Regular Meeting of the Bridgeport Board of Education Monday, May 12

001Good evening everybody. This is a call to order for the regular board meeting the Bridgeport Board of Education. Today's Monday, May 12th and it is 6:35. We have a quorum. Um, can we all stand for the pledge of allegiance? I pledge algiance to the flag and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. I'm going to take roll call. Christine Baptist Perez, Albert Benahan Gales, I'm here. Aisha Casemir here. Mary Jimenez. Whitly Medina here. Jennifer Pres is here. Joseph Aalovic present. Robert Traber, Andre Woodson, we have a full We have a forum. Um, the next item on the agenda is the student representative reports. Christian, you can go ahead. Okay. Good evening everyone. My name is Christian Bea and I am the student representative for

002Central High School. And to report right now, prom tickets are on sale and our prom is to be May 30th at Cascades in Ham Handen. This is also the last week of advanced placement testing. And for last week, NGSS testing took place for all 11 graders. As of now, we can confirm that our graduation is June 13th at our Kennedy Stadium at 6:00 p.m. Central also sent five students to the Harford Capital last Thursday to advocate for Bridgeport funding. I was also a part of this group. And for sports, spring sports so far are going very well. Boys volleyball is going to qualify for the state's championship and girls and boys track are both doing very well and many individuals will qualify for the postseason games. Central also held a FAFSA lunchon for seniors who

003completed their FAFSA applications and a career trade fair was also hosted at Kennedy Stadium last week. Central Magna itself also held a very successful magnet acceptance day on the 30th of April. Parent conferences were also a success in April and NHS National Honor Society. We held our best blood drive of the year last week collecting many pints of blood to fill the requirements. And for upcoming events, we have many awards ceremonies. And these include events like the NHS induction, scholarship award giveouts, college decision day, the honoral ceremony, declaring the top 25 students of the class of 2025. And as of now, students are still receiving full rides or full academic scholarships to prestigious colleges. And many of these students are from the Central Magnet program. And we also hope to hold a very in-depth teacher

004appreciation week when we think of the future. and scheduling for all our classes. It's been well underway and many people are beginning to make their final decisions of what they want to take next year. On a final note, teachers, they are meeting in PATRAY groups so that they could help plan for student success and increase postsecary opportunities for many of Central students. Thank you. Thank you. Are there any other student representatives here? I don't see any I don't see any online. I just want to say Christian and to to Christian and to others who joined us um who went to the capital last weekend. Thank you. And um you know I I was very proud of the of what you guys were doing up there. Um they were able to meet with um three of

005our representatives um two of our senators and um share you know their thoughts of um this budget crisis and and also what they need for the district. I really think that um you know you guys did really well up there and I just want to commend you guys for coming up. Thank you. Um moving on. I don't see any other student representatives. So um we will move on to public comment. We have one speaker. We have uh Senator Gakar with Wilcox. It's already on. Oh yeah. Great. All right. Hi everyone. Good evening. I'm Sujata Gadro Wilcox, the newest senator in for for Bridgewwater, Trumbull and Monroe. So very excited to be here. I'm also an educator. Uh I the faculty member at Quinnipak University and I teach constitutional law and human rights law. Um and

006I said this story a couple of times, but um education is really sort of at the heart of what I do and why I came into politics in the first place. So, I'm here to speak about the the new schools, but um you know, just just so people who who know who don't know me uh yet uh know, you know, my father grew up really poor in India and was able to come to the United States because of access to education. And so my whole career as an educator has always been first as a lawyer has been committed to public interest law and then as an educator to access to make sure that students have the opportunity to get what everywhere in the world we know is a fundamental human right and that's the right

007to an education. Um, and so I'm going to continue to advocate for that in the legislature. Thank you to all of the incredible students that came up for student advocacy day. We were so honored to welcome you in the Senate chamber. Uh, and just to see you advocating up there along with members of the board of education and members from the Bridgeport Public Schools and teachers um, and friends and colleagues and parents. It was just it was an incredible day. And what we need right now is for the public to come together uh, for that as well. I also wanted to just say a quick thank you for all the members of the of the again the board of education and the bridge public schools that were at the community conversation on Friday at Trumble

008Gardens Community Center and thank you to all the parents that took the time to come out to really express your concerns and there are many and at the root of a lot of them is funding. Um so that's what I wanted to to be here to talk about. Um education is my commitment and even on the legislature I'm the chair of the new special education committee. I'm a member of education and I'm also vice chair of higher education. Um, and I think it's really important that we think of education as a continuum. So, whatever we can do to increase uh funding for early intervention programs, that's going to help uh educ that's going to help general education. Whatever we can do to help special education is also going to help, right? General education, early intervention

009programs will help general education and that should connect all the way through to higher education. So, for me, we have to think of these things all together. Um, when it comes to the special education committee, you know, we heard the call of districts that we are already in a funding crisis. So, we put an emergency funding in a few months ago of $40 million and 1.8 million of that came to Bridgeport already. So, I'm so glad that we were able that that was initi at least to respond to the calls of districts. We definitely need to do more. So, all this advocacy um and I know there's another advocacy day coming up May 19th. So, we look forward to welcoming you in Hartford on May 19th um to say that we need more for the

010schools. I'm just here I'm sorry. I'm just here to advocate for the new uh construction for particularly the school the SCE project that may be able to be purposed uh repurposed into a special education school. One of the things we're looking for in what we're trying to do with the special education committee is where feasible, we'd love to incentivize districts to create and build their capacity for in district programming where they're able to to address the needs of students. The needs of students absolutely come first. So, some students may not be able to be served in the district, but for those students who can be served in the district and where districts can build schools that will help keep those students in district, um there will be a number of incentives for that as well.

011And so I just wanted to lend my voice here in support of how valuable I think it will be to to then promote and to build a school that can help uh bring those students back into district and to support other students in district. One I just want to say the priority is that that'll serve the needs of the students I think uh in a way that will be very profound and secondarily I think in the long run it will also help in terms of uh savings. So it'll be it'll be a huge uh funding increase. Um and again only where where it's possible and feasible. We want to try to build that industry capacity so students can be in their communities. And so I wanted to lend my support to that. Um and I

012wanted to let everyone who's here know if there's anything and of course the board of education members already know this. You can always reach out to me because this is my absolute priority. So anything I can do up for education, anything any questions that people have um you can always reach out and I I'm here to to lend my voice uh to support. So, I want to thank you all very much. I'm glad to be here for a little while. There a few other meetings, so I'll be uh in and out, but I just wanted to be here to to let to lend my voice to support this school project. And thank you again for all that you're doing to support students in schools. And thank you parents, everybody that's here. Um this is our

013most critical issue right now is focusing on education and supporting it. So, thank you. Thank you. Point of personal information. I would like to thank the senator for hitting the ground running already bringing us back $1.8 million and potentially another $5.8 million in the $124 that is currently making its way through in the addition and I know y'all got your sights set on something more and I hope we do get that. But you're doing your job and thank you. I don't often compliment politicians up here. It's a very rare thing for me but kudos. Thank you. Um the next item on agenda is the approval of minutes. The first one is special meeting minutes from April 21st, 2025. Is there a motion to approve those? Motion to approve the minutes from April 21st, 2025. Is

014there a second? Second by Mr. Traver. Any debate on that? Any? All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Any abstensions? That passes. Um the next item is the approval of minutes from the regular meeting on April 28th, 2025. Is there a motion? Motion to approve the minutes from April 28th, 2025. Is there a second? Second by Mr. Traber. Any questions on that? Great. All in favor say I. I. Opposed. Any abstensions? That one passes. All right. The next thing on our agenda item is the chairman report. Um we're going to do a quick update on the uh status of the board training. Um I know I updated the last at the last meeting. So just want to say that our um that we did um receive a letter from the state and I've forwarded

015to the board members last week. So um just on the progress that we've been making and and the the team has been making at the uh central office. So make sure you take a look at that email. Um our next board training is going to be May 19th. um and that is going to be focused on um goals. And then our final training um for now will be the the June 2nd and that'll be on community engagement. Um so I'm encouraging you all to um be sure you're attending those those trainings. Um and that's the update on the trainings. Um the next thing we're going to uh do is we're going to um take time I'd live to introduce this one. Um, we we we want to welcome uh Principal Ramos and the the team

016from Discovery here and the parents and families. Let Dr. Avery take over. Ramis, can you and your family join join us at the podium? And how about your team get behind you, too? That's even better, right? that you guys I I think this is this is a really you know very special moment for I know for him him and I have been talking a little bit about the recognition. Uh I was very instrumental in having a conversation with the state team as they came to the district uh to uh evaluate the candidates for this uh particular award. Uh it g it gives me great pleasure uh I know as a superintendent uh as you uh come into a district and you try to uh support and train administrators to be great administrators, right? Uh and

