001good evening everyone this is for the board meeting of the bridgeboard Board of Education today is uh November 27th 2023 and the time now is 6:35 and we are at Central High School at this moment we'll have uh the pledge of [Music] alleges Al to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for it stands one nation God indivisible liy Justice thank you Mr secretary can you do roll [Music] call even everyone thank you chair so Alan present Brown pres Mr present present yeah she said Mr M Jennifer Paris present J present here thank you I don't see any student Representatives um in the audience and I don't believe we have any student Representatives online so we'll move right into uh public comment I have one person for public comment and
002I believe it's Orlando strong come to the podium and there should be a mic just want to remind those that are on doing public comment you have two minutes um and it should sound off uh the timer hi my name is I of stud last years conc to and [Applause] super we have [Music] concerns meting um we've been trying to out to we have not con us because and also and we need to know who our and [Music] talk us so you guys fig thank you so much um we'll move right into approval of meet and minutes uh we have a few meetings that we did have in the past so I'll go through all of them and then entertain a motion to approve them the first one is regular board meeting on October 23rd
0032023 is there a motion to approve second are there any corrections updates hearing none all in favor hi hi any oppose any extensions caring none motion carries the next meeting is special meeting on October 26 2023 is there a motion to approve mooved by Mr benan is there a second second second by Miss Allen is there any comments questions or updates hearing none all in favor I any opposed any extensions hearing none the motion carries the next one is special meeting November 9th 2023 is there a motion to approve move moveed by Mr B h0 second second second by Miss Allen are there any questions updates or changes heing none all in favor I any oppose any exstension heing none motion carries the next one is special meeting November 15 2023 to approve o by
004Mr benan is there a second second second by Miss Perez questions updates or changes hearing none all in favor I any oppos any extensions hearing none motion carries um at this moment is the Chairman's report I'm going to give part of my Chairman's report to our students that will be performing today and then I'll finish off the chairman Report with recognition of exiting board members so yes children you may have the floor can we give them a [Applause] hand my okay all right let's spread out a [Music] bit [Music] EXC [Music] [Applause] my [Applause] [Music] P [Applause] [Music] [Applause] why wor all to [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] be [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] la [Applause] [Music] [Applause] to [Applause] [Music] [Applause] w [Music] [Applause] GL your PR for [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause]
005might [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] you [Music] [Applause] [Music] what [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] you [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Laughter] [Applause] yay [Applause] absolutely phenomenal can we give them one more big hand thank you Miss Henry and the entire Fame academy uh for allowing the students to share their talents uh we're so very proud of you um at this moment I did want to also provide space uh during um right before Thanksgiving break I believe board members did attend the C convention so I didn't know if anyone wanted to share what their experience was like at of tending just keep it short and brief but I will give the floor to anyone that would like to share their experience Mr benan thank you madam um it was phenomenal it was something amazing being in on
006this um convention for the first time as a board member I learned so many things so many policies so many laws and we meet um a lot of people from different towns board members super different school um it was amazing camon it it was phenomenal we for the day I a day and a half right um and we meet so many president K they're ready and the most important thing I want to give the message they know bror are going to be in in convention for now one they know bridport is in the house they know they're going to support bridport and they they want bridport be part of all the convention and meetings and they're going to support and the most important they're going to support our students our staff and our parents it
007was a phenomen it was a a great um experience thank you thank you Mr sovic yes thank you um a lot of people were surprised to see Bridge boort showing up because we haven't been out there as much and we were able to be out there thanks to the leadership of outgoing chair Bobby Brown I would like to thank you for pointing me to the committee and getting it started and pushing forward all the agenda items that we were able to bring forth there and like Mr benan said we will be there there were six of us there with the superintendent and in the past year in the past I guess over five years we haven't had six people in total over those six years so thank you P thank you anyone else Shar Mr
008trabber yeah for the sake of the members of the audience cab is the Connecticut Association of boards of Ed and I would just Echo what everyone else has said thanks to uh Miss Brown chairman chairperson brown chairperson brown uh we attended and it was very informative and it was good for us to be there representing Bridgeport uh and pretty much uh most of the board was there so and the superintendent was there with us cuz it was a c which is Boards of Ed and there was the association of public school superintendents there too so uh it was very helpful for us to be there I think for Bridgeport so thank you awesome so uh want to make sure everyone had the opportunity to share their thoughts on the convention um at this moment I
