BBOE REGULAR BOARD MEETING October 10, 2023

001good evening everyone this is a call to order for the Bridgeport Board of Education regular board meeting today is Tuesday October 10th 2023 and right about now it is 6:32 we are at the bridgport regional aquaculture Science and Technology Center um the first thing is uh we'll stand for the pledge allegiance uh Mr secretary is not in the room with us but I'll do the roll call uh Miss Allan yes uh Miss Baptist Perez present Mr benan is not in the room uh Mrs Casmir she's online Miss Casmir okay uh Mr Gellen present Miss Perez present Mr sovic present Mr trayor Bobby Brown present at this moment uh we have we'll open up the floor for student Representatives uh we have one student representative in person and I believe that's one one student representative online

002uh so please just state your name there should be a mic up Sam's grabbing you a mic and just say your name the school that you attend and you can feel free to start your report good evening superintendent Dr Levy David and Bridge for Board of Education members my name is mon Harvey I'm a senior at the Aerospace hydrospace Magnet High School on the fair trial wheeler campus this will be my second report for this school year today students went to Central High School to hear the Marine band the two teachers who chaperoned were mared veterans one had been in the same Marine corpse band more than 15 years ago and runs or music Club Wednesday October 11th is PSAT and sa testing day all students reported to their testing rooms at the end of

003the school day today 9th through 11th grade students left their laptops in their testing room to charge overnight 12th grade students will take the SAT with paper and pencil on Friday October 13th we will celebrate Hispanic her month students are preparing presentations and activities to share with the campus thank you so much for your report our next student oh we have another one I see Evan Oro hello uh my name is Evan Royal I'm the main representative for bort Military Academy BMA had a successful reformed Battalion we have representatives from Bridgeport fire the National Guard and Bridgeport Police Explorers at the event all Cadets had a fun time BMA and JTC Cadets participated in the September 11th for members event in New York City called The Tunnel Two Towers on September 24th the BM color

004guard has made numerous appearances at various events including the Columbus Day parade this past Sunday today 200 Cadets attended performance of the Marine Corps band at Central High School lastly bma's P ptso meeting will take place on October oober 19th 2023 thank you thank you so much I see Jose um good afternoon my name is Josie Nares ohie I apologize no you're totally fine um my name is Josie Nares I am with Fairchild um I'm with the infotech campus and um we have various activities planned for this month um we have we are hosting a Hispanic Heritage Month um that is held by students we'll um professionals suping professionals will be coming to the school to have a panel discussion on October 14th um we will have um a middle school um cross country race

005and um students are um during the PSAT St sat testing tomorrow counselors are meeting with seniors for College advising and there is a Yukon field trip happening next week and um all after school clubs we have over 30 um clubs and all after school clubs have started and that would be all for us today thank you thank you so much our next student representative is s if I'm saying your name wrong please correct me hi my name is s Al on that's like hello yes we can hear you all right I'll bring in my report good good evening Board of Education members and thank you for the time to share my name is San this is my second time reporting here and first time reporting online and I am here online to represent aquaculture as

006a Central High School student since my last update Aqua students have continued their work with ashq Conservation Association just today Aqua students were planting American Beach Grass as part of the sand split restoration project this Friday Aqua students completed competed against other Yukon ECE students at the the annual cardboard boat race hosted at yukon's Avery Point campus while we collect athletic trophies at Aqua one team did add one team did add to our trophy case by finishing second and finishing in second place in their heat congratulations Miss glaic and her students we have a recruitment open house upcoming next week on Thursday October 19th from 5: to 7: p.m. here our aquaculture we look forward to sharing with the positive aspect of our programs with the prospective families we appreciate the ongoing support from both

007the superintendent and the Board of Education thank you thank you so much uh rash R rashara please correct me if I said your name wrong uh I'm sorry are you talking to me R yes yes I'm apologized for saying your name wrong oh it's all right um so I'm the representative for Central um So currently we're we're raising money for the strides Against Breast Cancer Walk which takes place on Sunday October 15th at Sherwood Island it was a joint effort between our school's National Honor Society and the school of governance approximately 50 students and six teachers will participate in the 5K walk and currently we have raised just under 000 both from um student donations along with money that students have raised uh along with um money made from um clothing as well and um

008NHS has our first Red Cross blood drive of the Year happening on October 27th we have approximately a blood drive every two to 3 months so our first one will be happening next Friday uh we are also still celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month by having students speak daily on different countries so countries of different Spanish speaking Heritage and then tomorrow we have the PSATs and SATs Juniors will be taking the PSATs digitally I believe while seniors will be taking a practice I mean not a practice a paper sat and lastly we are having a Halloween dance a Halloween homecoming dance in the courtyard of our school at the end of this month and those are all updates for this month thank you so much for your report and we have two student Representatives that have joined

009us in person if you could just say your name the school you attend and then uh you can share your report yep Sor um hello my name is Jeremy aado I am a junior representing biotech school from FR child wheeler um and thank you for the opportunity of letting me able to represent my school um so first of all our our students are prepared for the SAT and PSAT exams tomorrow um AP class contracts are due this Friday the 13th and we also have an an openhouse for our school October 18th as well um our school has come up with many ways to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month um student council had a fundraiser where we painted the colors of Latin American flags on our faces using face paint which was a great way for Hispanic

010students to show their pride at as well and also we are planning another celebration this Friday having a panel of Hispanic here Hispanic um speakers come talk to us and um different Student Activities so we can end Hispanic Heritage Month on a good month on a good note um that's all I have to say regarding my school thank you so much thank you so much for sharing my name is zinsky p Johan and I am a student representative for Harding High School for this month October is a busy month at Harding High School last week nearly a 100 students from Harding various law classes and the school debate team attend the grade debate routine Howard and Yale University that was held in the healthc care Amphitheater they used the experience to generate discussions in their

011classes and to apply direct to their own academic debating skills we were even privileg enough to take a group picture with the school boy chers and Mr Bobby Brown Harding also continues his Hispanic Heritage Month celebration with a presentation from author Yanni espanel about her book mind your money organization by our business department and a schoolwide performance a rhythm of Americans Spotlight care Bean music that was organized by bilingual departments students were able to actively participate in the presentation with Fame academic students leading student dancing our own music teacher Mr munle went and played with the band on original piece of music our school Hoster Club has raised over 500 so far for breast cancer research their goal is to reach 1,000 by the end of this month you can also join their efforts by

012taking part of the October 15 walk Against Breast Cancer at sherw work Island in Westfield on Westport tomorrow all students will take part in schoolwide sat PSAT testing followed by a student versus staff soccer game once testing has been completed finally the student council is prepared for a Harding new annual event the Fall Festival that will be held by the end of this month thank you so much for your report thank you to to the students that join us online as well we look forward to hearing all the great things that you are accomplishing in your school so thank you so much the next item is public comment uh I will read off the things for a public comment the timer goes off I ask that you wrap up your last statement um the first

013person is Miss Gladis Walker Jones Grace and peace yeah just press it to the red light comes on Grace and peace here in in the Middle East please move to approve the renewal of membership with the Council of the great City Schools the nation's voice for urban education at a negotiated rate comparable hopefully to the rate offered by cab again if applicable unlike cave the Council of the great City Schools brings together 76 of our nation's largest Urban Public School Systems in a coalition dedicated to the Improvement of education for our specific population with emphasis on our males and females of color and of course inclusive of our English language Learners please also move to take Fuller advantage of the membership which provides members with timely access to important information and resources such as the

014Council of great City Schools digital Urban educator newsletter where bridge for public schools should be highlight highlighted in between Boston and Charlotte please see the September 2023 um Edition speaking of Boston did you know that Boston Public Schools is offer an advanced placement African-American studies at 10 of their in Charlotte North Carolina's Charlotte U mecklinburg school is partnering with the Aviation Institute of Maintenance to offer four dual enrollment classes designed to give their Scholars a direct career path in the aviation industry Juniors and seniors will be allowed to compete I'm sorry to complete up to four courses at no cost while earning credit toward a high school diploma and accelerating their Federal Aviation Administration certification training Time by five months students may also op for daytime or evening courses and employment opportunities will be available

015upon successful completion of the program learn how their successes can be replicated here in richport public schools lastly please Advance the change of start time for our High School Scholars the research is clear thank you be well thank you so much for up for sharing the next speaker is Miss Leslie kabalo good evening my name is Leslie carabal and I stand before you tonight to shine light on a situation that occurred Friday morning October 6th 2023 three at Columbus school in the City of Bridgeport based off a Facebook post that went viral by Gio's also known by Gio also known as g man's cousin on Sunday seeking for answers and help from the community Mr Willie Medina brought this up to my attention and after hours of trying to locate all parties involved as our

016hearts were broken based off what we heard once we were able to get in contact with all parties thanks to a Bridgeport resident Tammy our hurts quickly turned into outrage outrage because Columbus schooled failed Gio a 9-year-old boy who is on the Spectrum for autism who was accidentally knocked out due to a high five by a friend to another boy who psyched him and unfortunately ended up smacking Gio who fell about seven steps backwards where Gio was in and out of unconsciousness where it was later determined he suffered a neck injury if Gio was in and out of unconsciousness and was found at the bottom of the steps why was he moved to another set of stairs other than the one he initially fell from the nurse from that school was outraged as well and

017even stated she will write a report in quote the school does nothing and sweep things underneath the rug why were cops interrogating both boys with disabilities in an unprofessional unethical way that they did without the parents present why would the principal's response be kids will be kids why was Gio not immediately transported to the hospital via Ms and why was Gio's mother able to get on a city bus from her job at Trumble to get to the hospital ER before Gio got there why is it that the community of people who have a passion love for the Youth such as myself Willie Tammy and others had to be the ones telling them we are sorry providing them with around the-clock support and bringing both parents of the boys who are friends to get the anwers