017uh Mr. Ramos has I think it's in his blood. It's in his family. I I I know that. He, you know, when I interviewed him last year for the principal at Discovery, uh, you know, he it just things just struck at me to where, you know, this guy has potential to be a really really great leader. Uh, uh, and everything that he set forth this whole school year has been very instrument instrument in instrumental to progress, right? Uh, and after everything this district has been through, you got one guy that's all about making sure he does great things for his children in the building, his own children, his family. I know he's a family guy. Uh, and he always talks about what's going what's important for his staff. Uh, and so, uh, again, it gives

018me great pleasure to, uh, provide you with a, uh, certificate, and I want the board to join me as well. Uh, really honoring you as a first year principal. Uh it it takes a lot to be uh at the forefront of leading leading the building uh understanding you know you know coming to the district for the first time. I think he heard about the district. His dad was in the district for a while. So I think as a as a young boy growing up he was probably you know behind the scenes understanding about Bridgeport but he wanted to come here. Uh when I recruited him from a different district I said do you really want to be here? He said oh yeah this is where I want to be. So, he's here. I'm I'm just

019grateful that he he took a took me up on the opportunity to come here. Uh I know you have a you have a great future ahead of you. Uh and I will support that. I know this district will support you in any way that we can as well. But again, we want to thank you for being a part of the Bridgeport family. Uh and uh many more of these opportunities are going to come your way and uh uh just just capture it and make make good for not only for yourself, for your family uh and for this district. So we appreciate you very very much. So thank you for that. So, can you guys join me to your princip over the next year representing the district also represent very well that there are all the

020great things that's happening a great voice this community we appreciate you guys you you guys are also So, you know, part of this celebration because you guys capture what a leader has for you. You give it back. So, thank you God for being part of it and be on the side with him and march with this. March with us. Thank you guys. for a second. Um, I just want to say in front of the board and in front of anybody that's watching online, um, just how honored I am to be the principal at Discovery Magnet. Uh, you can see here that we are a community. We're a family. Um, people sometimes people just say that, that gets thrown out a little too much. Um, but when we say that we're Discovery, a Dragon family, we

021mean it. And you can see it by the people that are here, right? We have a number of staff here, a bunch of parents, we have community support, community partners. Um, that's who we are. And we'll never stop fighting for what's right. I think everybody in this room knows exactly what I mean, that we will never ever stop fighting for what's right. Um, we understand that the district's in a tight spot, but with the budget and we're going to do everything that we can to continue to advocate. Um, but we can't have things change in in where we're what we're doing. You know, what we have going on at Discovery is absolutely special. It took me a couple days to realize this is a magical place. You go back to my Facebook post, it was

022like three days in, I was like, Discovery is a magical place, right? Um, it it truly is remarkable and and we need to keep we need to stay whole. we need to stay whole in in every way possible. So, u we're here um and my team is here to show the support for this award because we've all earned it. Um but we're also here to say say to the board, say to the district, say to the community that we need to stay whole because we've wor we've worked hard to be where we are. All right. Thank you. Hold true. Take a quick recess so that um we clear the room for a minute for five minute recess. Mr. Sakalic made a motion. Madam Chair, Mr. Ramos, before you go, we just have a motion for

023recess. So, we're just We have a motion for recess. I have a point of personal privilege. Go ahead. Uh before you go, I just want the Discovery family understand and Mr. Ramos said it and you know what we're fighting for in Bridgeport is to make sure every child in Bridgeport gets to go to a magic place. There's no reason that every school in Bridgeport can't be a magic place. And that's what we're fighting for is to make sure every child has a chance to have a school like yours. So let's try and make that happen for every child in Bridgeport. Thank you. Thank you. There's been a motion to recess under the second. All in favor say I. We'll have a fivem minute recess. All righty. Thank you. All right, we are back. It's uh

024659. Um I just want to acknowledge Miss Baptist Perez has joined online. Um all right, the next um item on the agenda is the committee reports. The first committee um will be finest committee. We have not met since the last board meeting. We will be meeting um next Wednesday the 21st. Um and I'll take any referrals. Seeing no referrals. Um oh go ahead Mr. Adding back in the unlikely event that we get additional funding just to prioritize the funds we should have that's a preliminary discussion. We should have the preliminary discussion of prioritizing what to bring back if we have um additional funding because we do need to vote on that as well. If we cut it, we could vote to bring it back. Any other referrals? The instruction support services committee, Mr. Traber? Um

025we haven't met since the last meeting. Uh we're meeting on the 28th and uh so I have nothing further to report. I did Yeah, that's it. Are there any referrals to the instruction support services committee? Seeing none the policy and personnel committee, Mr. Medina. We'll come back to Mr. Medina. Facilities Committee um will meet or I'm sorry, we met last Wednesday on the 7th. Yes, the 7th. Um we discussed two items that are on today's agenda. The ED specifications for new constructions for the East End Elementary School and for the specialized um program. Um those are coming before you today. Um, are there any referrals for the next facilities committee? When is next one? That's a good question. Next facilities uh committee is scheduled for the fourth or eighth hour of our graduation that day.

026So, I'm going to look into either scheduling early in the day or a different day. So, I will get back to you guys by the next board meeting on the next facilities committee. Just for the record too, that day is the last day of the session. Uh, too. So, it's a it' be a good day to reschedu from um All right. And since seeing no referrals, um I don't know if Mina's back on. Yes, I'll be I'm here late. All right. So, we're we're on your committee. Okay. Thank you very much, Madam Chair. I just heard for my attendance, but I am here. Um, William Medina uh with uh and personnel. Um last meeting uh we successfully pushed forward over nine uh policies. We have not had a meeting this month. It'll be this Wednesday.

027Once again, this Wednesday, I received um from Mr. Staki uh multiple. So, we should be well ahead of our schedule for uh those policies that were state mandates that we've been working on. Uh Mr. Dr. Aver's team has worked diligently and then right now I received uh that list this morning. So, that will be moving forward to the next agenda including uh one of the other referrals that was um referred through one of the other board members. Um and that is my my update. We look forward to also adding some of the other ones that are recommendations through CABE and we'll be working through that, you know, in the beginning of the of the year most likely because I don't think we'll have another meeting. Um, that is my report. If I anybody has any

028referrals, please speak now. If not, I'll pass it over to you, Madam Chair. Any referrals for policy personnel? Um, I also want to acknowledge that um there has been a committee change. uh policy personnel now has um I have dropped from that committee. So Marissa Himenez is taking my spot. Um I just want to acknowledge that uh for the board members. Um yes, thank you. I missed that. I appreciate it. Marissa is taking my spot on that committee. All right. Um K report. I'm sorry. No updates. Sorry, my son just texted me. No updates in the K report. Um, next item is the superintendent report. Thank you, Madam Chair. Uh, good evening everyone. Uh, I have a really quick um, superintendent report today. I wanted to kind of emphasize uh, last week Thursday uh, we

029had approximately 35 about 40 students uh, join uh, a couple board members myself and my staff executive staff to Hartford for student advisory day. Uh, I can tell you it was one of probably one of the the best or rewarding days uh in my 30 plus years as a school superintendent to see the kids advocate for uh the things that they felt they needed to advocate for uh for Brisb public schools. Uh they did an amazing job. They were they was dressed to impress. uh they added value to the conversation not only with other school superintendents and their their cabinets but uh like senators uh they had a chance to kind of you know meet with uh several delegates uh they had speeches that they provided for them and performed for them as well. We

030had two two u me student members from each of the the schools that was represented it. Uh we also had two middle school kids uh represented there uh and did a really really good job in their uh advocacy speeches as well. Uh I want to thank uh um Tim and John Carlo at communications department. They did an excellent job of coordinating that for us. Uh getting the buses uh I think Marge Hughes was very instrumental in working with some of the other district uh u executive staffs to be able to support the effort. So thank you again Marge on that as well. Uh but it was one of those opportunities guys that um really made us proud and I know board members if you were there you were you would probably join in in the

031effort to say job well done students job well done. Uh my additional item for my superintendent report is that I I really want to take a moment to um really talk about May 19th. May 19th is uh the Bridgeport Day at the Capitol. uh we are uh providing uh transportation to community members. We are also providing the city is also providing meals for individuals that go up to Harford with us. Uh we we've secured four uh uh buses to be able to take uh community members to Harford on that particular day, get them back in time. We're also providing students that are going to that will be going to advocate for us as well with an excuse absence uh opportunity for them to advocate with their parents. Uh so we want to again we want