009there are uh board members that are exiting Bo um and some of them are not here and I I'll still acknowledge their names but I wanted to celebrate those board members that have served their time on the board uh before you know the new board members come on I think it's vital everyone that takes this seat is a volunteer so it's so important that we honor those that give up their time and their talents to serve in the district so the first person I would like to honor is um Miss Allen and I'm going to read your your plat Miss Allen I feel like I need [Applause] to [Applause] all right so the award says on behalf of the BR Public School briser Board of Education we present this award to Cil Allan this award
010is in recognition of civil Allen for her dedication service bridport Comm as a member of the dist Board of Education during the time of 2017 to 2023 the facility faculty of brw public schools at as we and the community so today Sor want to say thank you for the time ser and we don't know where the what rest will take you but thank you for serving the first Board of Iden I would I would like to say thank you very much I've enjoyed my time as a teacher in the City of Bridgeport a principal and I my students that I have work over the years and back to wonderful things I want to thank all the parents and all the people who supporters of the bridgport Board of Education thank you thank [Applause] you be
011here even his daughter is not well so some thoughts and prayers G is not returning to the Board of Education this year um and then we also Mr ma also is a board member he is also not return to the dist education so use so I just want to share some thoughts real quickly um tonight I [Music] would yes you left someone else who yourself oh I'll okay you sure skip yourself tonight I would like to dedicate my report to the ex board members however I would like to also charge those who are remaining with the challenge of upholding the values that we have establish established for ours provided by leaders within the educational Arenas while many of while many on the outside would like to this job is easy many of you went fromal
012people to elici in a small amount of time each of you in some way or another sacrifice time mental space and a knowledge to push the district forward your willingness to your willingness is appreciated your willingness to put your differences to the side to made of different experiences career interest even political St is important I believe each of you stepped up and stepped in leadership to serve our students I believe you share your thoughts and concerns with the better of the district I believe you join the Board of Education to stay true to your beliefs un to thees that will make try try to make if all of those things are true and they refle you the job done this past four years have allowed to not only see the needs of our district but
013see things are but also to see the work that has been done and needs to be done I appreciate the required in essential collaboration communication and patience as well as Integrity as we The District board so I want to say thank you to each and every one of you for allowing me this space to serve on the dist Board of Education want to say thank you to my colleagues want to say thank you to the teachers within the city of bridport I went from a student to being a part of the board shows the great impact that the work that we do in this city is so important so whether we get pass on the back or we get back parents Le it's so important that we maintain the two value of God Ste up
014we don't always get the recognition that we deserve but I appreciate the experience because who knows where I'll be next but I'm grateful for the opportunity to have served my city I'm a proud prodct of so without further Ado we'll get back to business uh Madam chair yes for a personal privilege Please Mr um I served with each and every board member who's departing from start to finish starting with Miss Allen Miss Allen was elected the same year as me and although we didn't agree on every issue we've always discussed it we've always had a friendly relationship and then on to Mr Gellen he stepped up and filled the position where there was a need he saw the need and he stepped up we put him on the board and now unfortunately he didn't get
015reelected and he's departing and then we got um you miss bar you took over and it's mulus time during the board the board was in a wreck now we're we're pretty much on track to being a very functional board and thank you for your leadership and Mr macaron also was uh uh no Mr macaron was elected and resigned just recently due to personal issues and I thank him for his service as well thank you everybody it's not an easy job we don't always agree but just keep it moving thank you thank you chair Mr Ben here first I have have to say thank you for Mr G and Mr M to be and step in and we care about you know we appreciate the time and the value time this is not a job we
016don't get paid but it's not easy we here because we care about the the future of our kids parent but I had to say Miss C the queen I call you the queen because we years so many years in school be a principal P professional teacher you're everything you're the example for everyone for the Young Generation thank you thank you for everything you do for bris school from the bottom of the heart my respect and Mr benan always going to be here for you so thank you I really appreciate that thank you for that wonderful speech but I didn't think that I did that much but I tried to be a role model for my students and send them in the right directions during my as a principal I've taken my children as far south
017as Florida for vacation I mean my students not my children my students I took them to Florida for vacation they enjoyed it I took them other places we had a wonderful time during my I believe I taught I was present for about seven years I'm not sure but I was there and I tried not to miss any days if I missed any days I was deadly ill so I don't think missed very many days of school I enjoyed my wcross days I enjoyed my read school I enjoyed all of the schools that I taught and I found the students obedient and they were respectful and you have to know how to handle students if you handle them correctly they will always appreciate and remember the things that you did they always tell me we as
