you know decommissioning is a big word has a lot of multiple meetings and thing. I want to make sure that I'm clear my role as a board member and us as a board. Um before we return this property over to the city, the board needs to approve whether we're going to be using this building for educational purposes or not. And then we're going to be sending it back to the city. Correct. >> Uh yeah. But I mean, you know, I just

079want to make it very clear. This building is a is a old steam building. The heating plant right now is ready for failure. Um to replace that heating plant, you're talking millions of dollars. Uh you're having some environmental concerns in the building based on the vintage. Um you know, it doesn't make sense for us as a district to carry that. the cost would be extravagant just to get the the boiler plan. You know, you're talking about uh capital expenditure to the tune of somewhere in the $3 to5 million range by the time we're able to execute capital, repair the boiler plant, and then cross our fingers that the plumbing is solid once we fire our new boilers. To us, it just doesn't make any sense. at in terms of decommissioning and getting uh um the

080the the folks that have spent a good portion of their time in high school through that building. Jaime's going to be working closely with Dr. Euro. We have a meeting set up Friday. Uh we will be discussing that, you know. Um, so we we look excite we're excited at the at the prospect of the of going from the old to the new and um you know we're happy for the Bassic folks to to finally you know get their due and be that final high school that's been completed. Oh, that high school's already running and complete where they they I just don't like uh not having a plan and and being able to discuss because I don't he I haven't heard any discussions with the board members in the decision whether what that building could be

081looking like or not, whether it's directly for regular ed, but I'm just visioning on what we're dealing with with uh adult education. So, I know there's two buildings within that campus and I know there's an old and a new. So, I want to, you know, you know, we need to, you know, before we give up something that we can never gain back, and I'm talking about property and the size of that property, I really want to have those candid discussions on what's the possibility and what is out there to renovate those buildings at New York or not and use it for possibly even adult education knowing that we have a building at Kasu Street. We're also using Central High School. But if we can do a an adult education center there in that space, I

082mean, I I welcome the conversations of people to say that's impossible or listen, that's a great point. So, I'm I'm welcoming all conversations, but I definitely been thinking about that as a whole because I'm, you know, feeling some kind of way that we're not being discuss no discussion has been made about how we're transferring this building over and the space. You know, that it's got to be bigger discussions and I'm I'm responsible for that. So, if I don't do it, then I'm going to be irresponsible and I don't want to do that. So that's the things that I want to put out there to everybody's ear and understanding that I don't want to return anything to the city until we really decide and cross our tees and dot our eyes um for possible use of

083either one of those buildings or not or what what it is. So just to let you know that, you know, that's my conversation that I'll be having further concerning the old BASIC building. But main thing is I'd like to have this tour done. So, I hope nothing's going to be done until we can get some of these people that want to tour this building because it means that much to the community, to the Bassic community. My wife graduated from BASC. My brother, older brother graduated from Bassik, and I want to have that opportunity for the community that wants to do this to have it walk through and and have an organized event. Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. >> Um, Dr. Dr. Amy, did you have to respond to something? Sorry, we can't

084go up. >> I was just I was just going to extend, you know, a thank you to Mr. Garcia and his staff. I mean, they've done a amazing job as you could see. Uh, and again, one of the the added bonus for his division is to add value to what we do on the educational side, on the academic side. So, it's a it's a two-prong, you know, approach to this uh to making sure the district is running and running effectively. Uh so, again, I want to thank you and uh your staff, George, uh always, you know, when we need them, they're out there making it happen for us. So, again, I want to thank you that for that. >> Thank you, Dr. >> Mr. Benham. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Mr. Garcia, I have a

085um three question for you. I know you can answer very fast. I see you have nutrition center roofs. the nonstruction center group. Sorry, wasn't fixed like a year ago, two years ago? >> No, when we first discussed getting on to the school building committee when they redid the new proposals, the project was short $700,000. We had to go back to the council, the council approved the $700,000 in its last um capital allocation. So now that the money's in the money will shortly be in the bank. We'll be able to kick that project off. The good thing is uh it's unlike a school. It's unlike uh doing the rooftop of the school where we have to have the building empty and do it over the summer. We can do that uh once the budget once the