032to um bring the parents together with their children to uh do a a family advocacy opportunity as well. So this will give again an opportunity for Bridgeport to really show the need and for us to come together as a community uh to be able to advocate for additional dollars. Uh the day is going to be Bridgeport Blue. So wear your Bridgeport Blue uh to uh to Harford uh to be able to kind of go. So again, I think it's important we are also partnering with some community organizations to support uh this effort. Uh and so we're working with some community partners to be able to make sure that the more people that we can get the better. Uh and so uh I'm I'm advocating I'm pushing there should be a phone blast that probably went

033out five minutes ago uh to our community and our families. We're going to push it all the way through to until Monday uh Monday morning. So, uh, tell your friends, your neighbors, your family members. We need your support to get out there and advocate for, uh, Bridgeport, uh, on May 19th. I'll take, uh, any referrals. Questions for doctor, questions for Dr. Avery, Mrs. Falvic. Yes, some questions and some com Well, no questions, just basically comments on this report. I'm very happy about this effort for May 19th. Um, getting very well put together. We got the Spanish flyer and the English flyer. Um, this is a call to action for everybody who has stood in front of this. I've been here seven years. I've had advocacy group after advocacy group standing at that microphone when it's

034too late, when the cuts have already been made, when the budgets have already been set. These budgets are not set in stone yet. There's still time to save your children from walking 2.5 miles. There's still time to change save your children to from walking 1.5 miles. This is still time to save the kindergarten par professionals so that teachers could have help in their classroom. There is still time but people got to act. Everybody listen my voice hears it and they want to take action. Talk to your pastor. Talk to your clergy. They sure enough get involved in polit politics around election time. Ask them to take take a van up. We need to surround the capital. We need to show numbers. We need to show them we're serious or they're not going to pay attention

035to us. Thank you. Any other questions for Dr. Avery and Mr. Traber? Um I want to concur about how great a day last week was. Um we had a we had a magnificent showing on the part of our high school students and our one prek3 student. Um, and it really was great to have 200 over 200 students from around the state up there bouncing around in their different groups talking to their different reps. Um, and it it made an impact in Hartford. Um, and Bridgeport led the way. Um, and that was impressive. Um, so I I really enjoyed that. Uh, the now my understanding next week is we're also trying to work out arrangements with students to come up there and and make it an educational experience. working out credit arrangements or with their uh

036uh teachers so that they can get some learning experience, make it translated into because it was truly an educational experience last week for the students that went up there. Um the shot that was put on the website uh was them in the Senate chambers with the lieutenant governor and a number of senators, not just the Bridgeport senators, but senators from all over the state uh who spoke to them, including the lieutenant governor in the Senate chambers. Um and that was quite impressive and quite an experience, not one they'll get very often. Um and so I think that Bridgeport Day will be a great experience for them, too. um and how the lobbying works and being able to talk to the reps and the senators. Uh it's just a a unique experience for them. So I

037are we have we worked it out so that classes where that is a relevant experience will they'll be able to come up on the bus to students and then have we worked it out so that parents will be able to bring their children with them if they want to to come up and lobby? Yes, sir. That's that's one of the things we talked about the absence thing. So, as as long as we can kind of coordinate that with my staff that's going to be on those buses and getting getting them to and from, we will work that out individually uh to make sure that we can kind of provide some type of u accommodations for them as well. And the state department of ed is going to help make sure count that as that's a

038that's an acceptable absence. Okay. Man, I also want to uh you know, I want to thank the um I want to make sure that uh Representative Rosario and Felipe uh for spending some time, quality time with the students uh as well. They sat there and listened to their speeches and some some of them were very very powerful. Uh and so and then uh I also want to thank Mayor Ganam for joining uh the students up there for a brief period of time as well for him to for to to kick off the uh the initial um advocacy day uh as well. So again, it was overall was a great showing and and just wanted to kind of emphasize that as well. Not not to ignore the fact that Senator Gar will cox was in there

039with us too. Not to absolutely let's not can't forget her either. They they came into the chamber and listened to the students the Bridgeport students speak about Bridgeport issues. Uh she joined us briefly but then she had to go upstairs to vote in the Senate chambers and they sat there for a long time listening to the students. I agree. Yes. And they should be given due credit. Yes. And Senator McCarthy, Representative McCarthy Bey. Yes. Yes. Came in. I mean, came in with us also. See, no other questions for Dr. Ray. I do. Oh, Mr. Woodson. I just want to see Get your mic on. Thank you. I just want to say that I hope that, you know, like I like I love to see that the kids are up there advocating on behalf of themselves

040because it's, you know, it's for them. But I just hope that the kids know that the exact reason that they're advocating for money, not just up there asking for money. You know, there's a a unfair funding formula that's that's used in Connecticut that goes off of property values. And I'm hoping that the kids are educated on the whole situation about it. You know, know who gets what and why and why they get it. Because I think if we advocate smartly and pinpoint our advoc our advocate advocation, you know, we could get what we need, you know, not just advocating for Bushport, but advocating for all all urban districts that get underfunded by by by the unfair formula. Thank Madam Chair, thank you for that. I think that you made a very very important uh point

041because my team, you know, had an opportunity to to spend some time with the with the students regarding the advocacy piece and why, you know, the long time coming of being able, you know, fighting for the things that we should have had years ago, uh, and not just asking for money. And I think the the beauty of the whole day was that you had all of the large five or six large urban school district and some other ones. Those students were there for the same reasons. you know about how that formula is is was was actually uh you know um developed years ago and how inadequate it has been ever since and the time is now due to the surplus of dollars that the governor has to at this exposure to be able to give

042back a little bit. So we made a point of making sure that they uh we did that prior to them writing their speeches and writing their their advocacy notes. Uh so again and because I think that's very important because not not just for asking for money but why why are they asking for it and u I think having a true understanding of what that is is is a learning point that we didn't want to miss right so thank you for that Mr. Benahan. Yes. Yeah. Thank you, Madam Chair. My apologies to come late little guy. It was another meeting, but it's not a question, but as a comment, I have to say thank you. You and your amazing team, you know, because I know it's not easy, you know what we're going through, but you

043guys will step up, go over there, support students, and that was amazing. I feel to cry. So, it was so exciting to see all the students, how they speak, how they talk. I see lawyer, president, superintendent. Sorry that someone they're gonna take your job. Uh lawyers I see I'm telling you amazing kids that I didn't post yet the videos because I already record one each one of them. You're going to see how amazing they speak with strain where you know what they say I need this. I want you this. That's why you there. You know they was amazing. Amazing. And they and then what I don't like when people say oh Bristol school is fighting because they don't give education. They don't teach our kids. Guess what? You run. You run. I was so proud

044to see all the students how they speak to that uh Rosario Felipe or everyone. They was ready. We us we step back and we let him run the show. They was amazing. But thank you Dr. Avery for you for always there for your short time. You step in, you dedicate your time, you know. And now only Monday to Friday. I know Saturday and Sunday too. you know, us as the B member, we do the same, you know, and thank you for the team to be there. You know, you guys be to the end, take care of our kids. I don't know what else to say, but I was very proud. I thank God on my hat for everyone, especially our students. They was ready. And I know the state over there, they see what we

045want, what we need. You know, it was amazing. So, I just want to say that for the record. So, thank you everyone. And soon between today and tomorrow, everyone, they can go to my page because it's not private. You can see all the video for all the student how to speak to everyone. Thank you madame. Thank you Dr. Mr. Sakalik and yeah to Mr. Woodson's excellent excellent excellent point to definitely u need our students to know what they're talking about when they go up there. And on that note, as they sign up, could we like have a one pager or something to distribute to them or somebody on the bus to like give them a little breakdown or whatever have you so everybody's on the same page and actually understands what they're talking about, not

046just trying to get a day off of school? All right, last question for Mr. Traver and then we'll have to move on. Yeah, I believe that we have um uh a new explanation about the education cost sharing formula available on the website for the general public now to understand about the importance of revising and um fixing the education cost sharing formula which will affect all communities all the poor communities in the state that have been adversely affected. um because you raised an excellent point and that is what the purpose of the lobbying is is to fix it. So for all the communities that are adversely affected because it hasn't been fixed in 13 years. Um and it not only needs to be raised the base rate, but the the factors that affect uh children living