018to the questions that the school horribly failed at answering them Miss car ble can I ask you to please summarize your last point yep the school may have several versions as they can't keep up with the same story however the parents and boys affected have the same these boys are traumatized and the single mother should be provided with resources on next steps that can take such as transferring schools or accommodating homeschooling during this impending investigation as it would be a conflict of interest so I'm just going to conclude our with we are the voice of the youth and we will not be shut as this cannot happen to any child yours mine whoever the reality of this is that another child may not be as fortunate as Gio and we need to act right away

019to prevent this or anything else from happening to any child versus we will cross that bridge when we get there well we already crossed that bridge and it will not be crossed again thank you so much the next speaker is Dion Barber I apologize if I mispronounced your name n you got it right thank you uh my name is Deon truth Anthony Barber some of you may have seen my Facebook post about my cousin Giovani um I'm just here really because I feel it's unacceptable my family feels it's unacceptable um it took over an hour for him to get from the school to the hospital after this incident happened from 8:45 to 10:05 in the morning my whole family beat the ambulances there to piggy back off of what Leslie said I don't understand how

020it took so long I don't understand why the school didn't take proper precautions or whatever the case may be they're giving us all these stories and they're telling us all this they're telling us different things and it's it's very unacceptable um I was made aware that the superintendent and Board of Education members did didn't know anything about this incident until it was brought to their attention by members of the community and I just gotta say I'm I'm hurt we're all hurt Gio's hurt Gio doesn't want to go back to school and there's no reason for a nine-year-old to feel that way I feel if it was any of your children you would want some type of Justice you would want something to be done or said and you would want somebody to advocate for your

021child as well as I want them to advocate for my cousin so with all that being said I did pass around my phone I don't know where it's at but um there there's a photo of Gio in a neck brace and long story short my cousin could have died and waiting that long was completely unacceptable and I feel somebody needs to be held responsible for what happened to my cousin thank you so much for sharing we'll now move into uh approval of meet and minutes uh there uh is a meet and minutes for approval for regular meeting September 26 2023 is there a motion to move moov by Mr benan second second by Miss Perez are there any edits that need to be mentioned all right all in favor any oppose any extensions abstain uh

022Mr sovic and Miss Baptist Perez abstains all right the next item is the Chairman's report I would like to um give part of my chairman report to our students that are performing today uh you guys can have the floor it's [Music] um so this is uh the Bri report Public Schools [Music] Fame going to perform somewhere over rainbow so in [Music] world [Music] dream that you dare to really [Music] doake up [Music] first Fly Over the Rainbow why why can't [Music] thank you all so much for joining us and thank you for Dr Henry for providing this uh presentation to the board and also to the students um the students have SATs uh getting ready for tomorrow so they're going to be leaving out as well as our student rep so if you see them

023leaving that's why they're leaving out um can we just give them another hand I think that was really really awesome um also to my report on top of that I would like to say that in my communications with Dr Levy David some of the things we talked about um is giving our students an opportunity to participate not just in board reports but also uh performances like this little things like doing the pledge of allegiance having them more involved in our everyday activities that we do once we meet as a board so it was really really awesome to see them here this evening um and I don't really have anything else to report we did not meet as a board uh for the training that should have took taken place last Saturday that will be rescheduled

024for board members and and I'll make sure to put it um uh in our emails to discuss further on it yes Mr yeah just quick comment thank you Dr Ley David for bringing this back this is something I've missed in the TR in past two years because we went to quarterly recognitions and this part was not really put before the board again and I would appreciate this at least every board meeting one because it reminds us of why we are here and what we're do why we are doing what we're doing thank you all right uh and that concludes my report um other than that we'll go right into committee reports and referrals the first committee is education diversity equity and inclusion chaired by Mrs sovic before you do start just want to remind the

025public that these committee meetings are also scheduled on our Board of Education website so any and everyone could participate by attending um the chairs of each committee would have the opportunity to whether allow public comment or not to their committees but you're more than welcome to attend and they're also streamed online um go ahead Mr sovic thank You' Dei will be meeting on October 16th at 6 PM uh V at uh Central Library and also via teams for those who would like to watch online are there any referrals to this Committee just on are there any referrals are there any referrals all right hering none um the next committee is finance chaired by Mr sovic yes Finance did meet in the interim but you had the report for by Miss seagull at the last meeting

026I believe and it was approved so nothing else to report from there except finance will meet on October 25th at 6:30 pm the date was changed in order to give uh staff time to collect some data I requested are there any referrals to this committee any referrals any referrals hearing none the next committee is governance also CH cheered by Mr sakovic yes the governance committee will meet on October 18th at 6 PM Central Library and also via teams are there any referrals to this committee are there any referrals are there any referrals hearing none uh the next one is health safety health safety facilities committee chaired by Miss Baptist Perez health safety and and Facilities committee can we fix that on our agenda so it's it's health safety and and Facilities committee not Health Safety

027Committee um today's the second Tuesday in October so that's our normally scheduled meeting um but we're having our regular meeting due to the holiday um an alternative date hasn't been schedule but if anything in the interim we will definitely meet in November the 2nd Tuesday of the month are there any referrals to this committee any referrals any referrals okay the next committee is personnel and contracts uh chaired by me uh there hasn't been a meeting in the intrum we will meet on October 31st uh at 6: pm at Central High School um right now we have about one item that is brought before me and we'll have that on the agenda for review are there any referrals for personnel and contracts any referrals any referrals okay hearing none the next committee is students and families

028shair by Mr benan thank you madam sh good evening everyone my next meeting will will be October 19 6m in cental high school but I just want to know um Dr Love Davis um the way I'm going to have staff to complete uh to do my um committee meeting you know because we will show staff I don't know yet who's going to be the staff you know give me the the the report you know as the last um email we talked to see you know you know we cancel so change it for this month so want to know we're going to have I'm going to have staff to go you know do my report I will make sure that we have someone at your committee okay because I already sent agenda to Miss V so

029she really know what I got all right so so far it's going to be October 19th 6 p.m in Central High School thank you thank you and then the last committee is teaching and learning also chaired by Miss Baptist Perez uh teaching and learning has not met yet for this month um uh I'm still getting the agenda together um and there is one item I would like to put on the agenda regarding the attendance uh record for our schools that I do have some questions for Dr Levy David um whether that information would be available as to the attendance in each building um as well as is there any particular building location or age groups where they're struggling uh with arriving on time uh that also kind of Segways into a later start time uh

030and whether that's something that would be possible for the third Tuesday of this month um so I could plan and make sure our staff has it Ade enough an adequate amount of time to prepare but that's okay um if there's more time needed I think I rather have all the information there then have a meeting without all the information there so um is that something that's possible to come up with and we'll have the data available thank you are there any referrals to this committee are there any referrals are there any referrals all right uh those are all of the reports for committees um the next item is the superintendent report Dr leevy David you have the floor hey good evening everybody um thank you very much for um the beautiful singing presentation from a

031combination of our students at Fame Academy they um composed that piece in order to celebrate superintendent appreciation month for the month of October so it was it was really exciting to see them do that um I am going to move to the next slide and talk a little bit about some of the multiple events that we have during the month of October because it's a busy month uh um first piece of course is principal appreciation we also celebrate oh and today actually we had an official Proclamation issued by the mayor that October the 10th is principal appreciation day I was informed by principles that it was the first time that we've done that in the City of Bridgeport and I hope that we'll be able to do that again I don't know if that's I

032haven't been in Bridgeport long enough to know is that if that is accurate or not but um I was really excited to see them excited about being appreciated and celebrated um we also celebrate Italian heritage month I had the pleasure of being able to see the parade from my front porch which was really awesome never been able to see a parade from my for front porch before so that's one of the benefits of living in a smaller town we also celebrated last week school custodian appreciation week so thank you to all of you who made your school custodians feel special and appreciate apprciate it for all of the work that they do uh as you know without custodians we could not open and conduct school every day so we really in truly value all of

033the work that they do for us each and every single day October is also National bullying prevention month uh we've been celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month in a variety of ways and in a variety of of different campuses and those celebrations will continue to run through October the 15 when the month concludes and also you've noticed probably a lot of pictures with people wearing pink because October is also breast cancer awareness month so a lot of things happening during the month of October in our schools and our students and leaders have been so incredible with leading uh through each of those uh earlier you saw the fame Academy perform for us I just want to remind everyone that we do have this incredible Academy that is now emerging in our schools our students are able to

034B to enjoy a variety of activities in including choir theater and acting stage craft costume design and sewing Visual Arts modern Band drum line sound and light tech and enrollment is still open for high school students the fame Academy occurs at Harding High School so if you're interested in participating in Fame Academy please speak to your school counselor to make sure I gave them a plug uh this past October 5th last Thursday I met with school administrators and principles and we shared a lot a lot of communication a lot of conversation it was um I would say a really transformative meeting between the leaders and myself and we talked about what our priorities will be for the next 24 months there are a lot of issues that we need to address as we transition to

035district and as we move to trans form our schools but we want to make sure that we're addressing those pieces that will have the greatest sustainable impact and that we'll be able to build upon over the next five to six years and we all agreed because we had a conversation about it that the first is building teacher capacity ensuring that our teachers receive the coaching that they need that they feel supported that our new teachers have mentors that they have um observations that support their non valuative observations that support their growth and that we're able to help them become expert teachers and that we're able to retain them in our district um the next was ensuring that we're providing culturally responsive teaching in all of our classrooms as you know we have over 47 languages

036spoken in Bridgeport Public Schools we have many different ethnicities and cultures represented in our district and we want to make sure that our teachers even if they do not reflect the student population and their classrooms are equipped to understand and to be able to respond to all of the different differences in all of the different diversity that we have in our classrooms and that's critical that is a skill that needs to be taught and it emphasizes how we use strategies to ensure that we're reinforcing honoring celebrating and respecting those differences rather than um expecting people to change their beliefs or their own backgrounds as we know that's that's a much more difficult task to accomplish and so we really want to support our teachers in understanding different cultures understanding what the needs are understanding what