086funding is in place. >> Thank you. And um I know one of the playground and I believe you know is um Brian school. Do you check the um Brian school the playground it was very dangerous. I know they closed it. They don't want student use it. >> Yep. So the Brian school playground is another one of those schools that we we've gotten the grant for. Um so right now um they did the site visit of Bryant. They're going to be developing those plans. We'll review those plans if we accept the plans. Um we were able to um have some residual capital funding to be able to meet the match of that. So yes, that is in progress and as that develops, we'll be bringing back bringing this back to you. I'm hoping that it moves

087fast enough that we can bring all of the playgrounds to you in one one meeting, get them approved so we can start to uh plan out those projects. >> Thank you. And what is the story about the black um um the pool? What's going on? It is still closed. They're going to fix it. What's going on with the school? >> It it's closed, decommissioned. Um there's really no way for us. We want to have the wherewithal to bring that back, but there is an outside donor I'll be meeting with. Maybe we can uh create some magic together and bring that back. I know that folks feel uh deeply about that pool. Um if not, we'll have to look at that when we do the renovation. >> I'm asking this because I know I better have

088a conversation last week with one of the rep and I believe he going to contact you because he would like to find a grant for you fits that hope. He know it's not going to be Ninochi, but he's anything about students he's there for. So I will email you his contact. You can contact him. >> I will. We are all in on any conversations to close the gap. >> Yes sir. And question last question when we finish like Mr. Medina talking about the bass high school when we um done with uh all bass high school that's belong to the city right the city they will do whatever they want they don't belong to the BOE right after we give it to them. >> We have once we do the transmitt back to the city they

089do whatever they need to do with the building. Um once again there's one boiler plant for both buildings. It's outdated. There's a lot of uh question marks in that building. Um, you know, but we can have that conversation. We're open to it. I know we've discussed it a couple times in committee about the the the the condition of the building um over the last uh three years. Um, and you know, part of uh the decommissioning is having the conversation with the board about the transmission back to the city. So, uh, as we start to get through the list of things that need to happen for decommissioning based on the plan, we'll get there and have that conversation with the board. All right. Thank you, Mr. Garcia. Thank you, Madam Chair. >> Mr. Medina. >> Thank

090you, Madam Chair. Let me put that my hand down. Um, real quickly on uh Walterville, you mentioned both Walterville and Barnum elevators are out of commission at this moment. >> Yes. >> Okay. Did that did that incident that um that you mentioned, I think you mentioned something about the fire department being there and there was an issue and they you know kind of like went haywire or whatever. It was never fixed from that date. >> No, because we have to replace the doors. The doors are the hardest item to get. Um the vintage of elevators, 13-year-old elevators, um the industry has changed. the the method I believe hydraulic versus whatever has changed and we're just caught in the middle of this whole elevator thing. But with that said, we're meeting with um the manufacturer, I

091mean the the the group that we utilize for our elevators and we're going to put a little heat on them to to to start to get these things completed. But there is a national issue and everyone's feeling the pain throughout the US right now in terms of elevators because we have to get the parts from another country into the US now. So that makes it a lot more difficult with terrorists with everything else that's going on in the world. But we're going to hold people's uh feet to the fire in this one. You have my word on that. >> Not a problem. I'm going to end that conversation. Thank you very appreciate that. Thank you. I know there's a lot of shipping issues that I know because even in my work and all that stuff,

092but um I was led to believe something else, but we'll touch on that stuff later. Thank you very much. >> And there were multiple issues. I just want to I want to I want to say that also there were multiple issues on some of those elevators. So something might have been repaired and then something else happened. We're at the mercy of uh of the parts. >> There no other questions. Thank you for coming in and with us. appreciate all the work you've done. We look forward to more updates. Um, next item on the agenda is update on the plan for Military Academy. >> Chair, thank you, ma'am. I just kind of want to make sure I give the board an update on the the BMA relocation and transition pro project. Um we as you know

093we started the school year uh with um half well one grade level of BMA to uh phase into the new basket. One of the one of the requirements for BASIC is that we had BMA students in the school. There's been an issue because of the the the building not being at capacity to where we could fit all four grade levels into B to to the Bassic. So we only we chose to put uh one school one grade level in there which is uh the 12th grade. There's so we have about 63 students from BMA uh that's currently uh in the new massac. Uh the other 215 underassman that's that's 9th grade through 11th grade uh will remain at the new at at the current location of BMA. Uh, you know, we're looking for that to