047in um at or below the poverty level, children living in uh who are multil- language learners, children who are specialed learners, all those factors need to be readjusted because the costs have changed in those 13 years. Um, now I just want to be clear, an important point that needs to constantly be raised is while the overwhelming majority of communities adversely affected by this failure on the part of the state to adjust the formula are urban communities, there are a small pocket of rural communities who are also adversely affected by that. And is important for us to to recognize their their their existence too because we want those legislators to support us too uh realistically and because they're being hurt just like we're being hurt by this unfair formula. Um so thank you. We're going to

048move on to new business. Dr. Avery, you have um the ED specifications for the construction of a new preK through 8 East End Elementary School. Madam Chair, members of the board, I'm going to have Ed Arum uh and George uh come to the podium. Uh Ed Ed is the state technical assistance team. Uh he does the school finance for uh he's in the district right now supporting uh the district, myself, my team uh in the area of finance. Uh so he's going to speak to this item uh and then I'm going to have George uh and his team uh you know provide a little bit of overview regarding the item uh moving forward. So Ed, yeah, you can introduce yourself and uh uh the community as well so they can see your face. Uh I'm

049I think I'm part of the family of Bridgeport now. Absolutely. Because I've been here for a couple of months and everybody's been great to me and uh why shouldn't they be great to me? No, I just got No, but I I I I really mean it because I've been here probably two or three months and u whatever I asked for, I've received. Uh the people have been great. The board even fed me, you know. So, I appreciate Al. So, uh I I just want to me mention a couple of things. I've been in uh education for over 50 years. I've built uh a number of schools. One I built a number of fields. One of the fields in region 15 is named after me, the Edram athletic field. And I turned to my wife and

050I said, uh, I'm not even dead yet. And they have put it on. So, it's good. Uh, right now I'm just, uh, I'm co-chair of building committee in Torington. We're building a 7 through 12 middle high school, $185 million, 310,000 square feet. So, I've been in educ education for over 50 years. I've been building a lot of schools. just just background of what the state is looking for. Again, June 30th is the deadline for applications to submit to the state. That doesn't mean it's a it's a time frame. And in December of 13, like every year, they come out with December of 13, 2024, they come out with their list of projects. So that's the same thing here. Uh December 15th, DAS submits priority list to the governor and the education committee. By February 1st,

051the education committee submits approval uh for the priority list to the governor and general assembly. And usually right after uh the general assembly finishes, whether that's the middle of June or the end of June, uh the governor signs the priority list, sends out the letters to the schools. So that reimbursement again the legislature the woman the Senate who was here is in favor of the project. I know that the rest of the legislative body is in favor of it. They want to with the with the additional um grant. It's almost going to be, you know, 90% paid by the state of Connecticut if everything goes through. So I would love to see this pass. remember it's a it puts a uh what what I call it um into the state. Now if if things change

052enrollments go up just for just let you know what happened in Torington. We put it in during CO during CO 167 children moved in 63 from New York. We went back to the state and said this is a problem. They said, "No problem. We'll increase the square footage because of the number of kids there." They increased the square footage and we went back to the state and they approved that. So, it's a placeholder. Remember, you have to get it in by June 30th. Uh the state does not give that priority list till December 15th to the legislature and to everybody else. So, uh, even though I'm just a, uh, partly family here, not a voting member or anything, but I, uh, and remember when I met with, uh, with the committee, with the board of

053ed, and I did a presentation, every board of ed, I shouldn't say, the ones who spoke up had questions or whatever, they said it's for the kids. You know, that's what we're here for, the kids. I have my kids are 51 years old and 46 years old. They have nothing in Torington because they live in Atlanta and in Seattle, but I'm still a father for other kids here in in Torington. And I and and now I'm a family, how would you call part? What would you call that? Step. A step stepfather. Okay. Stepfather to Bridgeport. Okay. What? I have my ring, but don't kiss it, please. It's the Jewish godfather. Okay. So, that's all I have to say. I I really appreciate being here in Bridgeport. It is a family and I'm a stepfather in

054Bridgeport. Yeah, Mr. Garcia. Good evening, everyone. I want to start off by saying thank you to Ed and the technical team. uh we did have a chance to go over these projects with them. Uh you know, having folks that we can sort of bounce things off and vet things is great to have at Bridgeport. As you know, we're we're stretched thin when it comes to resources. So, we uh really appreciate having these folks in town giving us a hand. So, this evening, uh we're looking for approval for two ed specifications. One we'll start with is the East End School. Um, the East End school is um would be a K8 840 student preK8, I'm sorry, I keep saying K8, preK8, um, 840 student school. Um, the school will be built on the old Harding site.

055We would tear the old Harding building down and rebuild a new school with a bright future for the kids in that area. Um, with that said, we're looking to put all of the circulation, vehicular circulation on site, right? So, everything will be done on site, parent drop off, bus drop off, all the utility work that needs to happen on a daily basis, deliveries, uh, sanitation, recycling, everything on site. Um, play playscapes uh, on site also outdoor classroom. So, it's a beautiful vision for that site. The site is a robust site of eight a little over eight acres. So, it gives us all land we need based on the on the state's requirements for the state grants. Um, any questions? Questions for Mr. Tak? Yeah, a few. Um, first I want to start off by saying

056let's just assume everybody in this room has the best interest of the kids in their heart whether they're on side A or side B of any particular issue because there could be differences of opinion and still be for the kids. Now I'm not against uh Harding per se, but I do have some significant questions because we do have a facilities master plan. Uh in the EDS specs they mentioned three schools being put into the school and it says the separate schools. Are we going to have three different distinct schools within those buildings with three principles, three programs or is it all going to be one school, one principal, one program? Uh this is to be built as a singular school um with 840 students. So that language at the very least needs to be cleaned

057up because it says it's plural schools. the schools expect to have a 50-year life in the update. So, that's that's a little mis misleading. and also even having the school's names included in the application when it's going to take a vote of the board to actually physically close those buildings that they're currently housed in which may be ch which be may change because we're going to have an interceding election by the time all this stuff happens the whole board could possibly change and have a whole new vision for these buildings and I've also reiterated I mean, how are we going to how are we planning on redistricting this students? All right, let me let me back up. If the city had sold Harding to the hospital and a plan have had did not fall through,

058what was the plan then? What was the backup plan? That was uh one of those things that we couldn't answer. Um you know, when we started this facilities master plan, we couldn't rest on our laurels, right? Um I think that you know over the years we haven't had the the facts and data that we've needed to make these um very strategic pointed decisions that we're trying to make now. Um so as soon as we started getting this data and we started analyzing saying well in this area we know we have a need. We've discussed it in the past um about the the vintage of the buildings the conditions of the buildings but now we had the concrete uh data that we needed to start to make proper decisions. With that said, myself, my team, PJ

059and his team, we started looking at every address in that zip code to see if there was a buildable spot in that entire zip code that made sense for that area. And unfortunately, there were two. One is the Remington Old Shot Tower that was just um taken down and remediation done. Um but when we did the feasibility on that, the internal review from our team, um you know, GE still holds the title, right, the environmental title. So if there's if there's something found um they can have up to 20 years to remediate. Um the other thing is that because we have to remediate to to residential standards that becomes very difficult on a site like that. So we looked at the other available site or the site that was still available because the deal was

060not complete and that was the Harding site. Um you know as you guys hear me over and over say driving by that building is heartbreaking because when you look at it it's just a dilapidated building that takes up the whole entire neighborhood. Um, so we started talking about, you know, needing the the requisite acreage and and, you know, having an area that that was uh uh sort of a middle of the of the of the schools that we anticipated or potentially may close. Uh, we started looking at that site. We started looking at how we can build a site, how we can get circulation on site. Um, you know, we we drew up a quick rudimentary. Uh, we we drew up a budget. We had the budget vetted. Um, you know, we came very close

061with the construction company that did the budget for us. So, we feel confident of where we are, but this is a gamecher for the students in this area because when you think about what we have in the three schools that, you know, now mind you, this is a four to five year process. So, there's plenty of time for us to embark on a journey that we have to when it comes to closing schools and and doing that work that comes as part of our process and our policies. Um, but when we look at these schools, we're talking about schools that have $60 million worth of needs based on the FCA, the facilities condition assessment. Um, and those are 100% will be 100% on the shoulders of the taxpayers of the city of Brisport because there

062is no reimbursement. We can't get a grant. It's just us repairing a building, not renovating a building, not bringing anything new into a building, changing a pro program piece, making them ADA compliant, none of that. to strictly bring on to a healthy and safe state. So we don't do anything for the children in terms of programming, but we at least we're in a safe building, right? But with that said, when we started looking at the Harding site at $125 million and we started thinking about what we can build, right? Or what we what we intend on building, um you know, we said we need to do something energy um efficient. So, we looked at doing uh we looked at the process of how we can build a net zero school on that site, right? That's