018fourth grade we went to Disney World and that was one great thing that I did for the students at wcross school and I appreciate all of the support that all of the parents and other people gave me during my 10e teaching I taught fourth through 8th grade while I was there so I had a lot of experience they gave me a lot of experience thank you thank you Miss and be almost I can say almost 20 years in the district from my son was first to I graduate as a four years board member now let again to the community as a board member Miss Brown I never see how somebody young person dedicate so much at the board education thank you for everything you do you was a secretary you were a chair you had
019your 100 girls program you education for everything for bris School my respect for for you that's why I call you my little sister um you're always going to be around we I'm very proud of you thank you for your education your professionalism you know you always take care of the the meeting the way supposed to be follow the policy follow the law you know this is what we need you know for me my doors always going to be open you always welcome to the board Education meeting I know we're going to be in touch we're going to be talking but thank you thank you for everything you for Bish school and I hope to see it again we going to see it again we're going to work in you know more together and I'm going
020to here for support you I appreciate everything you do thank you thank you so much at this moment we'll go into committee reports um the first one is education diversity equity and inclusion Chair by Mr yeah we have not met in the interim and as we will have a new chair and new committee assignments come December there's no next meet there is no new meeting date thank you are there any referral [Music] all right heing on the next one is finance sh by Mr s same thing we haven't met in the interim um there'll be a new chair and new committee assignment okay the next one is governance same okay are there any referrals to either Finance or governance all right the next one is health safety and facilities committee chaired by Miss bapti pz
021Health Facilities met um on the 14th we discussed uh started the discussion regarding updated facilities um point of order what it would entail the audience can't hear could you get closer to the mic please we discussed an update of the facility's master plan also had uh action for the approval of the Reed School Park Improvement project and then we also had a facil presentation regarding uh booking space at our facilities and how the count for thank you um the next one is personnel and contracts person contracts is not meet we did hold a special meeting to cover uh a few items that would have been presented at committee um those it one of those items is actually on the agenda this evening and then personal contracts will meet on tomorrow uh via teams to identify
022the remaining items and just for many of you say well are any of the Committees are meeting just want to re iterate there will be a new board set aside come December so a lot of the have not met yet but um we'll resume meeting um in December um is there any referrals to personal contracts all right the next students and families cheer by Mr benan thank you madam chair um last um on committee meeting we met and we talked a few things and it was not again point of order madam mics need to get closer to the mic MTH you hear me now yes all right good next um last my committee meeting was in November we meet in cental high school um I feel like I was not complete my package because I
023asked for some information I know we short sta um I just ask Dr CA if you possible um have me for the next committee meeting you know my my the staff's going to be working with me I know Dr um Avery is new thank you for being with with in my my team he was um not get information what I asked for and this is something that I always asked for for my last commit October and now November I was you know in the air I don't want to have my committee be wasting not wasting time but I don't want to be behind behind behind at things I had to be updated for the for the parents I need me Dr camea awesome camea if it's possible if you can have I know you you
024make the schedule you um and I know how you can do it but if you can have it let's see at least you know my committee is one time in a month and having um Miss Rosia and miss Lynn why the reason they always have everything what I want they from Clos eyes they can have everything you know all set up I don't know how you can work you know with them but I would love her two amazing ladies have you know be it's a matter and should not be discussed in Open Session okay my apology I just want to let you know about that you know because I read email you ask you never email it back but my next meeting um I'm trying to see if I can make in December 14th to
025little update about everything have you know I didn't have it from my last meeting thank you thank you the next meeting I mean the next committee is teaching and learning Miss Baptist Perez learning didn't meet the all right are there any referrals to any of these committees if anything just keep in mind that there'll be a new committee set um in December the next report is a superintendent report clear okay good evening everyone um thank you so much for being here first I'd like to definitely extend my congratulations not only to our our board members that are currently sitting but to our board members who will be departing it's been an absolute pleasure working with all of them and I've learned from each and every single one of them and uh Miss Allen has been