094hold for a couple months now between October and November. Uh, and George and PJ can kind of give me a little bit give you a little bit more detail behind why we're at that standstill because we do have um, uh, the winter project starting and we we might be able to delay it a little bit, but according to George, we're going to we're on a very very tight schedule to get that uh, under underway. Um, now we we we had a couple of different scenarios over the last 3 to four months as to where we were going to place, you know, the remaining underassman for BMA. Uh we had a a building at the UB campus uh uh right before school started. We had a a shift in that particular location at the Dana Center

095there at which is a couple buildings uh close to uh the um the the new Bassic. Uh we uh the George went in and did a a a preliminary facility facility assessment. Uh but then again um UB also went in and did another intensive um facility assessment. Uh and we found out that you know based on that that initial the the official facility assessment that there were some zoning issues with that particular building and that we would not be able to kind of relocate our kids there until some some zoning issues were completed. So again, we shifted again and looking at other options throughout the dis throughout the district. Um, one of those options was the Faw Wheeler, you know, option was to be able to to relocate, you know, uh, 9, 10th and 11th

096grade to the FAW Wheeler process. Uh, working with the state, there was a couple of, you know, um, hiccups there. So we couldn't really fully you know u vet out that particular option as well uh due to the fact that at one point in time for I mean BMA was at the fur child wheeler campus then they they were moved to their own individual campuses where they exist right now and and due to the fact that Fchaw Wheeler is a is a intra district magnet um we could not the state had to petition and figure out through the grants department on being able to get BMA back into the building. So, we're in the process right now of working with the state and working with uh some of our delegates regarding the possibility of getting

097them there in a temporary fashion. Uh but that that option is still you know um on hold as well. The the third option is u after the assessment you know done by UB UB has given us another facility at the UB campus for us to assess to see if we were going to be able to put um put the 9th 10th 11th grade there as well. We would like to try to keep BMA as as much as possible close together as we possibly can. Uh and so those are the those are the obstacles that we've been you know dealing with. Uh and every day is a new day when it comes to logistically trying to get you know a facility that's going to be you know um right fitted to house kids. Uh there's a

098difference between college age students in a building and um uh high school students in a building. The the codes are different. So we have to kind of maneuver through all those those different obstacles. Uh and again the biggest thing that you know as as the interim school superintendent having to take over this whole project is that when they when they built or when they decided to merge the two buildings together, there's no way they were going to be able to fit all those kids in that facility in the new basket is what I'm saying. you know, and part of the requirement is that if we do not have BMA kids in the new bass, this the city would have to reimburse the state back millions of dollars that we nor, you know, the board of

099ed nor the city has the ability to pay back. So that's kind of why we're in, you know, the the the holding patterning that we're in right now due to the fact that we don't have a lot of options. And so we've been working this whole deal, PJ, what I'm talking about maybe eight, nine months now. uh since I started the you know started back in November uh we've been you know figuring out what options we can use and have to the best of our ability to try to make this thing work. We have one pathway we were going and we were going pretty nicely and getting it done you know three or four months and boom all of a sudden have we had to have to detour to a different location. So again that's

100been the process over the last couple of months. Uh and right now we're we're holding at 12th graders at the new bass 9 10 11th grade currently at the present BMA holding there until October November. Uh and then in in the in the interim, uh my team, George, PJ, Tony, myself, the state technical assistance team, we're having to figure out how we're going to and where we're going to land. Uh and I do have to commend uh Commander Lip and his staff. They've been very very, you know, accommodating to the shifting and the the unknown and and being able to understand and how that's going to how how it's going to all fall out. So, uh, and and and I know board you have you you haven't had a whole lot of, you know, um,

101detailed explanation on what's going on, but we tried to kind of navigate the best we can. Uh, and, um, that's kind of where we where we are right now. So, PJ and George, if you want to add anything to that, you feel free to to do that as well. I mean I can touch briefly on um in terms of the UB properties there's a different zoning like uh superintendent touched on. So um whenever you shift from higher ed to K8 you have to make the modifications based on a current code and that's what was the hindrance. Um so we we pivoted again. Um right now I'm working with construction services. We're looking at the schedule of the win program. We're supposed to have a shovel in the ground in the early spring which creates the