063number one. Number two, we all know that we struggle with prek and finding how we're going to house the pre-K students, whether it's prek sped or prek regular. We have a struggle, right? We don't have classrooms with the requisite space or the the the restrooms in the classrooms. We're where we we've exceeded that, right? Because the need is so great. On top of that, we want to provide through the leadership of Dr. brave. We want to provide prek3 at a at a greater clip here in the city of Brit because parents need this, right? Parents need options for their youngsters. So when we started taking all of this, looking at the site, looking at the potential, this is how we came to the juncture of of putting together this program at Harding site. Yeah. My

064next question point, um, this side of town with this quadrant is particularly hard hit. Um, I would be a lot more comfortable with this if the facilities master plan was thoroughly debated, amended, and changed because right now as it stands, it seems the plan is to just redistrict that area. And I don't want to lock us into anything because those three schools are on the application. See, those three schools have to be on the application pro to get it approved. I mean, because we've been told before that we could change plans with the BMA. We were told we could reverse the plans. We could threw something out. And u that's one of the only votes I made that I really really regret is combining BMA and BASIC because as we see now, BASC is going

065to be overcrowded in BMA and we're locked in. And we've been told over and over and Mr. Benahan in particular raised it up quite a few times early in the process going through the years. Let's put it back. Let's put it back. It's like, we can't. The application is already in. I do not want to lock us into closing three schools because and have the next new board basically blackmailed. You lose this new school if you don't do what you said to do that you're going to do. And that that's my concern right there because it is inequitable. Yes, we're getting a new school for that city, that portion of the city. And they they deserve new schools. They deserve even rebuilt schools, newbuilt schools, whatever have you. However you get there, every student deserves

066a clean, safe learning environment. However, yes, we're getting rid of the eyesaw of Harding High School that has been there for years, boarded up, fired, vandalism, but we will be replacing it with three boarded up schools in the same area of town, depressing the property values and all that. Those are my concerns, and those concerns are centered around equity. And these discussions have never been had. And just redistricting the area in and of itself will make class sizes in that area go up only rather than if you build if you have a plan rebuild the new Hardy new Harding this new school on the east side. All right. I'm not against the building. I'm against the how we're getting there to accommodate redistricting the entire district. This way everybody's feels safe to rightsize the district

067without locking ourselves into closing a particular school. Because why should my neighborhood on the north end have the luxury of moving out of John Winthr into BMA burning the whole building and bringing them back on that side of town? That's not even an option that's being discussed. Address that right there. Yeah. Yes, sir. Um the beauty of this program is that the the youngsters will be able to stay in their home schools till the till the building is complete. So that you know that in itself is gold to us because you know we don't have the the redundant space when it comes to uh swing space. I mean even the buildings that we're shuttering there's the potential of maybe keeping one of those buildings right to have an additional space for critical emergency or for

068when we need additional swing space for larger buildings. So these are things that we have to discuss as a group, right? We'll have that discussion based on data that was provided by the outside party. Um but you know another piece of uh what you said about the inequity. There's a major inequity in education in Bridgeport and that's because we have newer facilities where children get to utilize the great the the latest and greatest technologies and then we have schools where they can't even plug in an additional appliance. Right? those children are not getting the same education as their as their as the other fellow students in other schools. So, this is not something about us wanting to just build a school. This is about equity and education and then keeping those youngsters in the same

069area. Um, you know, because other options if we had to shut the buildings down, right, is redistricting and moving moving them throughout the city, which now is what do we call it? Educational educational displacement. I learned a lot of stuff on cabinet and working with you guys. It's been it's been a journey for me. Um, but you know, these are the things that when we when we talk about what we're going to do moving forward, like I said, through Dr. Avery's leadership, we're looking at things from a whole different lens. We're not leaving any leaf unturned. We're making sure that when we come to you, we're we're being very clear on what what our intentions are. So I understand that you know you may want more time but there's four years from us getting this

070application in as a placeholder to start to work through this and I understand the heartaches with BMA and Bassic but those conversations started fairly late in the game. If we would have had those conversations up front understanding or if we had the data from the facilities master plan to support how this district was going to look we probably would have made different decisions. But we have the data now. We need to start making decisions. Every day we wait is another day that a ch a kid or a child in the Bridgeport school district is not getting a proper education. Thank you, Mr. Traver. Microphone. So, just to finish your answer to Mr. Sakalovic's question, do you need to include the names of the schools we're going to close in the application? Yes. Yes. Is there

071flexibility there? I'm sure the state will understand if we had to make some sort of a shift. You hear the answer to that. You finish this. Yeah. He was speaking. I was like, so I think being early on in the process and understanding we have a runway, right? A long enough runway. Um I'm sure the state would understand if we had to make minor adjustments to what it is that we're doing. Now, mind you, we're talking about our oldest buildings in our fleet, right? um our buildings that have the the the highest needs, right? We're talking about number in in uh elementary schools capital needs per square foot. Beersley's number one, Paul is number two, and Edison is number four. When you look at it from a different perspective and you look at this elementary

072school capital needs, cost per student, right? Because you got to start taking enrollment into account, right? You want to make the proper investments based on the the largest need, right? You're talking about Hall is number one, Beersley's number two, and Edison is number three. These are not numbers that we're pulling out of the sky. These are the facts based on the facility's condition assessments. I do understand. I just didn't hear you answer Mr. Scolovic's question, and I wanted to be clear about what the answer was about did it have to be in there. For some reason, he was concerned based on his previous experience. I don't have that experience. So, I was asking what the answer was. Did it need to be in there? Does it lock us in somehow? Um, so you've now answered

073I don't believe these are the oldest. Isn't Black Rockck older? Um, classical studies is the oldest. Classical studies are the oldest in the in the forgot about classical studies. Um, but Black Rockck is older, too, right? Yeah. Yeah. Um, so, uh, the, um, they've just been fixed up. Yeah. Yeah. Um the um I I want to go on record as saying that that you know I'm what I said last week I say still tonight we have not done an adequate job on reaching out to the folks living in my neighborhood um attending the schools in my neighborhood um and so we need to do that. I know that Dr. Avery doesn't disagree with me. I I don't do I I'm not saying something that is wrong. I I also know because I have continued to

074confirm it. I as recently as this afternoon, I spoke with uh uh Andre Baker, my state rep, um your state rep, too, right? Uh who said that if we have an upswell of outrage over building this facility uh over the next two months uh that we can withdraw this application. So, this is not um a locked in thing. Um uh but I have yet to talk to anybody in my neighborhood who is opposed to building a new prek to 8 school in our neighborhood. In fact, they're excited. The ones that I've talked to now, I don't offer that profer that as um overwhelming evidence of support because it's not enough people. It's anecdotal. Um, so I we need to show some some evidence and we need to build on that. Um, but when you talk

075to people and you say, "Oh, look, you know, it's going to be a brand new pre-K to 8. Um, right now my granddaughter who went to Hartford last Thursday is going to uh the other side of town to go to prek3. Um, and that's what we're trying to avoid. We want people to be able to go to the same school in the same neighborhood prek to 8. Uh and under normal circumstances, she would go to uh Park City for prek 3 and four and then she'd come back and go to kindergarten at Edison and then she'd go over to Luis Munoz Marin for seven and eight and then she'd go to Harding. Four different schools. Um, so that's what this would eliminate. This make it two schools for her. So that's what people in that

076part of town are enjoying the thought of and two new schools. Whoa. So once people realize that's what it was, um, instead of like being shipped off on a bus to some other part of town and then coming to Harding, they like that idea. Um, so I it's a limited, you know, poll I've done in my own talks. So, we need to build on that. And again, I when I invoke uh Representative Baker's name, he wants to hear from the public first, but he also likes the idea of this project like me, but he wants to make sure that we have spoken to the public uh and we have given them an opportunity to be heard. Um, and I had a similar discussion with Representative uh Filipe um you know a few weeks ago the

077first time I talked to Representative Baker. Um so that's our that's our duty and I know that we'll do that over the next few weeks and we that'll be the beginning and if that's still not enough we have to figure out a better way to hear from the public. Um, but I I do I do think that um uh we need to this is this is uh and so I I think that's the most important thing for all of us is that we make sure that we reach out and hear what the people in the neighborhood think, homeowners, parents, staff. To your point to your point, I think the community piece is the most important piece. There's something beautiful happening right now, right? I think uh when you think about what we've been doing, we've