037that looks like in a classroom and how to plan and deliver instruction that is engaging that is innovative that is 21st century that actually meets the needs of our students and that actually responds to the way that they re require communication today uh and finally we talked a lot about tier one instruction while closing the gaps tier one instruction is essential to student growth and we also have to ensure that students who have not mastered Concepts or are not performing on grade level or not left behind and that requires that we not only deliver tier one instruction but that we also provide intervention and we provide um all of the support needed for students to be able to to capture um any learning loss that they have suffered whether it's via coid or it's because

038of other reasons we want to make sure that our students are able to be competitive that they're able to continue to grow and that they're able to also take a seat in our mnik programs and that we can increase our population of Bridgeport students within our magnet programs and so we talked about this we actually had table talk um with our principles and we all agreed that these were going to be the three priorities uh that we would address in concert and so it was very rewarding to be able to engage them in a decision-making process uh and also engaged them in a manner that we could actually have Frank trusting open conversations about these topics during the meeting the other piece that we talked about was the need for us to begin outlining campus

039leader coaching models and support models so that we can continue to grow leaders from within our ranks leaders from within our district who are actually understand our students are hopefully graduates of Bridgeport Public Schools and want to continue to live and thrive in Bridgeport Public Schools and we celebrated our principles by having ice cream sandwiches providing by provided by Main Street crary so that was a sweet way to end a very exciting meeting we took a group photo which we hope will be the first of many group photos to come in the future for all of our principles and the superintendent so it was an exciting day overall so I wanted to just share with you um a little bit of what occurred earlier today earlier today um I made a special request I requested

040that a special Proclamation be issued for our principles in the district for October 10th and that uh request was granted and we were able to hear from alumni who spoke about the impact that principles had on their education right here in Bridgeport in our schools and it was really rewarding to see those principles who were still present while having students speaking about the amazing incredible impact that they had on their lives and how even as their adults they continue to thrive and remember those stories and those experiences and those leaders and how they supported their growth ER we took another group picture as you can see up on on the screen and we uh took a picture with the the special Proclamation that mayor ganam was gracious enough to provide us with and although this

041is symbolic gesture it's also an important gesture we have to be able to say thank you as I told the principles earlier today Bridgeport is not an easy gig it is a very challenging place to work I have been in many districts in five different states and I can tell you that Urban settings are some of the most serve settings in our country and for principles who choose to be here year after year it's not because of the pay there are lots of ways to make money without working as hard as our principles have to work every day so the fact that they're willing to dedicate their livelihoods their careers engage and invest in our students in their families in this community speaks volumes and I wanted to honor that sacrifice that effort being a

042school leader means spending a lot of time away from your family it means spending time away from your own children in the service of other children it means spending time away from your spouse it means working on your birthday it means a lot of things that many other professions perhaps do not have to sacrifice but School leaders and teachers do and oftentimes they make those sacrifices without ever receiving a thank you you it's very easy to critique it's very easy to overlook all of the work that it takes to lead a campus successfully and to ensure that every student is receiving the education that they not only need but deserve by law and so I'm really proud and excited to be able to work with such an amazing group of leaders here in Bridgeport and

043I just want to thank them for the work the remarkable efforts that they make each and every day in our district and I hope that this tradition will continue whether I'm in this seat or someone else is in this seat also had a successful wonderful meeting with our bcast Union that is our bridport Council of Administrators and supervisors and we talked about the issues that are very important to our principles at this time and among them is positive climate ensuring that they're able to maintain that positive working climate where employees are able to feel safe in their work environment they're able to feel supported by the superintendent's office by the Board of Education and by all other members of this city ensuring that there's clear communication with throughout and engage in principles in critical conversations

044ensuring that they're able to have the benefit of the doubt when things happen and that they're not immediately condemned and critiqued in public that's really important to our leaders because the work that they do unlike previous years when I became a principal everything happens quickly it's on social media immediately and whether it's accurate true or untrue people believe it to be so because it's published and so the risk of reputation that school leaders take is greater than any other profession in the entire world everything that you do as a school leader is under scrutiny everything that you do as a teacher is under scru because we work with children and so they were very concerned about how things are communicated uh with them from this office and about them from our board and also from

045the superintendent's office and I assured them that I would do my utmost to ensure that they're treated fairly that their reputations are not vilified and that they're able to work in a safe environment where their reputations are protected because that is important for some people they'll tell you my name is all I have my name is all I have and having my name be clear is very important also they wanted to ensure that whenever they had information to share through the superintendent and board uh through the superintendent or the board that they felt supported by both the superintendent and the board and there were some concerns expressed about the level of support that they receive from um board members specifically and and they were very emphatic in that at times they don't feel safe they

046don't feel like their good intentions when things are communicated about principles I assured them that I would address those issues and I wanted to bring it to your attention to ensure that you're aware that our principles are irreplaceables they are not they're an inexhaustible they're an exhaustible resource it's very difficult to replace a veteran experienced principal in a school district like Bridgeport with a inexperienced principal and it's very difficult for principles to begin their career with fear of making mistakes lots of people go into careers with the ability to make mistakes without being vilified or having fear for their employment ending rather rapidly and abruptly over a mistake and I assured principal that if they make a mistake I will be the person standing in front of them to ensure that their reputations are protected

047and I would be the person working with the Board of Education to ensure that we're treating them fairly and that when things occur they're handled professionally and following board policy so those were some of the topics that we discussed in our first bcast union meeting and we will be meeting monthly if there are any items that you'd like to refer for those meetings please let me know had the opportunity my clicker is SLO here we go yeah here we go sorry had a great opportunity to meet with state representative Jeff Curry who came representing the Congressional Delegation in the state of Connecticut he is chairs the Congressional education committee and he wanted to talk about um just how the state of Connecticut has really high expectations for Bridgeport Public Schools how excited they are about

048the things that they're seeing happening in Bridgeport Public Schools and the support that they want to provide for our school district and for our superintendent myself so it was really refreshing um to have someone unsolicited come to visit to offer support to say positive things about our district and the things that they're seeing not only in social media but in the news about our district and how those things need to continue so I was really pleased to have that feedback and I look forward to continuing to work with state representative Jeff Curry we also began very critical work with our communication strategist Veronica Sofer we are fortunate to have an award-winning K12 Communications expert and public relations PL practitioner supporting our efforts to rebuild the reputation of our district our board and our entire educational

049system here in Bridgeport she is going to be working with us to ensure that we have a district website that is responsive that is intuitive and easy to navigate that we have campus websites that are aligned and attractive that we have Publications that are sent out frequently for all of our um community members that we also have a strong so and positive social media presence that we have communication modalities that are aligned throughout our district district for every single leader on our campuses every teacher everyone who posts on social media who works for our district will have um a set of rules that we will follow for how we post information online and also Strategic Training for the superintendence team for Publications for communication and for all of the pieces that will be needed in

050order to strategically change the reputation of our school district for years to come so I was very excited to be able to do with her um the next piece we have been able through a qualified purchase to begin working with thought exchange and we will be utilizing their platform in order to have two-way communication between our school district between our principals and their students our school principls and their teachers between the district and all of our stakeholders where we'll be able to actually do surveys we'll be able to gather feedback we'll be able to engage in actual conversations with the community through this tool and we'll be able to ensure that our strategies align with our district needs promote trust and promote transparency in our community I had the opportunity to meet personally with make

051the road uh which is an exciting organization that supports our Spanish-speaking immigrants and community community members who may be here seeking Asylum or maybe newcomers to our community and during the event we had a Q&A where I answered questions directly from the audience Mr benan was in attendance and pledged his undying support for the work of the superintendent and for all of the changes that are forthcoming in the district and it was phenomenal to be able to tour their facility see the services that they're providing for all members of the community and the space that they're sharing with other nonprofits in that facility so they're a phenomenal organization very proud of their work I was also able to visit Harding and witness janeli espinal providing our business students with financial literacy expertise and she also

052shared a free copy of her book mind your money and engage with q in Q&A with our students so that they could learn more about why perhaps we do not want to use um Apple pay for everything and why perhaps want to make different choices is when we secure credit cards how to actually maximize spending versus saving and how to be more mindful of every single dollar that they're able to save before they go to college so it was very rewarding to see them engaging in that conversation I was also able to plant my very own tree in front of blackham school uh in Connecticut's first Milwaukee forest and that is actually a Japanese method that transforms urban areas mimicking natural processes and using native plants they also planted a second miwaukee Forest at winrop

053Elementary uh later that day that was very exciting to have fifth graders teachers and all sorts of people from the community participating in this exciting Endeavor it's every time you know we're making memories every time we go by blackham we're going to see that Forest I promised the kids that I would visit my tree and ensure that it does not wither and die and I also promise that we will make sure that all of us as we go by on thorm Street stop and relax and enjoy just the beauty of having something that came from our own labor with our own two hands and yes I managed to keep my dress white also participated in a really exciting Bridgeport Public Schools debate league orientation at Discovery magnet got to meet some awesome expert Debaters who

054had a mock debate for the students who will be beginning their journey in debate and was able to participate with all of the students at Discovery magnet students from all over the district who want to participate in the league my own daughter is participating in the league as well so it was great to see her taking it all in and learning all of the different disciplines that it takes to be an expert debater she's trying to practice those skills at home it's not going well um I also attended the bearsley schooled picnic and that was um last week as a matter of fact and it was a phenomenal phenomenal event I just really want to thank uh principal Lawson L Ladson Lane I have trouble with hyphenated names including my own for hosting this event

055um children and families were able to enjoy hot dogs and hamburgers um f Delta Kappa was there present to hand out books for our students we were able to sign up for Library memberships at the local library they have a brand new library right down the street and so it was really exciting to have a DJ and to be able to dance a little bit with the kids and just have a great time at their picnic so please keep those invitations coming I always enjoy them and I also had the privilege of participating with the Connecticut Association of urban superintendents we're a small group but we're Mighty and we had an invaluable opportunity to connect with fellow educational leaders who are at the Forefront of managing the urban school districts in the state of Connecticut