102need for us to get out in the building in the Christmas vacation. Um with that said, um we've looked at the schedule. I spent some time trying to push the schedule back. I'm short about five weeks, six weeks. Um so right now what I've got to do is work with um construction services to see what the what the costs of mobilization or remobilization on the project will be. um you know if it's a few thousand dollars then it's not a big deal but if it's more than that you know it's a bigger discussion. So you know there are opportunities that we're looking at. Um but with that said we're still working through this whole entire process because this is this is not an easy feat for us to put together. >> Great Mr. Benham >>

103I don't know you want to tell Mr. P. I know he want to say something madam sh for me. >> Sorry. Go ahead. >> Okay. Good evening. Um really quick. Yeah. Uh some of the issue is that we've had about four superintendent uh who have been involved in this project. And what usually happens is when the when BASIC originally came on, they had about 800 students that were going to Basic. Okay. Uh BMA at that point was somewhere around 2450 maybe tops. So if you put that together, it's about a,50. Um, part of the edspec was um the edspec is basically the educational specs that go along with the building when the building's being built. Um, there's some specs that are designed that we have to follow. Those edge specs um because of these uh

104you know our three or four different superintendent have been opened up approximately five times. Um, when we went back again to talk to the state about taking BMA out of the mix again because we realized that BMA was up to about 329 students at that time. Um, they would not allow us to make any adjustments because the EDSP spec was opened up four times already. right now. Um, looking at the numbers without, uh, BMA, BASC High School is at the highest that they've ever been at,50 students right now. It's,50 students. Those, the EDSPEC says that they have capacity only for 1,250. So right now we have approximately 61 to 66 students who are BMA students who are 12th graders that are in the school now. But we also have to have what's called a safety

105and efficiency factor that's built in. You cannot have the capacity at the school when you're building. That's at 0.85. So it's 85% of the enrollment that's there. When you really look at that now, if I add up the two schools, we're at about 1,430 children that would in in a sense have to go into the new Bassic High School. So with Dr. Avery, George, myself, um we've been looking at solutions to this problem. One thing is with the demographic study facilities master plan, it goes to show that the projections show that our high school within the next five years are only going to grow. So, they're going to grow right now and we don't really have space in other high schools to put the second half or the 9th, 10th, and 11th grade BMA students.

106One of the things we've tried to do is we've tried to speak to the state and the state magnet portion um of programming into that. We've brought in the technical assistance team, Dr. bravery myself. Um, and we've tried to um get in there to get a waiver just like at the same point where super superintendent Tastani during the COVID years was able to get 200 students, Bridgeport students into Fairchild Wheeler. right now. Um, we were having a problem with the state because they wanted paperwork filled out and all kinds of other things and we did that. That was part of going through the legislative session. By the time the legislative session got by, um, we were already looking at UB campus in a building that was proposed to us before George had got in there

107to take a look with his team. and that building at the UB campus um could facilitate those 17 classrooms that we needed of BMA students. Obviously, once the studies got completed, we found that that was no longer going to be an area that we were going to be able to use based on what George just spoke about. And we had to go back to Fairchild Wheeler temporarily so that we can uh house our children, our BMA children, the 9th, 10th, and 11th grade so that they could obviously finish school um inside of that building since the BMA school will be needed to be utilized by Winthre school. Now, George will speak to this. Part of the Winthra plan when the school was being built is to keep all of the students together. Since we don't

108have a swing space, we don't have any extra schools where we can put almost 600 children. The only school right now available for that is the BMA campus or the South End campus that used to be the swing space. George, you might you may want to speak on that. So, so the original intent of the South End School uh was swing space so we can continue to construct buildings and do what we have to do, have a fall over place if there was an emergency. We talk about that um a lot in terms of what happens if there's an emergency. That was the intent of that building. So in order to lock in the grant for Winthre, we had to ensure that we were going to be able to shift those students into the swing

109space and keep them together. All of these other nuances of the BMA Bassic came after those conversations. But once again, the shift in leadership, you know, it creates a lot of gaps and and and things and and the ideology of of what folks would like to see. And here we are. We're working daily on trying to find a solution and we will find a solution at one point or another. We just need a little bit more time. >> Mr. Bener, >> thank you, Madam Chair. I know this situation is not coming from Dr. Ary and you guys because it's coming as you said, Mr. BJ. It's coming from the former uh superintendent school. I'm very glad for the record that I was the only person saying no when they bring try to put BMA in