078been getting out into the community talking to folks. Not everybody can get here, but we're going to go to you and we've done that. You know, we've had several forums. We've had forums in the housing projects. We've had forums at all three high schools. We're trying to engage as much as we possibly can. That's the intent we forward. Now, you also were talking about uh how many folks went to the state and advocated, how many people are advocating. This is a powerful time for Bridgeport. This is a pivotal moment for Bridgeport. You know, we've constantly found a way to push opportunity away. It's time to embrace it. It's it's before I became a teacher, I spent 20 years as an organizer. We need to do better. Y and we have too many things going on

079between no disrespect here. between the state department of ed and what they want us to do and the advocacy we're doing in Hartford which is critical to our future and this which is critical. We have too many balls we're juggling and it's just we haven't we need to do a better job and I understand why. I'm not I'm not trying to point a finger at anybody. It's just so many things we're trying to juggle that we need to get out there and make sure that we've done a good job reaching out to the public, you know, so the community meeting in Harding with less than 10 people from the public there, it's just not good enough and we need to do better. Um, and you know, I I you know, I gave you my idea

080last week. It's a good idea, but it's it may not be good enough either. There may be a better idea. And so, uh, we just we we've got to try and do something to get folks out there and make sure that we've heard from them, um, and and and then we'll feel, you know, because right now we're all arguing in a vacuum um, about what people think. And I think that I I'm comfortable with what I'm hearing that folks love the idea, but it's it's going to feel specul speculative at best. and we don't disagree with anything you're saying. I I think Mr. Traber, when you look at it, um that is the proper way to go, but I I just want an understanding so the board understands this that even if we put in

081the application, there are no guarantees. Um understanding like the lottery, we're going to put an application up there at a certain point and there's no guarantee we're going to come back and the state's going to say yes, we're going to give you that money. Now, do we have a chance? We absolutely do. just like anyone else who puts in their application. Um, for us, we just want to make sure we don't miss a window. We don't want to overstep and not do what's right, especially publicly, but we want to make sure when we're doing this that we at least have an opportunity to put the application in and not miss it because if we miss it, then we got to wait what is it another another year? Another year or two, Ed? Two years. Two

082years. And I'm completely comfortable with that given what I've learned. Yeah. That in in you know over the next two months we make a good faith effort, we reach out and there's an upswell of people saying no way. We withdraw. It's not a big deal. It's just not a big deal. But if I if it as is I as I suspect there's an upswell of people saying, "Oh yeah, I love that idea." Then we're then we go forward and we go forward with a message from our from our neighborhood saying, "Yeah, yeah, we love this idea, Ar. We just love it. Not having to bounce our kids around to three different schools. We love that idea." Thank you, Madam Chair. I I think to close us off on this is is it's my understanding that

083this is the first time that Bridgeport Public Schools, the city of Bridgeport and the delegate and even some state legislators, senators are all growing in the same direction. Guys, we have to we have to take this opportunity and utilize it and you know you know and hope for something great coming out of this uh this opportunity. So madam chair Mr. Benahan thank you madam chair I make um make a motion to approve the educational specification for the construction of a new prek to 8 is endary school motion was made by Mr. Benahan seconded by Miss Camer is there any further debate on this miss as maker of the motion Mr. Any you have a you have any so no I'll yeah just just a question do we have any idea at all how much this

084is going to increase transportation costs it may decrease it may it may decrease but you know once again part of this journey that we're hopefully going to embark on because I see excitement and I love that um is the feasibility of everything right so part of this will be a feasibility and schematic design portion of this so there's time for us to really analyze eyes, you know, and and start to really understand and there's probably going to be some equalization of other schools that surround this. So, I think this is all good for for for Bridgeport. This is good for the children of that area. So, we have time to look at this. Third Traver, then Miss Casemir. Yeah, I you know, we all received a letter from my council woman. I don't know how

085we could do it. you know that that estimate until we've done our budget, right? I mean, it's a legitimate question, but until we do a budget, until we know for sure what the what the budget is going to be and how long how far kids are going to have to walk or we're going to have to drive them, you know, we don't we're not going to be able to do any of that stuff yet. Uh, all of that stuff is going to be known in another month or two, right? June 4th when we get to May I have a response to that really quickly? Quickly. Yes. Um, as far as know, we already know where all the kids live. This s, we already know where all the kids live. Put the if then scenario into

086the population of the school. see how many would qualify for the buses and just do a very very rough estimate at the very least to know have some idea because well we I mean be ashamed to pull it back because if it if say cost increase 2 million or whatever have you but I give you for instance when we opened Hardy we had an entirely different estimate of how many kids ended up wanting to go to Hardy because they had us a brand new school in our neighborhood and they suddenly didn't want to go where the superintendent Southwest was projecting never going to go. They wanted to go to the brand new har. We need to be four or five years out too. Do we know roughly how many students are in Edison Hall? And

087we looked at it today. Approximately se Well, as of today, 673. Okay. Um, and we don't know about if there's, you know, when this um, new election comes and there'll be new board members elected. Nobody could make any kind of prediction about whether they're going to agree with this plan or not agree with this plan. I don't like to worry about things that I don't have control over. Um, so, uh, Mr. Garcia, you said $60 million it would cost to renovate those three schools. Is that $60 million each? No, that's $60 million. $60 million total to to to do all of the repairs that are needed. So what the way I understand it is that it's just the repairs. It's not to make it ADA compliant, none of that other stuff. No. So we will

088not make them ADA compliant. We will not be changing any aesthetic. We will not be bring being able to bring in any new programming based on the design of the building. Those buildings are no longer functional for a 21st century education. That's just the bottom line, right? And I if it were up to me, I would move those kids out of that building until we moved into a building. I know that we're supposed to do this process, but I wish to God that we can get those kids out of those buildings. It's just so bad. Um and and yes, there will be three possibly abandoned buildings. Uh but those buildings the let's say hypothetically speaking the new school gets built u Edison Hall and Beersley get vacated. So those buildings go back to the city.

089Is that correct? Purpose. Yep. So one of the things that we've been doing and it's part of our process with the bassic decommissioning that we we uh presented at the last facility committee meeting is that we're engaging the city side. So we work with OPED early on uh because it's very important for us to start to have those conversations in advance. We want to be good stewards to the city, right? The city is uh is is, you know, going ahead and and helping the funding of these buildings and we want to be good stewards to that, right? So, we're not going to hand back bass the way we handed back Hardy, right? We're going to ensure that it's broom clean. We have photos. We've have we have progress. We're about to walk Dr. Ay through

090so he can see it with his own eyes. And the words tremendous work that the teachers have done. The librarian whose job is in question right now has been a rock star at helping to get the library together. people believe in what we're doing, right? Um, so it's important that we engage, not just ourselves, but we engage like like Dr. Ay said, you know, um, everyone's got an or in the same direction. That's pretty powerful in Bridgeport. And according to the policy, we would need to be out in the community even to before we shut these buildings or vacate these buildings, there still needs to be a policy and process where we go to the community and talk to them, etc. Yes, absolutely. That's part of the process, but I think in advance of the

091process, like like Mr. Traver said, you know, getting out into the community, letting them know the potential of what we're doing here is important because there's a couple things that we we we can't forget about. There's a lot of stress, a lot of trauma out there. We heard that Friday night about the trauma that parents are feeling, right? That that hit me right in the heart Friday night because I think about that also about I went to school here in Bridgeport. I went to Reed School. I graduated from Central Magnet just like Jennifer and I went to Reed School. We're doing some remodeling and the same exact old battleship green desks that I sat at were in that building. I'm 51 years old. You get what I'm saying? There needs to be change here. It's

092time. Last thing I wanted to say is thank you very much to you um to Mr. Karafa. Um I come and I visit you guys every so often. I speak with you. Um there is this job is just super enormous and the dedication that you and your staff have to this and the grace like Dr. Avery that you guys are giving I think is just commendable and we are very lucky to have you guys. Thank you. Thank you Mr. Benahan. Thank you madam chair. First of all I have to say thank you to Mr. Ed Arum for be here help us and the other guys to guide us and help us what we have to do. I we really appreciate your time to be here. For me is that you know it's it's valued. I

093really appreciate that. I know Mr. Garcia and Mr. PJ I don't know what else I have to tell you. I always told you the same thing and it's true. It's time to change. I know it's time not to do this because later we're not going to have it. And you know a lot of people they don't have this lucky time like you know we talk about it and it's about the kids. People sometime they don't understand what you guys do behind scene. They had to you do your hard work and you doing this for the kids and especially you know for the parent to understand yes we got negative outside but I always say this if you have any question come to Dr. library come to you one of the board members and we can