026such an honor to be able to collaborate from you and Delight spending time with I just want to thank you for that experience it's been amazing I learned it all in the Bridgeport School System and so and also Miss Brown for your guidance during this transition thank you so much for your assistance and your support Mr Gellen I'm sorry that he wasn't able to be here but definitely been wonderful collaborating with him as well um and they will be missed um this superintendent board report will be brief just wanted to recap a little bit about some of the activities um that we shared we were able to attend um pretty much as an entire body um say for for I think one Miss Brown I think you were the only person Miss saying okay so
027say for Miss Brown we were all able to attend for the first time I think in a very long time and it was noted throughout the cape convention that Bridgeport represented it was noted it was remarked upon it was praised um it was definitely a point of conversation and encouragement from so many different leaders and districts we were able to learn so much about policy learn so much about governance and about all of the priorities that we should have at the Forefront of our minds as we meet and work in the business of doing what is needed to move our district forward and to support students so it was a pleasure for me to be part of that convention to see award-winning School choirs to hear from incredible State leaders and to have the opportunity
028to converse and meet so many superintendents and other board members from throughout the state so it was incred an incredible honor to attend that convention the next slide is um just a recap of a wonderful and very productive executive cabinet and directors Retreat it's the first time that the executive cabinet and directors in the district have met in a retreat not only to get to know one another better which was definitely needed but to really talk about the most important matter of hand and that's our structural and our organizational priorities for the district to be able to have everyone come together with the urgency that is needed to transform our schools the urgency that is needed to ensure that we are able to turn around 12 schools that are currently failing to be able to
029turn around schools that have been failing more than five consective years and for everyone to understand the gravity of what it means to be together as one body One Voice aligned in our aligned to work to ensure that this does not continue to be the norm in bridg BO our students and our families deserve outstanding awardwinning schools with great programs with Innovative programs and with Equitable programs for our students and to be able to come together over the course of two days to outline what this District could look like in the next three to 5 years 8 years and 10 years was extremely exciting and rewarding so I want to thank all of the leaders who participated I want to thank them for their trust I want to thank them for their courage it's not
030easy to lead in a challenging environment like and it's certainly not easy to do so when you have not been experiencing success but I'll tell you what took even more courage was to come together to agree on what the priorities are for the district and to agree on exactly the type of effort that we will put forth to ensure that we transform the district so I just want to thank all of the participants for that I look forward to having a similar retreat with our board in the near future and to be able to share with them the priorities outlined by our executive cabinet and all of our directors in the district also this month this past um month we celebrated the very first Thanksgiving dinner all of our Noni year have to graduate this
031year please be for to C all students that feel they have credit graduate this year please the Thanksgiving dinner was beautiful it was warm we celebrated we had amazing food we danced and we were able to celebrate and thank those individuals who are the glue in this District all of our custodians crossing guards Janitorial Services Tradesman it everyone who does not function in an instructional capacity but touches lives every single day through the work that they do was part of that Thanksgiving dinner and it was really wonderful to have Miss Brown present to have Mr benan present representing to have Miss Baptist Perez um Miss Perez Miss Perez not 10 um if I missed anybody please hold it to my head and not my heart but just to be able to just say thank you
032we had wonderful performances from the modering band at Fairchild wheeler and we also had an incredible performance from the drum line at Rosevelt um Elementary and so it was just incredible to see the joy the happiness and to experience an incredible meal prepared by our very own food Nutrition department and they went they went above and beyond to ensure that we had an excellent experience um thank you to all of the elementaries that sent centerpieces for all of the tables made by our students there's nothing more special than to be able to share this experience and I hope that this becomes an annual tradition in our district where we're able to come together and break bread with all of the employees that typically do not get recognized for the work that they do in our
033district so I just want to thank all of you for that and the following slide is event and the incredible time that we were able to share together and again I also want to thank um Mr lip for opening the doors to the facility for us to be able to hold it there and for our staff to be able to enjoy a beautiful experience just thank you all for that I look forward to sharing more uh detailed information with the board about this and many other events in the future thank you so much that concludes my superintendent report today thank you um now we'll have questions fromis report any questions hearing on the next item yes Mr travor am I off on now yeah yes um at our last meeting I asked the chair I
034asked the superintendent a question about the expulsion data and I misspoke and I was called on it by Miss cmir and I told her that I thought she was incorrect um and then when I went back in on my uh own data I realized I was wrong at the meeting I never got a chance to raise that before the meeting ended so after the meeting I wrote a apology to miss cassimir and the superintendent and said that I would put that on record at our next meeting which was two weeks ago and then it got cancelled so I didn't get a chance to do that and I wanted to put it on the record tonight that I misspoke I wrote a note to myself to ask about that information and misunderstood my own note and