056we exchange ideas insights experiences and we definitely gather a lot of expertise from one another um for me it was truly remarkable how the meeting Fosters a sense of community amongst all the different superintendents in the state and the different challenges that we all face with our own small Urban school districts so it was it's really for me a very enriching experience it helps me to refresh my skill set and it helps me to know how to seek uh support and resources that I need to lead effectively in the state of Connecticut so it was exciting also participated in the commissioner network uh at bassic high school um whether you know or not bassic is a Commissioners Network school and that means that bassic has to develop a plan that has to be approved by

057the commissioner's office that indicates how we're going to move bassic forward and what are the highlights the priorities that we're going to actually focus on to improve the campus to build student um Effectiveness instructional Effectiveness student um attendance um prioritize student learning cultural response culturally responsive teaching and also how we're going to um design instruction so that tier one and closing the gaps are priorities at bassic as well as other pieces that the school school has actually um itemized with their team um it was great to see parents present at the meeting and participating in this process I have one of our committee members here present thank you so much sir for your support and it's it's I'm very excited that we're going through this process it really shows the dedication of the staff and

058of the leadership at bassic high school and our our goal is to ensure that these pieces are in place and they're effective by the time that we open the new bassic in our very own Deputy superintendent Dr a Avery met with Goodwin College to investigate how we can develop educational Pathways within our high schools we're very interested in developing more educational Pathways for our students in areas that are not only appealing to them but necessary for them to be successful in the next few years after they graduate so our goal is to provide every student with Equitable access to diverse uh learning opportunities that are inclusive and that ensure that no one is Left Behind I just want to applaud Goodwin College for reaching out to us for uh seeking our partnership in this process

059and I am looking forward to the programs that we will build together for our students and thank you again Dr Avery for supporting with that endeavor I was truly excited when I got this call um this is a photo of myself with Tony Johnson he is immediately on my left probably your right and he's the vice president of community engagement at infrar and infrar manages our water treatment facility here in Bridgeport so you're wondering why did he want to meet with me well there's several reasons infomark is interested in school to work options for our students apprenticeship opportunities for our students apprenticeship opportunities for our students who are in college and working with careers that have to do with biochemistry and other pieces that are needed to continue the path of water treatment and also

060in providing a scholarship for a student at each one of our high schools so um that partnership I think is going to be a game Cher for Bridgeport it's a an actual organization that is right here in our community right here in our backyard that impacts all of us who go to the beaches in the Long Island Sound and so we want to make sure that we're building expertise right here in Bridgeport to ensure that the beaches are safe that our water supply is safe and that we are actually following effective water treatment practices so I really applaud them for coming to us and for seeking this partnership we had our first clerical Gathering so all clerical staff from across the district were invited for a sunset dinner um the name of the place was

061Joe's Joey se's okay it wasn't in Bridgeport but that was the place they selected and we had a great time our clerical staff were excited um at first they were a little shy and then they dished a lot of tea so we had a wonderful dinner a wonderful time engaging with each other and learning more about what their needs are how we can make their work better and how we can partner with those of them that want continue to grow and continue to grow to become teachers continue to grow to promote within the district and it was just a really exciting time to get to know all of them and um for those of you who weren't able to attend we hope to see you there next year we hope to make this an annual

062tradition where we're able to meet and engage with them so thank you all of the clerical staff who gathered with us we had a great time I am planning to have our first annual Thanksgiving dinner in November we're going to bring together our custodial staff our clerical workers par professionals security guards and sro's for a nice turkey dinner place to be announced in order to thank them for all of the work that they do in our district and I specifically wanted to do it with this group because they're often the ones that don't get a thank you for all of the work that they do and we really want to ensure that we send them off for Thanksgiving with a great meal that we're able to enjoy some uh camaraderie break bread together and that

063we're able to send them off for the holidays just feeling positive about the place where they work knowing that we care about them and knowing that we're really appreciative of everything that they do to keep our districts running smoothly and our students safe this morning I was able to attend the Second Marine aircraft Wing band concert which was hosted at Central High School and multiple schools our British our Bridgeport Military Academy Central High School Harding High School um EMB bassic were able to attend for a workshop so not only were you able to enjoy the music they were also able to have a live workshop with our marine musicians and servicemen so they're going to learn more they learned more about the musical craft they learn more about music careers and they learn more about

064music in general and how it touches each of our lives so it was wonderful to have them here it was the first time that they were visiting our city since the co co 19 pandemic and I really want to thank um Mr Caruso for providing this opportunity this was his work um in bringing this band to us from South Carolina all the way from South Carolina so we were really happy to host them and to have them in our campus and I cannot in my superintendent report without welcoming back Sam Marini Mr Marini tried to leave me right at the beginning of my tenure and I told him that that was not allow and so he's back we have a special gift for you he's a tough guy he um he wanted to come back

065to work right away and I told him that I didn't want to see him until October and he said well what am I supposed to do with my time I said I don't know build a shed and so he came back and showed me a picture he built a shed Sam we love you thank you for all you do for us silently gracefully and professionally every single meeting that we have we thank you so much for that so I this concludes my superintendent report I'm sorry it was so long October has been a busy month for me and it's not over so I may take the rest of the month off any questions all right I'll open up the floor for board members to ask questions I'll go Mr sovic Miss Baptist Perez sovic yes

066thank you again for thorough report uh a couple of questions I got I have is um when we first introduced the lady for the PR department we were told it was going to be a thre month short term while we search for a new What's the progress of the RFP on that yes we're actually in the process of putting together an RFP I spoke to Mr pyrus about that and until we identify someone she's going to continue to support us until someone is identified one of my concerns is having the appearance of structuring a contract to go three months and three months because it's at $24,000 so a six- Monon contract would be at 48,000 and so on so on I just we have not discussed with her what her fee would be to continue

067to we haven't extended a contract with her right I I just want us to be aware that that RFP needs to be moved on relatively quickly so we can ensure that we put somebody in place on a permanent basis okay thank you and uh my next question is I guess my question would be is there a concern about the work that miss suur is doing um I'm talking about process I'm not talking about people my concern is always process my concern is always people well we cannot bypass PO process we must adhere to process at all times rules and regulations bylaws purchasing ordinances are not suggested I don't think I've broken any I don't think I've broken any but my concern is not saying you I'm not saying you I'm saying we're going we need

068to get out for that RFP as quickly as possible to find a permanent a permanent person and I agree I just don't like the appearance of impropriety on my part with this contract because there hasn't been any right I'm not making any aspersions I'm just letting you know way ahead of time before if to prevent an issue from happening which is Miss Sofer has done nothing but come speaking of M to provide great expertise and I'm I'm asking is there a concern and I said no I'm concerned with process and only process okay well now for my next concern is you've answered my question adequately thank you very much no but I'm not done answering your question I'm not done if there isn't it's not a debate it's not a debate but I have the

069right to answer your question go ahead finish Dr ly if there isn't a concern about the work if there isn't a concern about the quality of the services that we're receiving but the issue is process is it because you feel there's going to be somebody out there who is better than an awardwinning K12 strategist possibly we won't know unless we put out that RFP we've got our legal we've got our legal advice what could the possible concerns be through you madam chair pleas if we if we um bypass process and just select people at random without having anybody have a chance to Pi no one said anything about bying well that's I'm talking I'm speaking of process even if she the person can you call this meeting into order well I'm trying to move on

070to the rest question this isn't a debate back and forth you're supp a delegate who's speaking and not I I understand that he's responding and you don't have the floor he's responding to Dr Levy's question so please neither does you is Mr Dugas responding are you ask I I I would like a response to what would happen if we just bypass RFP processes I'm speaking of process I'm not speaking of any aspersions to any person just the process if we have if we bypass processes procedures protocols what kind of liabilities could this board face no matter how spectacular person is yeah my understanding is through uh for a legal opinion that goes through the chair and if the board wants an opinion on something I'm happy to do it obviously you I need a lot

071more details than a lot of facts yes you have to follow rules I don't know if they're implicated here but I'd be happy uh you know to look into that if the board chair so directs me um and uh but I think everybody understands there's processes and rules that have to be followed there's processes and rules that have to be followed but there's also personal bias and I'm at the point where I feel like there's personal bias it doesn't matter whom is in that position if it's someone that I have Rec recomend thator brought in there's going to be a question about that person about my process about what I'm doing I could present the most amazing person to this board and there will still be some type of objection and at that point it

072becomes personal bias not process it's about the people and the people being me all right Mr finish your questions I've got yes thank you um again uh we U put out an RF it was not at our Fe but uh CES was selected to find a permanent Deputy superintendent um can we get an update on where that stand where it's advertised and is that Mr pyz or that no that that would be Dr ly David that would actually be a human resources question okay can we uh reach out to because I know we're currently in flux on our human resources so I would just like to know maybe from CES somebody reach out to CES where it's advertised how it's advertised and maybe we should consider also putting it on our Board website as well

073to reach up a wider audience so now the issue is with Dr Avery and Dr Avery being in an interim position in the district the issue is finding a permanent superintendent a permanent Deputy superintendent like we said we were going to no I know that we said that but he only got here two we ago excuse me I'm speaking and you haven't been assigned see two weeks correct and this is done this is this is no ersion on Dr Avery Dr Avery came in on an interim interims are interim he's more than welcome to apply for the full position but again we must go through the process that we put out there okay all right next question Mrs S and next un last now you may feel this is another personal attack but uh you

074recently just you just said that we entered into a contract with a service provider for the surveys that contract has been signed we talked about it at committee I think it was explained thoroughly during committee why we needed to seek another provider and it was answered during committee okay so there's currently a contract that's been signed without approval from the full board because it was only discussed at committee it was not brought brought to the full board for approval and his contract is over $25,000 this is not an attack on Dr Le David this is Attack on the process that has not been followed is that all your questions yes and we we need to approve that as a board or it's not a valid contract we're we're liable for a contract that we didn't