094give you the correct answer but people sometime they listen the negative stuff because we got negative terrible people outside in the street you know they don't want to listen they know we doing the right thing you know as I say for the short time you guys are doing this and be almost 20 years from the district I don't see this amazing change we doing for the school and I'm talking when East Side Middle school was open that was my school and I supposed to go to Harding But you know I have to travel to the island but I don't see a lot of change always every year it was something it was something it was something it was something and never was done now that we have this change now we have this opportunity to

095change for the best for the kids and you guys are doing many things because people they don't see I know that every know and some members they know what guys you do behind scene weekends you know hours you know stuff like that you know your family sometime you have to put your family on the side because you want to have your your job done and people that don't see that not only you us the cabinet everyone but I'm very glad that you guys are doing something a phenomenal job I know it's not easy I know it's a policy it's a protocol you know but people they think because you ask you said the name of the school oh they're going to close the school they be called crazy no we are not for the record

096we're not yes we want new school of course we want new school who don't want not everything new but not for this moment you know because I know like you say it's a process within three or four years but it's good you put out application now so we can be ready. We don't waste like Mr. Mar said after what if we don't do it now we have to wait two years and maybe we don't we don't have it but now we have the chance let's do it I agree with you and I'm okay with you but I said thank you for everything you guys do thank you Mr. Mary, I have two quick questions. Um, the majority of them you already answered with my fellow board members. First question is if we get at what

097up to what point in the application process can we make changes? Can we make changes minor changes if we get awarded? So, I mean, you know, you want to keep the adjustments as minimal as possible, but understanding the dynamic of what's happening here in education throughout the state. I think that the state would understand if we needed to make strategic decisions or amendments based on new programming or the shifts in the district because as we start to roll out new programming and, you know, we look at special ed and we look at prek, you know, there's going to be some things that we've got to work out on the program side that may have an effect on what we're trying to build. the base building itself, the structure itself, the footprint itself will remain the

098same, but we may have to make a couple adjustments based on on some changes as we work on bringing in new programming. Yeah. And I think the other advantage is we have the technical assistance team with us. So, while we're going along, um they're in every step of the process understanding, helping, guiding, and giving us um you know, recommendations on what we need to do and where we need to go. Perfect. And then you kind of alluded to this before and I just want to kind of throw it out there as a suggestion. While we're building these new schools, assuming we get funding, can we please keep in consideration anything that can bring money back? Ideally, what my train of thought is we should try to make these schools as sustainable as possible. We want

099to build we so net zero is us building all of our utility on site. You know, there's no other urban school district that has done that, but we've got a tremendous construction team that we work very closely with and we feel that we can do that here. You know, we've got expertise on staff. I mean, I've got a Sant Mike Zer when it comes to energy. You seeing what he's done with the utilities in terms of LED lighting and that he's been able to create the utility and we're exploring that even further with more solar and battery power. And I mean, we've talked about fuel cells at the JFK site. Listen, we are not going to stop here. We're not going to stop here. This is us getting a little stability for us to start

100building and moving forward in this district. Awesome. Thank you, Mr. Medina. Thank you, Madam Chair. Uh through the chair, um gentlemen, you guys are standing in a portal. You know how I feel about everything. And I just want to make it clear that I am in support of, you know, building another school in our community. I mean it's support of doing better platform and better buildings, efficient buildings, all of that. Um the only one thing, you know, and I've asked uh for this through email. I just want to know what are the documents that are going to be representative of what our decision is as board members because everything that you do should represent the vote of uh this board and not anything contrary. So, we know the community has been lashing out and we

101know they've been speaking about things and I want to make sure that this school is being built not under the understanding of any other scenarios. Uh, respectfully, uh, I just want to make sure that you guys know that, you know, I respect you guys, but also I want you guys to know that we're watching the process and our community is watching the process and we have to cross every tea and dot every eye. I want what's best for the city, but I want it done the right way always. that way we can stay above reproach. Thank you for your thing. We know that this democratic study across the district helped in some of these decisions, but what it spells out in those documents is not necessarily a board decision yet. So, I want to make

102sure every document that's going up for this application or for these funds and to secure this to be reflective of what this board is representing. Okay. Thank you very much for your help. So let me uh let me sort of couch that a little bit. So this edspec is part of the resolutions that need to happen. Um you guys will be involved once we start talking about programming and all those things that are going to happen in the school. The greatness, the magic like we talked about earlier, discovery, right? The magic is going to be when we sit down as a as a group to start to discuss what we're going to do in this building. So trust me, you guys are going to have plenty of time to to ensure that, you know, these

103decisions you're going to be part of. Um, you know, but end of the day, the city is is taking the responsibility of building us a building and then they turn it over. Bastic is not ours yet, right? I mean, we put a lot of effort and heart and soul into it, but it's not ours. Michelle hasn't given me the keys yet. Uh, so, you know, but that day is coming, right? and um you know, but those are the things that we've got to do as part of this program is work together as as a family. All righty. Um see no other questions. Um had to take a vote. Yeah. Roll call. Roll call vote. Mr. Bahan. Thank you. Christine Baptist Paris. Pass. Aisha Casemir. Yes. Miss Maritra Jimenez. Yes. Mr. William Medina. Be back for

104him. Miss Jennifer Perez. Yes. Mr. Jose. No. With a quick explanation. Um, while I believe we definitely need new schools and new facilities and well-kept facilities for our students, I think we might be locking ourselves into a potential problem that we could avoid by having more discussion about the facilities the plan. We've got a couple of months before the till the end of June make this decision. Mr. Robert Trey, yes. Mr. Andrew Woodson. Going back to Christine Baptist Paris. Pass. Mr. Willie Medina. Once again, I I I abstain uh under the same uh that I think I need more information and I need to make sure every document that's being presented is going to be uh what the vote of the board is. I have to get your vote yes or no. I want to

105hear from you. I'mma vote no. There's enough there's time to get the additional input. So Mr. Mr. Medina, what? He's obain. Yes. Two. No, one abstain. Passes. Thank you. Thank you everyone. The next item is the um participation for the construction of a special program school. Okay. So, uh, this is the second edspec of the evening. This edspec is for a specialized program on Madison Avenue at the current SCE site. Um, this building will be prek through 12th grade. Um, population of 263. Uh, this is a discussion that's been happening in the district for several years. Uh, the potential of starting to bring back or stop sending children out of district. Um, you know, as we started talking through the leadership once again of Dr. bravery pushing us. We started talking about what are we

106going to do with this budget, right? Um, you know, we've all been going through all of these cuts and how do we find dollars within our own budget to start to bring back our people and stop and stop the bleeding in terms of uh what's been going on here in Bridgeport. So, we had a generalized conversation about wanting to do something like this. SCA was brought to our attention since we are combining SCE and Winthrop. program is kicking off in December. Um, so myself and Mike Zurggo ran out to site. We started looking at the site, dreaming up what we could do there. Um, and we realized that if we take down the building, there's so much potential for us to build a state-of-the-art facility for these youngsters. Um, with all of the exterior outdoor

107classrooms, playgrounds, all of the things that they need to to really have an enhanced educational program. Um so this is the current site BJ or Dr. Aia I'm not sure if you want to add anything. I think the the ad to that is that we are you know in the process we are actually we've already visited uh two sites two special you know uh specialized service sites in other districts. Uh there's a couple other new ones that are popping up as well that we're going to be trying to explore to see exactly what kind of pro programmatic things are in these facilities as well. So again this is a great excitement. a lot of superintendents across the state and a lot of uh state legislation is coming out regarding supporting districts districts across the state

108of Connecticut and this approach uh again this would be an opportunity to uh get the get the dollars and the funds to build the facility in district uh and so and bring some of those dollars back in to district. So, we're very excited about the opportunity uh and would support the vote from the board board members. Are there any approximately how many students do we have out of district right now? So I am happy to say that at the beginning of the school year uh this group that we're talking about was a little bit over 300. We counted today and it's about 252 students. So the work is already is already started. And is this building for students who are in um like what is it called? The secluded what is it called? The classes

109where they're not integrated. Self-contained. Thank you. These are all well all these students will be students who are in self-contained classes. Is it be it a mixture of kids? We have we have some kids that will be that are in the district currently that's being serviced in the district. So as we redesign programs, we'll figure out which kids are going to be the best served in the new facility. Uh so it's a pro it's a possibility those decisions are based on the PPT meetings at the individual campuses. Uh you know and then looking at the students that are out of district placements and bringing and having those PPTs to consider some of the programmatic things that we will redesign in the district. So, it's a variety. Uh, and depending on what we place in in