035then dug in my heels so I apologize to both of them on the record here at the meeting as I already have done in an email to both of them thank you thank you um the next item on our agenda is business to be transacted so we'll move right into the new business and approval of Board of Education meeting scheduled for 2023 2024 calendar calendar year each of you have it in front of you normally what we do is we take a look at it make sure that it's all in its place as far as any holidays that may be missed or if skip so want to take a second board members and look over it to see if it's all correct before approving look it no I looked at should be on your I
036Believe Miss Rita placed it on the table so it should be in front of you everyone has it okay good yeah M chair Mr yeah I checked it against all um normal holidays and um other holidays they usually give issues like the Jewish holidays and appears there's no conf appears there's no conflict with any of the holidays schedules all right someone like to make a motion motion to approve the calendar board meeting calendar for 24th second second by Mr vanan any further comments or questions paren none motion carries this will be placed on the board of education website for all those that would like to Madam chair point of every yes Madam you didn't hold a vote oh I'm sorry all in favor hi any oppos any extensions hear none motion carries sorry everyone this
037will be placed on the board of education website for you to look through um and add these dates to your calendar so you can attend um the board meetings the next item is discussion and approval of superintended goals for Dr David each of you board each of our members should have received their packet also did recently meet on it um the only thing that we suggested Wasing of language as more cleaner but it is in your documents so if you want we can have a discussion about it Dr Ley David if you would like to add anything um and we can make sure that happens theur like to re discussion this item in executive session uh un we can't add it as exective session on this agenda but at the next board meeting if you
038guys want you could definitely do that um yeah she would like to add as executive session it can't be added at a regular board meeting because it wasn't previously added so I will make sure that Miss Rita has it for the next agenda and then board members can discuss it then yes Miss BST perz I move that this agenda item is tabled to the next regular board meeting on December second any further com questions hearing none all in favor I any oppose any extensions hearing none motion carries the last item on our agenda is discussion and Passover approval for the Third Amendment to the lease of 1085 Connecticut Avenue board members this was also provided to your packets I see Mr Garcia is here and healthy well so we're glad that you're that um Mr
039Garcia you like to speak I know board members have some concerns but you're more than welcome to share than for thank you [Applause] sir to engageing that's that's housed by the building operations Department uh um weze and the building functions very very our aspect of work that we do we have doors we have loading docks and uh every part of the building neor effici um there is a slight bu% we did do exhausted uh effort to see else on the market that F our it was nothing uh the closest in size was 27,000 ft um none of the spaces that we looked at had the adequate overhead doors or the space have iay office um some office uh no driving uh currently the the space that it utiliz as driving all of our goal for
040us is to make sure that all of our trades are out of the building by 7:30 school schol network um in order to to achieve that goal we have to have our vehicles outed whatever need so this building is very funer I'll open up the floor for board members to ask questions uh see it yes he answer my 11% question um that's that's basically the only game in town look everything so mik Circle um does constant review of on the market that comes up look at the point reference to to see where we are in the market um this is below market value um the other sites we're starting at $85 small 8 so you know we feel like we're doing well Curr that we have um it's adequate in size for for us to
041be able to work have we ever expl our own um we have uh at one point there was conversation with the city about potentially doing something on the conductible site with uh tearing down the tower that's currently on site uh but there's been no traction is was there cost feasibility it be cost effective in terms of uh raising that building and rebuilding and rebuilding and saving the money on the rent so we raing that was close to 5 million and then you're talking somewhere in so return on investment about 11 12 years it's there's a lot of work there and once you canar that work on site uh as a trans transfer attached to it because of the environmental issues that number gets to right okay thank you any further questions concerning this item Mr
042bber yeah just a how long have we been there Mr G uh going 12 years that's all just 12 it's nice no I I it just my it seemed to me it was longer and when I read the report with the lease I it it didn't go back before that so I was wondering about that thank you any further questions I will I move for the approval of the third amendment third amended lease to 1085 Connecticut Avenue is there a second second second by Mr uh sovic any further comments or questions hearing none all in favor I oppose any extensions hearing none motion carries thank you Mr Garcia I will now entertain a motion to adjourn motion to adjourn moved by Miss Baptist Perez second by Mr benan all in favor any extensions hearing and
043motion carries we'll see you all in this well there's a meeting on Tuesday and then we'll everyone will be here December and welcome to thank you thank you