075approve just take a vote to terminate me if that's what you want to do Mr sakovic I really I mean I really tired I am tired tired termination well what else is this it's you know by Thousand Cuts we're moving forward the full board is all I ask has finished Miss Baptist Perez you have the floor de by Thousand Cuts Miss Bap you have the floor uh um well at least I wrote my comment first I wanted to thank Dr Levy David for being so thoughtful to every level that when it comes to staff and administration in the school district my two years that I've served on the board I found it pretty appalling that we never took a day or a time or a month to appreciate our principles who are the leaders at

076the hel at each building who are responsible for whatever policies we come up with as a board that actually is implemented and enforced building to building and so taking time to appreciate them and all their hard work it is all about morale it is morale in the district it is morale for a board the way we are going to attract people is to treat each other with dignity and respect as well as appreciate each other even down to the janitors which I didn't know that um it was genitor uh custodian I'm probably using the wrong term but custodial Appreciation Week custodial Appreciation Week um because everybody in this role for this District we need to think of this from a perspective of I'm going to use a quote from Gabrielle Burnstein uh light and love

077for the kids we wouldn't be serving and doing this job this elected role if it wasn't only for the children we serve the children we come up with policies to serve the children and it is a team effort um and so I do appreciate the principls the staff Sam and everyone coming back I think the superintendent report was extremely thorough and until certain comments are made gives me immense hope for this District the programs that we have it makes me as a parent in a charter school reconsider what Bridgeport is offering because it is special because it is unique because the Partnerships that in one month and two weeks we're building with colleges and universities exclusive scholarship opportunities just for Bridgeport Alum you don't hear about that and in my two years on the board

078before definitely did not hear about it at all and so I am somewhat disappointed at the attacks because we truly have something special here and we are truly under the radar and in the attention and eyes not only for our political atmosphere but for the success of the district as we are continuously trained and I highly hope that we appreciate that our training will lead us to do what we have to do in our ethical capacity for this District that's all I have to say all right and I'll go around and give board members the opportunity to ask any questions you have Miss Perez Mr tror um I didn't even see him Mr benan thank you Madame shair um first of all Dr Le David I have to say thank you for your report be

079as a Bo member for four years I like your report because you go you know process about process and I really like that so that's what the people they want second I have to say thank you for the make the RO when we was there um I'm very proud as a Latino and all the parent was there La you know the message you talk to them and that's what they was waiting for have somebody transl in Hispanic they can't understand not the people was that there people that outside they was very happy that you you know make a message in Spanish how you say you're going to commit how you going to be there how you going to support them and that's you know because in bris we got population you know Spanish you know

080people and to different country and they're very happy and that make me proud as a Latino you know that our poition you know the Latinos were coming out and com and work with you and work with the community and I'm very happy that they happened you know it was very nice from you so I want to say thank you for that I appreciate that thank you Madame chair Mr travor yes thank you madam uh superintendent for your report um I had a question that I raised at the last meeting you provided uh the detailed expulsion data and if I recall correctly and I I I'm not certain that I do you were going to give us you were going to send us that data you provided the actual data that I asked for um and

081I don't recall ever seeing it so I just wondered if you could send it to us you didn't get the day byday data I I don't recall seeing it no ma'am I'll send that again tonight thank you um and then I I just I'm trying to avoid what just happened here but I you said you're working on the RFP it will it be out soon or when's it going to be out which one the uh P the pr I don't know what it's called the P the the the well I I prefer public relations but branding sort of defens of yes it has to has because our contract expires in November so after November we will not have any PR support right it's octob it was August September October November right yes it's been requested

082so when do you expect it to be issued um when will that be issued Mr pyrus the next contract okay yeah unfortunately I don't control when the contracts committee meets I understand that and um has the assistant superintendent position been posted you got superintendent position has already been sent over to CES yes so it has been advertised or whatever it would be called and it was actually advertised and we received no responses at which time I reached out to Dr Avery so we will repost and I think I explained during the last committee meeting that people do not want to come here precisely because of what occurred here a few minutes ago they do not want to be part of any type of process I know you are but I'm answering your question I'm trying

083to avoid that just to ask factual questions that we can I can simply understand where we're but I'd like to finish so the reason why we have to repost is because we got no bites the first time and when I asked people who were retired who were available when they saw board meetings when they s read about the district and they read all of the things that are out there that are very negative they did not want to come here even at the expense of supporting me whom they know and trust I was able to get one person to answer me and I'm very very thankful that he moved all the way across the country to come and help me and that's Dr Royce Avery thank you so it has been reposted and read advertised

084if you will I think I established that okay I just when you went off I wanted to make sure that I I didn't go off I was answering your question no ma'am you weren't you were speaking to the point there we go again speaking to the point that's all I wanted to ask was has it been reposted again here we go again just asked a question I was only asking a factual question you wanted to doesn't matter what I say thank you that's all I asked thank you I'm done Mr is all your questions Miss Allen do you have any questions I've listened I've listened I've learned a lot and I hope to be able to use and spread what I've heard what I've learned here tonight and what I've learned all during the sessions

085to my constituents thank you so much Miss Allan um Miss cmir just in the interest of time I'm just going to keep my comments very short I want to thank you so much Dr Levy David for your hard work for your outof the-box thinking for your support of our leaders and for your efforts to hold it together in a situation that's not easy at all I want to thank Dr Avery for being your Sidekick and I know that board members are very limited to what we can do to help but just like I told you on that first one-on-one meeting that we had if there's anything at all that I can do to help as a board member with anything within my mental and creative capacity I'm willing to do so so I just want

086to say thank you that's it thank you I'm going to keep my comment short as well but again thank you for the great report Dr leevy David um and you know I want to keep the message of Hope and I love what you're doing with the morale I think that's key um to start the foundation work that needs to be done in this um District so whatever support you need and continue to recognize our team members which is critical um in this District um and any work really but critical in this District the morale have to you know be there and also the trust so um again you have the trust um of the team members you bring the morale up and we'll support you um and again anything you need um but again with

087process and what have you that's a conversation for another time I think at this point um but I do have one question just about the bassic the commission uh with the commissioner I think was really great work there um when do we expect um reports to um generate um as far as the progress what what are some of the priorities that that be the top three priorities that you want to tackle first um in that in bassic and how will we get the updates would it be in this forum would it be via email um if you want to talk about that a bit thank you so much for asking the question the the priorities for bassic are very similar to the priorities for the entire District their plan is one that has to be

088approved by the state and right now we are in the process of revising and refining the plan for submission um as far as when we will be able to have updates um I'm going to get a timeline from Margaret Hughes and her team so that we can know exactly how um the evaluation process will unfold and once we have that data for the evaluation process I'll be able to speak with more confidence about how to report the data back to the board thank you and great work with the scholarships and as well I think you know just report was very thorough and hopeful so thank you thank you thank you if that concludes any questions Mr traber yeah I had one other question I forgot to ask about thought exchange um since we have a

089signed contract we'll have no further discussion on this but after the committee meeting where we had the discussion the initial discussion um I saw a report on the news about uh proposals both nationally and in this state about artificial intelligence and if I recall the presentation that was made at the committee meeting uh thought exchange uses artificial intelligence to do some of the information gathering so I had hoped that when we had the discussion at the board level that we would have a chance to explore how that is used to analyze the data and interact with our parents and students um in the use of that program um so at some point I would still like to have uh that presentation made to the board or the committee um because it seems to me that

090is more important than ever that we take a look at the use of artificial intelligence with our within our school community and the interactions of our me of our the members of our school Community thank you there no further uh questions or comments we'll move right into new business the first item in discussion yes oh Mr B ask a personal privilege sure we give forward um thank you thank you for giving me the floor um I want to say this and um as we 20 years almost in the district and we around and do so many things you know in schools and I would never do something to hurt my district I know my parents and my students are my priority when my students or my parents they are now um communicate I help them

091the way it's supposed to be it's a issue for me like I care why they not communicate but I always tell them do you do the the process you know called the principal assistant principal the protocol anything and when they tell me now something like that I worry about that um and now there was some issue about what happened in Columbus schol situation I know I email you I email and I like to when they say no nobody contact me that's why we not send an email out to the whole board and the you because I like to be transparency I don't like to hide and I want the board know what's going on but I didn't do on purpose to hurt no one that's not my intention that's not my thing be before as

092a board member and now as a board member I would never do that but I know sometime they understand maybe they understood my email in the process what I write you know ass mean and stuff like that and that was not my intention but I want to do for the amican and the public it's Columbus school they think they do something against that no I want to say apologize you know but so now and we have on live in Fr of the record they they think that hurt someone in the accountable School the STA that's not my thing that's why I need to let you know because uh I don't want to feel like a Mr benan is against somebody no I'm not here I'm here to work for everyone and you know that for

093the day one when you came here I say you are the person that we want we work for the process and look at what are you doing at the show time you're doing amazing thing because I have to say the truth you know people they don't like it they don't like it I don't I I don't I'm not going with that I'm not going about negative stuff I like to get forward nothing is perfect things going up and down normal but I want to public apologize you know if they think that I did something wrong or they think that I'm against the the staff from Columbus school I know Columbus school when I came here to the United State you know um from Puerto Rico 1984 that was my first school me and my sister

094so you know I know I went to previsible school here so I really U people understand that I'm not here to attack nobody I'm not here to tell you what you have to do nothing because I know you you're doing your job but when I was worry about when the parents come to see and say me you know it's um nobody contact me you I that's what I worry about it's is in my blood I'm not doing this in purpose to be against you nobody and either the staff but that's why I wanted for the worker to you know I give my apologize for the staff for col school and I want to keep forward I know you really contact thank you for that I really appreciate that and as a one member I always