110and bass it together. Why? Because the reason you just said just now Mr. Uh P PJ exactly I just saying is in the minute people when the new school the numbers going to go up the people leave around they're going to be say this is my school and people living in the east side and the west side they're going to move it that side because they say oh I want to be in a newbass high school exactly what happened right now you know and it's an issue it's very easy that the state we want this we want that we want you you do this but they're not here or sitting down with you and figured out how to you know resolve all these problems Because they stay back. They say, "Oh, let Bridgeport handle. Let

111Dr. Every PJ George and everybody handle the problem. People just want they have to do what we want." That's not the way they work because actually us the one we have here in Bridgeport. We have to deal with that and not with that with the parents because you really got to know how the parents feel that BMA ambassador they are in the same school. >> So now like you said Dr. Mr. PJ, you know, it's 1150 students and the passime is 1250. You add only 61 in the in the master high school, right? >> Yes. 61 12th graders. Yeah. From BMA. >> Yeah. So the rest of the student, okay, they stay in the all and then, you know, BMA until UB and you guys fix that situation. So have 17 classroom. 17 classroom over

112there. if they gonna be doing that at UB, I just want to know how much they gonna cost just in case they go to UB. Who's running the policy and everything, you know, when the student for BMA in BN UB and um they have a space for the student for BMA do the training, lunch, all the activity they do because you know BMA they do early in the morning, I believe 7 7:15, correct me if I'm wrong, they do a lot of things in the morning before the the school start. Are they going to have that space to do that? So there's a lot of question because there's easy the state say oh we want you to put the students there and period or the city have to pay back but they don't see now

113the consequence why he thought to running back and forth because I'm with my parents they're not happy I'm not happy for the day one the day one I'm not happy with that and I know Dr. Royota going to take care the way it is. Commander Lip too and everyone we going to do. But the big issue here is the state we want this but they don't come and see by his own eyes and sit down with you guys and not only see him by paper or by email walk around the school and see the different between BMA and Bassin High School. Two great school, amazing school, amazing principal and staff. But BMA has things to do early in the morning like at 7 o'clock in the morning or 7:15 and correct me if I'm wrong

114PJ before I say high school start 753. >> Yeah and Mr. Ben I can I can address that issue and one of the things you got to understand is that I you know our job is to make sure that both campuses are going to get the ideal treatment that they need to get. There's there's academic programming, there's there's cafeteria, there's there's, you know, um facilities where they need to get changed and they need walking, you know, uh spaces to be able to do their drills and things. So, all those things are being considered as we look at a space for them. Anywhere they go, they're going to have to have that. Uh and so we're looking at every single, you know, option, every single, you know, uh, you know, ability to give them what they

115need fully, you know, full-fledged. And we don't know the cost of anything yet because we're still working out where that's going to be. So, as we work through the the the the spaces that we're considering, we're going to work out the agreements that need to be worked out. All those things have to come back to the board for for approval and consideration. So again, right now our biggest thing for the last month is to get school started and get to have the kids in a place that they can start school, you know, and that was a focus. Uh, and that's what we've done. We've had a very successful start of school and now it's we're we're we're juggling trying to get, you know, you know, where we're going to go, how we're going to do.

116So, you know, please give us a little grace to try to make through and give some options, you know, and we'll bring those options to the board for consideration uh moving forward. So, uh for sure, uh it's it's it's a challenging thing for, you know, myself, you know, um I've had a couple meetings with other board members about BMA and what we're going to do and I've talking about magnet grants and how do we get additional dollars to be able to do things. I mean there's a lot of different options that we're going to consider uh and try to make come to life as well. So um uh we will kind of keep you guys a breast of what's happening and um uh we'll go through the facilities committee. We'll come back every single month

117to make sure that you guys have you know ample you know opportunities to have have some discussions of this as well uh and as we move this thing forward with you guys. >> I understand that Dr. Avery. I'm not saying you everything you say is not true, but it's very easy. You see that piece of piece of paper, it's very flat. If you go like this, you know, like that, right? That's the way the state give it to us. So now us the board and you and the equipment, we have to show it's flat so we can fix the problem because the state they say we want this, we want that. But like I say, they don't come here to see the fat that we have to go deal with. You know, they know because