110the new facility is how we bring it back. Some kids will not be able to be brought back to the district due to their the severity of their disabilities. But yes, it's going to be a wide range of those possibilities, self-contained and non-self-contained. Okay. And I know that this is the least restrictive environment. I know that's what we always push for. So just because a child is identified as special ed doesn't mean that all special ed kids are going to be in this building. I just want to make sure people understand that is correct because the least restricted environment approach is meanings that we want to make sure that the those those kiddos have the same opportunities at as regular ed students have and be exposed to regular ed settings as much as possible. Uh

111so you may have a kid that may go to that center if we design it that way half a day but then then they may be in a regular facility within our school district being served in that capacity as well. So it's a variety of different things. We're going to be transforming how we do our specialized business in the district moving forward. And so that's the possibility as well. So uh again there's a lot of uh thought that has to go into programming of the of that of that this new facilities. So those things will be uh taken into consideration. Yeah. Because when I look at it and it says 263 students, even though we have special ed students scattered around the district, I just feel like 263 is just so low for a district

112this size. And I just wanted to make sure that we have enough space for what it is that you're envisioning. And remember, this is a specialized center. So what we'll what the process that we'll do is look at of the 300 or the 250 students that we that we that we serve outside of the district, you look at the number of kids at each of these facilities and why are they there? You know, what type of program does those buildings have that we don't? And so as we build and look at those individual thing uh facilities, you know, we may have a a facility that that service 50 of our children, right? So we look at the disabilities of those children, the services that being provided in those facilities and we try to replicate that

113in-house. So when we go back to PPT and we say well we have those same facilities you know in the district now that we don't we didn't have a year or two ago and now we want to provide those services in house. So that's how you you evaluate bringing those children back into the district. So it's a process you know uh sometimes parents parents leave the district because they weren't happy with the services and the programs that we at the time kids were out district we didn't have those services in in district. So parents have a choice right so they chose to be outside of the district to do that. So but now the district says we can now service your child and we want to make sure we give them provide we want them

114back in our schools. And so that's the process. Miss Baptist Carz, how much is spent on out of district placement? 51 million. Can you just clarify my understanding uh of what was the $115 million? Is that just special education overall? Yes, it is a special education both transportation um out of out of placement and out of town placement. It's all inclusive of all special education all both teachers everything relative to special ed both inhouse and out of district. For for clarity, I think that 51 million is for tuition paid to outdist and transportation too, but it includes out of district transportation. Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Chber. Um, some of these costs that we're talking about now are in our budget for next year that we're going to try and save. As you we we budgeted

115to try and save I believe it's 2 and a.5 million 2 and a half million. I can pull my sheets out, but I think it's 2 and a half million next year in special ed costs. I would assume some of that is money that we would be, you know, you said we're already saving money. Some of that is money that we're going to continue to try and already save uh long before we ever get this school. Yes, sir. And because right now we are in the process of still looking to evaluate students to bring back to the district and and we we do that year long and as we evaluate, right? So, we tried to estimate a savings and so we figured we could at least get the $2 million, but most likely it will

116be a little bit more than that. Uh, but we just wanted to kind of, you know, cap capture a good amount at the $2 million rate. Okay. I just want to be clear. Thank you, Mr. Benahan. Thank you, Madam Chair. Make a motion to approve the educational spec specification for the construction of the special program at school. Second. Motion was made by Mr. Bennett, seconded by Mr. Skullik. Mr. Benner, do you have anything to add? No. Anybody else have any debate? Mr. Sakalovic? That's uh one question. Will this project be competing with the new East End school project for the same dollars? And what's the likelihood of getting both approved? They're they're sort of separate. So, uh, obviously when it comes to special ed and prek, they're they're they're looking at things from different buckets.

117Um, the reimbursement rates are even different. So, the reimbursement rate for this program is 95%. So, it's a tremendous deal for the for the for the taxpayers, the students, teachers, everyone. It's just exciting. Thank you. No further Mr. Benham. Thank you. Sorry. It's a comment. Um just with the for the record people understand I know this um um special program school that they're trying to do it's the first one and the first time in Brisport y all right people maybe they don't understand but I want you to clarify a little more so it's the first time we have this in in Brisport so parent they understand oh special education student will be here not going to be travel to another town or nothing like that because sometime I know parents they say oh my god

118I have to travel what time my kids going to come in so parents I want parent understand your son and your daughter is going to be in Bridgeport and this is the first time that you know we talk about it. It's going to be some amazing school we going to have in Bridgeport. Can you give a little details fast? It's going to be I can explain it to you. The school is not going to bring not every kid is going to h are is going to be able to come back to the district for those services but but the kids that qualify to be brought back to the district will be able to have access to that particular school. You know, in addition to that, we may have other programs that we're trying to revamp

119as well. So, it may not necessarily be that specific school. It may be one of the regular campuses that we have programs that we've re revamped and enhanced a little bit. So, I won't say specifically they'll be back at that school, but we're trying to bring them back to the neighborhood, you know, environment uh as we as we build this school. That's why the the enrollment is very low in a in a in an opportunity for us to really make sure we do this thing right. And when we do it right, then we're able to expand it based on the facilities that we have. Uh and so as we build it, we take our time, we do good at what we do, we build the programs that's that uh that's going to be important for

120student development within that that educational environment in the building. and then we expand as we see fit. Thank you for clarification and it's amazing and the good thing is that it's the trust that parent they will have us to understand why we care and we want the best for our children. Thank you for that. No more question comments. Madam chair, no other questions. You can go ahead and take a vote. Another roll call, please. There's going to be a roll call vote when you're ready Paris pass. Aisha Casemir pass. Miss Maritza Jimenez. Yes. Mr. William Medina. Yes. Miss Jennifer Perez. Yes. Mr. Joseph Suckliffe. Yes. Speaks for herself and doesn't need an explanation. Mr. Robert Traver, Mr. Andrew Woodson. Yes. Going back to Christine Baptist Paris. Going to um Kesha Casemir. Yes. Go back again

121to Christine Baptist Paris. Yes. my sh. Yep. All right. Good. I want to thank the board, uh, the city council, the delegation, and for the cabinet, the technical team. I don't want to leave anyone out. This has been a journey. So, and communications, everybody, Nesser, everybody. Thank you, Nester. Thank you, everyone. Yes. All right. Um the next item on the agenda, I'll explain it. Um for [Music] our trainings, our board trainings. Um CAB has covered the cost of through our membership. They've covered uh the cost of the trainings and uh through the use of the technical assistance team coming to her trainings. Um so there has been no cost to the current the four trainings we've had. Um Nick Caruso reached out to me about um our fifth training, I'm sorry, sixth training on in

122June um where he'd like to have a representative come in to speak on communication and community um community engagement. Um this he mentioned it at the last training or two trainings ago that that it may come with a price. So, he did um send over, it's in your packet, the um quote. Um there is a price since he's from out of state um for travel and lodging um and as well as the uh the feed of consultant. So, his fees um and that is up $4,800. Um this is so far the only thing we have to pay for for training. Um so, this is just on the table for now. if you have any questions. So, there is a motion to approve. Second. And there's a second from M. Motion by Mr. Traver, second by

123Mr. Benan. Do either of you have any comments on that before I open it up to the rest of the board? Any other comments from the board before we take a vote? Mr. Sakalic? Yeah. Um, is it required that we use this particular person? I I mean, I found a guy awesome at the cave retreat. He spoke and quite capable, but as we know, we're in dire dire straits and every penny counts. What? It might seem like a small amount, $4,800, but you watch the pennies, the dollars take care of themselves. And that being said, it's likely being approved, but could we possibly reach out to the state since they're mandating that we undergo this training and it's an unfunded mandate that they front us the money for this program? Um to my understanding we

124we can cover the cost of the trainings. So um if you vote no we can uh Nick will if the board decides to vote no then Nick will do the training himself or try to get another consultant from CA. Um but he's highly recommending this um speaker for this training. Mr. favor. Um I would simply ask the chair to make inquiry with the state. But in the meanwhile, I'd like to pass the motion. Are any further questions? Go ahead and take a vote. All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Any obstessions? All right. There's one abstension. Um just one final thing. Miss Stevens has left uh letters for everybody for writing us to the graduation for adult education. There's also an email. Just make sure you RSVP for that. That's on June 4th. Um

125is there any further uh topics to bring up? Anything? I just have one question. Dr. Avery, do we know how many board members have paid for their tickets for the um districtwide talent show that plan to go? Do you have a number? I don't have an accurate account right now, but I could I think we have a meeting coming up, so you can let me know. I will definitely have that. Thank you. Anything else? So, anybody want a motion to adjurnn? Moved by Mr. Benahan. Second by Mrs. M&S. All in favor? Any opposed? Um, we're journing at 8:23. Have a great night.