095trying to not us get suit and I can show you proof that already avoid for suit to be sure we don't have that issue and I I was trying to do that but I really spoke with the mom and she trying to understand that really contact it and I really appreciate that you know some people that would be funny what I'm saying but it's coming from my heart you know and this is not something I saw yesterday you know it's not because I don't need be have a title to help my parents and I'm going to keep forward and I want to keep trying working with you as you doing right now I just want to put that for the record right thank you Madame chair thank you um the first item in new business

096is discussion p to approval to renew uh membership for uh Council of great greater City Schools um it is located in your uh package board members um there's no one to present on this item we do use this uh and we have used it in the past so it's a matter of renewing it um and if that's something that we have to bring before the board to even renew the membership of it so I'm not sure if board members are familiar but I will open up the floor for comments and questions I ask that you stay on the actual item and that we stay on task as far as what we're going to talk about um so I see Mr T your hand is up yeah I would like to start off the conversation with

097making a motion to approve and to renewing the membership of Council of great City Schools a motion on the floor Mr tror tror second it now we'll conversation motion should be first uh yeah we' used great City schools for the I guess as long as I've been on the board in 10 more years before that I believe the former chair baraco is one of the people that brought it to us and it's been quite useful for me we are a unique District while we are the largest District in Connecticut which gives us the eligibility to join the great City Schools we are one of the smallest members of the great City Schools now I have utilized them in the past a couple of times most recently uh being informed that yes there are other cities

098that use lobbyists and firms when the city is told us no nobody does that it's unheard of but having that experience and that contact with them allowed me to bring that forth and a lot of the Dei initiatives I take the lead from great City Schools now cave is also wonderful they're not this topic of the agenda but they are have 169 districts and maybe six or seven of them are Urban so we fall in that in between spot both are useful I believe many members of our staff use it I'm not sure if they still do but I remember Dr Jenkins using it quite a bit and um maybe Dr Morgan if I'm not mistaken so it has been useful to staff and board members in the past and I believe it will be

099useful in the future so for for board members I know and just before I go on to next uh you know further board members for discussion right now you see is the invoice for the membership but we should each of us should be receiving like emails that come from greater City Schools so you probably will see the emails more than anything any of the trainings any of the if you're if you serve on committee that's what's in your email I probably next time this comes before I'll make sure they put the actual packet of it in here so um but this was all that was provided uh for us to approve so I just want to clarify because I know I see faces and I want to make sure you guys are aware um I

100saw Mr tra's hand up no oh you just second it is there any further comments or questions on this all right so a motion it motion has been made it's been properly second um all in favor hi so I want to make sure because last time we didn't do this so I just want to make sure I'm gonna do it again all in favor do yes so I can hear everyone's eye and no one is skipped um Miss Casmir Mr Gellen uh Mr benan hi Mr sovic hi Miss harest Mr tror Miss Baptist I mean sorry Miss Allan Miss Baptist Perez Bobby Brown I so there you go now it's clear all right any so there's no need to do but I'll say it any oppos any extensions only we have one Mr Gellen abstained

101all right so the next item is discussion possible motion to send vote taken at last regular meeting dated September 26 2023 in regards to selecting the AR uh firm to conduct dii professional development services for britford public schools this item um came through committee also gone through the board so the entire process Mr kvic asked for it to be add back on so Mr kvic it's your item you have the floor thank you since this is an unusual motion not really used Ed Robert's Rules of Order regarding this everybody's Ral um yes unfortunately I missed my first meeting within six with in six years due to circumstances Beyond somewhat beyond my control and I am here today I listened to the meeting afterwards and what I heard was kind of confusing because they said the

102children weren children weren't involved in constructing off RFP and the children and teachers this was a process that lasted a little while since I've been on the board in my six years I've never had a child assist with an RFP or have input to the RFP where their input is taken is in the contract in both contracts these both contracts were not even really mentioned or considered or debated in the last meeting they were just debating the RFP and the construction RFP and just either throwing it out or tabling which as we heard time and time again rfps take 3 to 6 months to deliver I don't want to get into a situation where we hire another temporary person we need permanent people in our district to bring our district forward as the superintendent presented

103in her presentation that we need these trainings for our teachers so we have two African-American applicants African-American female applicants who have put forth contracts that have not even been considered and if you want to talk about input from the committee in the community it works the same way as when we hired the superintendent we do the RFP and in the deliverables they go out and they got if you look at page six of the forward for inclusion which is my favorite thing you will see parent education services you'll see listening to where they go around the district and listen and when they listen to people then they format what they want to give what kind of seminars and What needs that's already encumbered encompassed in the contract for RFP now this the first one is

104my favorite because I scored this a group of people went and listen to these firms present and we got um we didn't listen we got the we didn't listen to them presenting I apologize but we did get back and thoughtful process was put into selecting the RFP and selecting the number one firm so you need to take two steps here in order to consider awarding this contract first we need to vote on the motion to resend and then we need to select one of these two firms so I ask that you give these two firms that took the trouble time and trouble to answer RFP the respect they deserve to hear their contracts out at the very least all right is there there are questions of Miss Baptist pz then Dr 11 um the complete

105packet compared to what was provided prior isn't here and one of the things that stood out like a sore thumb was there was no superintendent feedback at all no rankings no opinions it nothing so um and unfortunately that wasn't provided in this packet um for it I I think part of the logic that was involved is for an initiative that's going to involve the school the leader at the helm should be involved as well as the people our constituents that would be impacted which is first and foremost the students and none of that was taken into consideration um and and I don't necessarily see the need that we have two bids that we necessarily have to bite on any one of those two options um I think that there are especially now in the more

106than before uh a strong executive cabinet that can give additional feedback and partake in this uh process um and not be as limited as before and from what I recall from the rankings that were not provided in this packet is that the interim superintendent didn't participate at all so this would just be your expert opinion Mr sakovic um point of information there was four or five people who scored these score sheets yeah just Joseph SC the director of personnel the director of a couple other places so they were professional evaluators doing this as well not just Joseph sovic so please take that point of information for no no that's included that's about four or five I wish it was provided in this packet but it wasn't and but what was key was that the leader

107of the district wasn't involved in the decision-making process and a decision regarding the district the leader of the district needs to be involved um Dr leevy David I'll sa my question to Miss Perez Miss Perez um I saw the summary of the ratings and as M btis perz said that the superintendent wasn't involved is there a reason why Miss parin wasn't involved at the time was it after her departure or it was in flux with the transition and any further questions that was it for me I'm sorry I'm I'm lost which which one are we talking about the we're talk we're on Item B the the um so Item B is talking about which will be on item that's not not here okay sorry so it is just the language that's it of Mr s

108it yes it's part of the last board meetings packet you could if you just click into the last board meeting and you could click then you can see what this and it's the superintendent is free to weigh in on which one she thinks is best because this has been on the last last agenda I'm sure she had read through the packet to look at the contracts to see which one would be best I have no problem with selecting if the board votes for the second one they vote for the second one if they don't vote for my favorite so be it but these two people have applied they went through the trouble of doing what it is so I think we should select from the It's Not Unusual for us to only get two bids

109we've gotten two bids on multiple occasions but these people these both these people are Connecticut New York based they know the district they know the area and they've done this work extensively and they both both minority business enterprises so I think I don't think we should disrespect those two African-American women who have applied to our district I want somebody who knows Bridgeport I want somebody who's here that knows the city and knows our issues thank you Miss uh Dr Levy David then Mr Traver I I I don't dispute that the two bids are probably experts in Dei there are thousands of providers for Dei this all arose um and became more prominent after the slaying of George Floyd and took a great deal of prominence as school districts and different organizations in Corporate America was

110struggling to find ways to avoid something like that happening again and support people people with learning a lot about different cultures differences racial biases Prejudice things that people often are not comfortable speaking about I don't doubt that the two bids are probably expert in experts in that field however as the superintendent of this organization I do believe that I have precedence over the selection of instructional materials that are going to touch students in this organization and as such my preference is for culturally responsive teaching one of the things that has been found in research and if you read the latest issue of the Harvard Review as I assume that Mr sakol perhaps has taken the time to do is that diversity equity and inclusion training is has not been proven to change Behavior what we're

111addressing here is behavior bias prejudice Behavior culturally responsive teaching ensures that people are being educated in what the what makes us different how to address those differences and how to support students in being successful within their own cultural framework rather than taking the approach that someone has to be trained on how not to be biased or prejudiced in order to teach our students I also do not believe that the fact that the biders are africanamerican makes them any more competent than someone who may not be africanamerican I don't see why their race has anything to do with this and I also do not believe that because two people took the time to submit an application that we're obligated to take a vote on one of those two people they could be both terrible so it

112doesn't matter to me that two people applied what matters is that I've been charged and I was hired to steer the direction of this district and I have been constantly have had constant attempts to twart and ausc my efforts to do that by Mr sakovic and I would really like to be able to be the superintendent of this district and make decisions about instructional materials that are put in front of teachers and in front of our kids the predominance of the teachers in our district are not people of color I do not want to put them subject them to a training that perhaps would make them not want to work with our kids or make them feel like their expertise in racial relations is being called into question that is not what we're aiming to

113do with teachers in this District our goal is to help to educate people on our cultural differences why they matter why they're important and how we can help to support our students to learn I do not want to take the approach of Dei a lot of different organizations have moved away from it Federal funding for Dei has dried up we'd be taking up the banner of something that is dying a slow death Across the Nation why should we be behind the curve why should we continue with something just because it was begun six months ago you have a new superintendent your new superintendent is saying Dei is not the way to go and I wish that that would be respected as I did earn four separate degrees including a doctorate to do this job so

114if I have to constantly defend every single opinion and decision this is going to be a really long long meeting hold on there's questions uh Mr trabber um I wanted to ask uh Mr pyz when these evaluations of the bids were done um M Mr pyus when were the evaluations done that we had presented to us at the last meeting the question was asked by Miss perz uh accurately about when why wasn't Miss parin involved and so the time I suppose no no no and and so I'm asking about the timing so when were the evaluations of these bids done uh the July time okay so we were in the process of interviewing and hiring a new superintendent and she was one of the persons applying for that job right so that's all I'm just