118they really know. I really spoke to them and they really know. And I tell them, what is the point? And you want push something. It's like I use size eight of shoes, but they want you to put a size six of shoes when it's going to be tight. And who's going to have the pain? Whoever use that sho size six us right now. Who's going to sering our students? And one of the point is is my parents. They need to have the meeting with the parents for BMA and let them know what's going on. I know it's going to be another plan and stuff like that for BMA but right now the state they don't see the consequence that we have to run we have to listen we had to do it we had to

119move a lot of things to be sure our student our safety and parent and staff you know that's my my my concerns you know stuff like that it's very easy to point but if they don't come to you sit down let me talk let me see let me walk around all the school let me see what the ambass high school doing and what BMA took you know because I am a witness I know what they do and I know you and your team they doing the the best they can to be sure everything is fit and thank you for that but it's not fair that we have so many things to do for the nine nine 10 months you here you trying to fix so many things to have something else and add something else

120that we going to be behind we trying to be on top but I know sometime we have to push a little back because we have to fix it who's priority who's first who come first you know it's a lot it's not easy it's not easy what we all doing because we here on the same page So, >> I'm very glad we bring that and I hope you know, >> let's keep you going the best we can to BMA. You know, I know I know you I know we we can do it. I know you can do it. >> Thanks, sir. And I appreciate that. I think that's important. I mean, and and and and I do want to, you know, I would be be remiss if I did not say, you know, when you look

121at and experience the meeting that I experienced today, you know, with the state board of education and none of my staff have got acknowledged for doing anything. Everything was done by the state. That's wrong. That's absolutely wrong. You know, so again, I I appreciate >> they're not here. They're not here say done with you. They're not here with everyone. They're not here with George, with PJ, with board members, with anybody to send to listen to us. You know, it's very easy to appoint send you an email. I want you to do this, but come down and sit down because everybody know Connecticut, Bridgeport is the most cities. We have so many kids. So, it's easy. And I'm, you know, but us here, we know your team do amazing job. And that's what I'm here for

122to let them know what you you and the team are doing. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. >> Thank you, Mr. Woodson. >> Yes. Um, one question. Is is Central full to capacity? >> Close close to it right now. >> Yeah, we wouldn't be able to put in 215 more students. Because to me to to me it sounds like the issue is the money that we would have to pay if we took these kids out of out of out of Bassic. So either we either we find a way to get all all of these kids inside of Basic or we're we're going to be paying millions of dollars. >> So So Mr. Woodson, it it doesn't say in the edspec how many kids have to be in BASIC uh from BMA. It just says we have

123to have BMA children inside of Bassic. >> Okay. Um Okay. So, how how how long before we know if we're if we're able to use the the facility that that the new facility that that used be that UB is proposing? >> I I think it's going to be another it's going to be at least another six months. You know, we're trying to do as quickly as we possibly can. Uh we are actually going to be going and uh hopefully putting putting our eyes on the new facility at the campus, you know, early next week. Uh and hopefully being able to at least have a transitional time as we work through, you know, the first the Dana Center, you know, coding issue. So again, I think we have a couple of different scenarios. I have not

124seen the uh the second site uh and and and Secondary, we also have the options of working with the state for the first child wheeler option as well. We're trying to keep as many options viable as we possibly can so that we don't have or don't run out of possible options. So again, I'm thinking, you know, we we should have within the next month or so, we should we should have a better clearer vision and pathway for where we're going to go. Because like I said, the only thing I'm just I'm just concerned about and I and I told you in the past just I I don't I just I want the kids to be able just, you know, to have to be able to have upper classmen to look to to look up to,

125you know, the senior, you know, seniors are are play a big role and and and and the underassman's uh >> upper classman and you know, how they come up their education and stuff like that. So, it's it's just a advantage to having them around, especially in a in a in a military environment. >> And you're you're 100%, you know, you know, correct. And that's kind of why we really wanted to have them close to each other at, you know, as as possible because the seniors still can interact with the the lower classmen as well because some of them will take classes together, right? Uh and so you you have the ability to kind of interact with those those individuals. They have formations and you know they still go back over after school and do some

126things together in in their squads and things like that. So they're getting a little bit of it but but it's you maximize that when you get have them closer together and they're able to do their formations and things early morning the drills and things together early morning and after school. So yes, that is and and that's one of the things that we've been trying to kind of solidify is how close can we get them that's going to be meaningful for them, you know, uh in the space and the curriculum and and the programs that they have, right? So that's that's that's huge for me and and and I know my academic team is trying to make sure programmatically that we are able to make sure that we can provide those uh th those combination opportunities

127that they'll work together with the the lower and upper classmen. So that's that's a very very true fact and I think that's important for us as well as we look at finalizing something. >> Yeah. I just I just hope that all avenues are pursued whether it be moving kids around to other sides of town or I you know just just so that you know we're we're not in jeopardy of of you know having to pay back the state any any money for you know you know uh not having the kids on campus or anything like that. >> Yes, absolutely. >> That's my that's my only concern. Thank you. >> Thank you Mr. Medina. Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, you guys laid out a lot here. Um, thank you, Dr. Avery. Um, again, I don't know

128where would you be without Mr. George Garcia and Mr. PJ Carafa. They just laid out some great work that has been done during the summer. So, I apologize, George. Am I remiss of my questions that I didn't mention? You know that this report is, you know, is amazing to get all this data of everything that's being done through the summer and all the work and all the they need to find a way to make sure that our campuses are open this uh school year. Dr. Avery um the way it opened and the way it's being done and and even on top of you know touching all these things that you know that still need to be worked and put oil on and put hands on and work and put boots on the on the ground

129because we need boots on the ground to do the work. You know you guys have knocked it out of the park and you know I've been using that statement for a long time. So again with all these two guys in your team and I thank you cabinet but also I want to make sure that you know we have a true lineup you know from top to bottom when you talk about baseball you talk about a lineup and that you continue to use your lineup because again we're here to meet with you guys also to try to get brainstorm to help you guys uh have a small another input of voice. So, I look forward to getting together with some of the board members to meet with you guys with your cabinet and see where we

130are because these discussions will be great to sit down on a one-on-one and I guess shoot ideas instead of being always, you know, um in meetings and really structure and all that stuff. But I I must say that if the state is listening, which I believe they are, and I know I am not sure about the number that they're looking to get refunded, if we don't have Bridgeport Bitary Academy in that building, and this is a mess that they, you know, that they they facilitated, they they should have known this ahead of time, them being the state. But I just wonder if they, you know, it's one thing that we got to pay them back pay them back money when they have over, you know, billions of dollars in a surplus. So I'm wondering if

131they can step up. That's that the the team that's here with us and also if we need to go to Harford, let me know. We'll go to Harford to their board meeting, uh, you know, the Connecticut State uh, Department of Education meeting to find out, can we get a waiver, wave this fee? that way we can manage this the right way with this the team or whoever they want. But you know this was something that they should have been able to manage. Uh whether who's leaving and who's here or not, the board is here and the board has always been here. I don't care what leadership has been as far as superintendent roles or not, but you know, you guys have been handling it. You guys been doing this work and I appreciate it. But

132now I want to find out from the state themselves. And again, uh, we'll be willing to go over to the state with you to find out, can we get this thing waved? That way, we can actually start doing some of the work. When you said six months, Dr. Avery, I kind of like to my I my heart skipped the beat because I'm like, wow, that's a lot of time. And I know there's a lot of dots that needs to be uh eyes needs to be dotted and teas need to be crossed on all these contract, but it's just like, wow, that's a lot of time. And when I thinking about this community, Bridgeport Military Academy, and I think Mr. Woodson was brought it up and with uh Albert Bellingham about the stuff that they got

133to do early in the morning and stuff and and that these kids deserve better. Um I I think that we need to have a little bit more discussions in the near future, very near future to figure out what are our true options. Mr. Garcia, you also mentioned a space that I know that we're going to need BMA space where they're at right now in Arena Avenue because of the uh John Winup situation, but that there was another space. What's the address on that space? That other extra space? >> Um, are you talking about the University of Bridgeport space? >> No, I know that one. Is there another space that we're using for overflow for emergencies? >> No. No, that's that that was the intent when we when we purchased the BMA building. The intent was