115that's the only question asking is the time frame so it was at the time of the application interviews for the position okay oh that's the answer hold on just Mr pus can you come to the mic because I didn't hear anything you were saying sorry just so we have it on record I believe that the question was when the responses were expected back when you when you got the when you got the responses that we saw at the last meeting it was in the early part of July um and then if we are to do as the superintendent is um recommending we're basically saying that we wouldn't do this at all this year is that correct Madam superintendent no that's not correct we'd be doing culturally responsive teaching training for our staff no I meant

116the Dei no we would not be doing Dei that's all okay are there any further questions uh Miss Baptist Perez I move to call the question roll call vote a second was it no there wasn't a second is there a second second second by Mr Gellen uh Miss Casmir you CAU a question that means we stop talk oh I'm sorry means we limit conversation on it oh we limit absolutely all right Mr gullen yes that's not what call the question is call the question is to the agenda item is now to be voted on oh I didn't okay so so so we're not we're not we no disc that was necessarily yeah yeah that's the end debate correct that's what that and I'm taking a vote on who wants to do that that's what we're

117doing just wanted to clarify that is that what I said okay that's what I said so Mr benan no Mr sakov Miss Baptist Perez yes and debate uh Miss Allan yes Mr trabber Miss Perez yes I say no but the So currently the eyes all the eyes have it what's what's the vote it's one two three four five so it's 54 motion fails requires two-thirds vote to call a question so we continue discussion okay so Mr sovic yes I'm glad to hear the superintendent say that the race shouldn't matter especially after hearing myself called biased biased bias biased about 10 different times for questioning protocol I don't know you if it's because you're in a different environment Dei may be dead in Texas but we live in Connecticut where Dei is Alive and Well we

118want our teachers taught especially since many of them are from out of district and have maybe little to no understanding we're talking about implicit biases and subcon ious biases we're not telling them they're racists we're just telling them they may have some blind spots that they need to look at are there any further comments on this item all right so the motion has been made yeah oh sorry I just have a comment um a question for my colleagues have we done um guess research on Dr leevy Davis approach perhaps uh to compare and contrast whether or not it's a de approach or a different approach will satisfy um a particular need that we're seeking no throughout the community I've been doing this pre George Floyd Floy but this work has been ongoing we've have received

119training as a board in culture and um recognizing implicit biases because implicit biases they they are real there is implicit bias in every single one of us even sitting here and it's when we don't question that and when we do not learn from our errors I mean I had a journey in implicit bias I could can tell I can tell you how it started I was like 23 years old I was working on a subway a British Afric British American came up who had black skin he spoke to me in a British accent ask him for directions I was like I looked at him like he was uh like d and it showed on my face and he was disgusted and then that's when I started questioning myself these implicit bias if they're not questioned

120they go on forever and ever so it's training that Dr leevy David could take a co- approach she could use CRT but if you use the cinnamon CRT too many times they're going to see think it's something different and they're going to attack the board they're gonna attack us but this implicit bias training has been pushed by an NAACP Bridgeport generation now I believe make the road Connecticut every advocacy group in Connecticut pushes for the not dead and gone and and I I believe my colleague even stood at a um rally next to me at stop the hate and actually advocated for Dei and all these programs so I don't know why it is a big switch right now but we need to have this in place if the superintendent wish it's a one-year contract

121if the superintendent wishes to change gears it's going to take six months but in the meanwhile we have trainings in we will have training in pleas is there any further comments on this uh Miss cir I just have a question um because I'm still like wondering about you Robert's Rules is like anyway um I was wondering someone can someone on the losing side of a vote asked for the vote to be considered and if someone if if someone wasn't present for the vote yeah that's what I wanted to ask yes so there's there's I've sought legal uh legal advice from from Mr um duas concerning this there is a confusion between uh resending the vote and then leave the other if you would like to add we had a conversation about it uh correct where

122where the um where it's an action to be taken at a subsequent meeting it's a motion to resend the vote um you don't need somebody who voted in favor of it to act that's only if it happens at the meeting where the vote was taken all that's required in this case is that it be noticed and it is in your um agenda for the meeting and then all you would need um to resend it would be a simple majority here okay thank you I just wanted to understand no problem Miss Baptist forz um I just have a comment I think it's Dental to the district to take action and employ uh or Grant someone a contract given that on June 12th graduation day is the day we voted for a new superintendent and who was

123ready to come in The District in July now whatever happened in between we have an interim that goes on vacation and yet has no feedback no input at all in this and now that we actually have a districtwide strategic plan aimed at tier one instruction culturally relevant teaching and teacher capacity that we don't at least take the time to actually do the research and to see what is actually being a national Trend but also be aligned as a district so that way we're not just granting stuff that's outdated and not aligned with the goals for our teachers uh June 12th will always stick out in my head that's the day we elected a new super attendant for the district um the fact that the interim wasn't available to provide feedback back speaks that it needs

124additional consideration all right last comment Mr sakovic can't I'm sorry go sorry um I was I gonna say yes ultimately the decision is ours we are the board we decide on contracts we decide on whether to issue rfps or not all those powers are within our domain we should not those Powers no matter who the superintendent is being this has been a constant song I've been singing since four superintendent we have the right to issue this contract to approve this contract contracts as I've stated over and over and over again I'm kind of getting sick of hearing myself say it need to be approved by the board and this is the proper process to question some of the only purchases that have come through the board in the last few months that have been done

125by the book is really mindboggling for me this went through the process there are people here that put their time and effort to creating this process and if the superintendent wishes to go in another Direction after the oneyear one-ear prog program oneye contract she can do so she could send out an RFP for our perusal and we could contract that how long does a standard RFP take three to six months and if this one goes out again who's to say anybody else is going to apply in interim we will have somebody in place to create these uh yes I I'll yield to I'm losing my voice Miss B Perez then Miss Perez I'll I'll let Miss Perez go before me miss pz my question was question um if we I yield I completely forgot my

126question back it's okay I'll come back to you it's bapti p that's why I passed it to you um you know I keep hearing about process and procedure es um and we can follow the procedures right but if it has no valuable impact on the kids at the end of the day what's the point in the process if it's not going to serve our teachers to be the best teachers they can be what's the point in the process this is not aligned with the goals for the district that's why it was killed in the last meeting I understand why you brought it back but you know it's is disheartened Robert Rules of Order actually states that each speaker the chair of the board of education is supposed to allow each person to speak you're not

127supposed to have someone go back and forth in a constant debate it's supposed to have Order each speaker is supposed to have the floor at least two times up to 10 minutes and it's up to the chair to end debate I would like to see meetings follow the process so that way we can end at an efficient time uh and I would like our meetings to be actually aligned towards the Improvement of the education system and the promotion for Bridgeport to be the best Bridgeport it can be voting on something where we didn't even have leadership impact on it we may have had four or five people who may not even be in the district anymore make a decision for our kids now that's going to impact leadership now I think is a poor decision

128Miss Perez question now soad um oh um so this RFP included some items that included on the convocation keynote address which has passed so given if we were to approve it what's going to be how will we amend those like the items on here that already have passed yeah that's probably a Mr pyat Mr pyat question that the contract could probably be amended to shift the dates around yes you're asking if the RFP is to be reissued what needs to be so if we were to vote on today and approve it there's items on here that have already passed like um the convocation with keyot address and so would like how would we go about that that's part of the contract already well that's just an activity that that took place already so it wouldn't

129be included in it'll probably be part of next year's keynote address I thought there was a um dollar amount attached to that mistaken that we would just yeah just a call yeah and the Inception of most this is mostly for teacher teacher um professional developments it's students were also added to it but all this stuff we could sit down Dr Levy could sit down and ask about the provider we have surveys we've got a new survey company that could send out a survey to ask the kids what they want and it could develop everything around that this initially came brought through actually a teaching and learning committee where I put up uh Title Nine issues we have board members and staff that aren't even aware that a person of who identifies as another gender has

130the right to use the bathroom of their assigned gender we have people that are oblivious this we have board members that didn't know this and when when I asked I was told by the head of um title 's no longer with us that we do need additional professional developments around this issue and this is a this is an issue that's trending and moving very very quickly legally that we need somebody on the ground immediately to actually guide us Le with legal and make sure we don't become um in violation of any laws or anything that's moving right about now I'm starting to mumble so miss Baptist perz I move not to resend the vote taken at the last regular board meeting dated September 26 2023 in regards to selecting affirm to cond information professional devel

131that motion is out of order because there's already a motion on the floor to do the opposite okay we call the question again roll call vote is it was there a second second okay so second by Mr gullen Miss cmir yes Mr gullen yes is not here Mr S no please take the vote when Mr benam walks back in the room that's not part of Robert's Rules Miss Perez to to stop the debate yes Mr trabber Miss Allen no Miss Perez I mean Miss Baptist Perez I'm sorry 8:34 p.m. yes debate should end Mr benan we're we're talking to we're talk we're we're called to question again to end the debate on this item stop debating yes please yes and yes as well all right so now it's back to the the main item is

132discussion possible action um action on motion to resend the vote taken at last regular meeting meting oh wait it's already on the floor so it's been second so all right Mr benan you're here to do it yes of course go ahead Mr B um yes yes cible oh she said no yes Paris no any Paris no no no motion fails so then there's no need for item C the next item is uh item D which is first read on the revision of policy 35 uh 3515 and its relation to regulation of r133 zero um regarding use of public facilities this is came out of your committee Mr sovic uh yeah forgot about that one but be one moment this was um yeah this was the one with um charging people for our facilities and having