134that we use it for construction and then on the off chance or the off schedule of construction, we had a overflow facility for any emergencies. >> So that Yeah. The city of Bridgeport does we don't we do not have that. So if there's a catastrophic emergency or issue, we're you know we we've got a whole other thing to figure out. >> Yeah. No, I hear you. I hear you. Wonderful. Food for thought. Thank you guys. I appreciate it. Thank you. I just want to say that congratulations guys because this opening of the school year, I think the staff, principles, administrators, uh, you know, custodians, security, everybody's in a way better mood and thing and they're like, "Let's go. What can we do next? Let's figure it out." But again, we need to keep this rolling

135on how can we figure it out together because they're they they're having a great time opening up and um and George, I thank you. I sent you some pictures about the other situation at JFK that was handled by your team. People came out of the door and they were like, "Oh, you're the guy I'm waiting for." And they worked on to make sure those kids were safe uh right away. They didn't need to wait for the next day. And they did a great job over there. So, I appreciate that teamwork. And um I I share with you that information, too. Okay. Thank you. God bless. >> Mr. Wood, >> do you still have a question? Mr. Woodson, >> I go Mr. Coll. >> Yes. Yes. Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, yeah, I got a couple

136of things. First of all, I would like to thank Dr. Avery because I was like starting to question my own sanity before he said he was watching the state board of education meeting and seeing them taking credit for things that we've initiated. Uh I would like to let the staff and Dr. Avery know and primary superintendents to know that some of those projects that are coming to fruition now we as a board know y'all started them. We know they started before the state uh the state uh got involved and um the state needs to start talking more with us than at us. Um yeah, I appreciate the them saving the buses, but that's a contract we are going to be beholden to and we need to be on task with that. That being said, back

137to the point of uh this whole meeting kind of straight a little bit. um the facilities master plan uh status of that. We really need to start having real buckle down and having some real discussions about it because some of these problems may or not may or may not be able to be anticipated in the future by having a thorough discussion in a debate and going through the what if scenarios and challenging each other's thinkings on this. And as far as the problems being linked to multiple superintendents, if the board sets a plan, no matter who the superintendent is, if the board who the state has made abundantly clear is in ultimate control of the finances and all this stuff holds to that plan and tells the superintendent not to deviate from that plan, whoever

138it may be as far as a building or whatever have you, these issues will be avoided. So that's where we as a board need to step up. Um, so yeah, I would like to thank everybody for their hard work. Just again let everybody know that I see you. Dr. Avery, you're doing a a good job thus far. And I know I don't throw out compliments too easily, but u it's welld deserved. Uh, and I and I do see your frustrations in the state jumping on and the state the state can help us out a little more. Give us a recognition. that newspaper article that came out today that said we only had 38 36 um 36 vacancies in the district. That's freaking awesome. And we were closing we were closing that gap little by little

139over time anyway. And some of those programs are just expansions of programs we already had in place. And I would give kudos to expanding those um jobs and we we're lower than even um what's it? West Haven. >> No, I'm sorry. Westford. West Hartford has more vacancies than we do and they're much smaller. >> All right. >> Okay. Thank you. I'm done. I know. I know. Sorry. >> So, we're gonna keep it on on topic for BMA, guys. Let's keep it on BMA. >> Yes, sir. Yes, ma'am. I'm sorry. I apologize. I was >> um I saw two hands. Okay. Mr. Ben, go ahead. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to let you know Dr. Mr. Garcia and Mr. VA when it's about talking with the people from the state just let let

140them know you guys are not alone I don't want you get all the stress and all depression let them know you have a team you have a people that will stand with you and we have to go over there and talk to them and let them know or invite them not not us go over there invite them come here in Bridgeport and walk around the to school they can see what we doing and what you know what's the best we doing for our children so let them know like I know they're watching like Mr. Jose you are not alone and you have a board that will defend you and Mr. Garcia and Mr. PJ that we are here together for the best for our children staff and parents. >> Thank you madam chair. >> Any

141any more BMA? All right. Um next item is motion to adjourn. >> So move Mr. Ben. Have a good one everyone. God bless you all. >> Second by Mr. Woodson. Um all in favor say I. All right. Okay. Meeting adjourned December 24th. Thank you guys. Good night. >> Good night. God bless you all. >> God bless you.