133certain exclusions and uh currently we exclude City service I'm sorry I definitely I'm a bit out of sorts right now give me a moment to does anybody know a page on the packet uh3 73 thank you yeah I got to bring it back up I just want to get the exact one well anyway to get discussion started this was uh brought up in um governance because mainly because Lighthouse is underfunding us they are we are foregoing approximately $375 to $400,000 in potential income by allowing like has to use our buildings free of charge and there's a couple other exclusions for like Boy Scouts the only exclusions I really want to keep are um bridgew Board of Education brid Board of Education School related activities and teacher related activities and to move the other three down

134to an area where they may be given a discount if they so choose so this is the first read on the policy and I still don't have it up I apologize are you done are you ready yeah yeah we could have discussion while I pull it all right so open up the floor for discussion anyone has any comments to this item all right is everyone looking do we I think everyone's looking pay 73 so there's no comments on this so I'm assuming not I don't hear anyone hold on please I'm sorry yes the motion would be to um what's up well then if there's no comments then is someone like to make a motion oh wait wait okay hold on hold on there's no was was there a motion on there there's no motion yet

135oh okay so is there any comments that's why I'm asking no one responded we could do it after the motion as well part of yes Miss Baptist BRZ I make a motion to table this to the next meeting so board members have a full time to actually read through the policy have it first and foremost uh again given it's 8:38 p.m. U that that way it's moved into the old business section and we can actually read through it thoroughly instead of looking right now for it there's a motion to T is there a second second by Mr tror I mean Mr Gellen um is there any F the discuss no there he did have a motion on the floor he wasn't acknowledged by the chair therefore you don't have a motion yeah and I had

136my hand up and she looked at me she didn't acknowledge you Oren acknowledged Madam sureair we have Council here we have we have Council here so if you want to ask feel free Mr Dugas please yep it it was on there you go I'm sorry I don't even know what the question is at this point so I asked I I asked if there was a motion on the floor I didn't didn't hear anyone until Mr trabber and then miss Baptist Perez so so does which motion does do I give it to trayor or Miss Baptist perz motion what was what was your motion again to table to table I I raised my hand and I was acknowledged by the chair to speak and I moved to table this agenda item to the next meeting Mr

137Traer wasn't acknowledged by the chair but did speak out of line to move the motion forward and so I the the question is acknowledgement by the chair for who to speak or is it just whoever shouts it out first if if in fact he you did say so moov before that and the board chair heard that then that that would take she didn't hear it yeah didn't hear it it's on YouTube but I asked I asked is there a motion I said and then she raised her hand so I'm just trying to figure out who do I I did ask she knew you second why would she think that it's sloppy Robert's rules to say so move you speak what your motion is so there's clarification so people know what they're voting for I so

138Mo yes sloppiness should not be accepted in medocity in this District either stop okay please you need to stop there you go you're welcome anytime Point let me know out of order I asked Mr Dugas to respond Mr Dugas has responded so if if if you heard Mr Traer I did hear Mr trabber but I also saw Miss Baptist Perez all right if you heard him first then I would let the motion go if people want to table it they'll vote no correct all right so it's been moved by Mr trayers there second second by Mr sovic any further discussion of course yes because we got a this is this is only a first read people you're getting real excited I mean I know it's 8:35 but we've got the business of the children to

139get for this is this is potential hundreds of thousands of dollars I know people want to get home and go to bed but I'm here for the Long Haul and we need to discuss the things that affect our children and this $375,000 shortfall by the City of Bridgeport who already under funds us is unacceptable to keep going on and on and on because somebody's tired so I would like to make a motion for the fir to accept the first read by amending on page like it's page can't see what the page is in our packet 76 in a packet what the page 75 of the packet one two after the second paragraph all School related Student Activities that will stay Bridgeport based nonprofit youth organizations that will be shifted down I will clean up the

140motion after I'm done we'll move down to a place that maybe may be receiving a discount I'm on page 75 if you're trying to follow and then Bridgeport youth or adult activi sponsors directly by the City of Bridgeport such as Rec Recreation programs civil groups and cultural groups that will also move down under the potential discount item we haven't discussed yet and then City of Bridgeport Municipal agencies also below the discount line the reason for this is it cost money to run these schools it cost money to keep these lights on the Bridgeport police department and they have other places to use they hold their civil service exams at Central High School we still got to clean that building do we do we eat those course ourselves lighthouse we ask Lighthouse to come before us

141and give us information not once but twice once but once before us they sent us a packet where they complained about the amount of toilet paper we were charging them for toilet paper the city that under us was asking us how much we spend on toilet paper toilet paper we get approximately $75,000 for the last I don't know when it was past at least 10 years back 75,000 we encumber if we were to charge them at the rates we charge all our other organizations it would be 400 and something in 400,000 in change so we're F going about 350 375,000 in revenues and they haven't even sit down sat down with us to talk to us now if we pass the first read today we can negotiate with them some more and try to get

142some more money for our children which is why we're all standing here late at night getting a little cranky so we need to move this forward as a first read if anybody has any amendments they would like for the first read to be presented at the second read they're more than welcome to do so but this has been through committee a couple of times if people would follow what's going on in committees if they would read their packets ahead of time I know some people are busier than others but this should not be the first time you're seeing this unless you're being irresponsible and not following what you're supposed to be doing that's important of we are all responsible for knowing what's coming on the agenda just because certain people are not prepared does not

143mean we table it so now I'm going to clean up my motion I move that numbers one I mean numbers apologize I move move that numbers two three and five be moved under a heading the following organizations may receive a discount of you put a blank there for now because we haven't come up with a number yet percent off of cost off of facility costs is there is there a second again second by Mr travor is there any further discussion Mr so in in in the finance commune have you discussed the effect that it will have like on parents with the um and the cost of after school activities for uh bridport residents um would it be a substantial increase um will do cost remain the same for the students just out of curiosity will

144will remain the same it should it should I would hope that the city funds their own program to the same level that we are funding their program now the argument could be made yes it's for our children but every one of these agencies named everybody who comes in our building be it a grant they're helping our children but some people are charged and some people are not now unlike the City of Bridgeport we cannot raise revenues we can tax people we cannot budget more money we cannot spend more money than we have but the city has the money to spend City needs to sit down and sit down with us and renegotiate that horrendous $75,000 per year that they're going to challenge us on toilet paper for I mean did it passing today is not

145a done deal this is the first read and but passing today we'll get them to the table to up that thing or pay the full Freight have to follow up for that is there any way we could you can get us data analysis before we have you know any further discussion so we can make an informed decision based on things that may a decision that will as you stated we up here late this for our children and you know I think everyone that's at this table you know are here to do the best thing but I'm just concerned that you know we may have some unintended consequences so is it can we just go take it back to committee um just to affect um some analysis we could just get the best team members um

146how will this affect the cost of child care for parents who may be working late you know I get home you know around 5:30 myself so how would that affect those families well if the city wants their program to continue they will fund it it's it's not a matter of the parents it's a matter of the programs it's a matter of it's a matter of the funding the programs now today is just the first three read if the first read is approved today I could put it back on committees for that blank to have a discussion with the city Lighthouse program but so far they haven't been very very responsive with giving us information we can't even see their books on how they spend the money we there's not even a line item of the

147$15 or the co-pays that the parents give there's no line item for that cash anywhere that we can see now if the if they want to come before the next governance committee because this is a governance item and show where that money goes and how much money they got and why they cannot increase their funds we could always vote it down at the next meeting but if we don't do nothing now they're not gonna move they're gonna say oh they just gonna well again I think maybe we can wait till the next meeting but I just think we just need a more informed decision so I'm not sure if we were able to even speak to members of the city of brick we were able to get a delegation here to discuss are they going

148to pick up the extra tab I don't want to make any assumptions because as hardworking amilies in the district I would hate for them to now continue to start paying extra for um Child Care um in addition if Lighthouse pull out completely that's also fair so this is also for safety for our children I would I would hate to think the city of bridport collapses the program over $300,000 change or or a number to be negotiated so again I think so so again that's that's my stand as a first read this has no power of this has no power as a first read what it does is get us a second read and it gets us the next step in the process and it could be amended at the second read we've amended so many

149policies at the second read before it was accepted all right uh Mr Traer yeah I I my recollection at the governance meeting is is that we amended this policy to allow the superintendent some leeway is that language I didn't hear you raise it here is it no no I did not but somebody could construct that language we I'd be more than happy to take a we don't have that in here friendly Amendment we gave the super we gave the super it was something like um exceptions may be made on a Case by case basis yeah the the reason the reason I I I mean I my recollection is that at the committee meeting which is why I was supporting it tonight is that we reached the friendly we did the work we had the hard

150discussion and the superintendent raised our concerns and we addressed those concerns and so I want to see the first read move forward because we did that work and raised those concerns so now I want to see that in here um before we finish the first read Dr Levy David do you recall your Amendment it was a concern that she have a the authorization to wave fees that is correct I did raise concern that we have Partners who bring programs that our students would not have access to do if we were to charge exorbitant fees for our facilities and I raised the example of the annual chess tournament where a chess master is flown at the expense of the organizer and actually housed at the expense and fed at the expense of the organizer so that

151our students who practice chess and actually love chess and we've been growing that program every year are able to enjoy that type of access without us saying okay now you have to pay us this amount of money and addition to paying all of this cost for bringing this expert here and I'd also like to add that any policy that we develop that puts us in opposition to the city is unwise the city we are not an independent school district those exist in Texas and other states where the school district has all the responsibility for its income including Debt Service we don't have that luxury if the city were to decide tomorrow only city employees will receive the full benefits of our Medical Care Package bundle that we provide but the Boe will not our teachers

152and staff would not be able to afford their medical coverage so I don't think it's wise to antagonize and bite the hands that feeds us no matter who is in the mayor's office this is not political it's about what's best for the students and the citizens and Personnel in our district we are riant on the city for the funding there is a city council in place I think if we have an issue with what we are paying for the lighthouse program we should Avail ourselves of the opportunity to take it to city council and say this is a problem we have a monetary issue that we want to address how can you support us in making this a better relationship and partnership between the district district and the city but to take an oppositional stance

153against the city no matter how short my tenure has been in the state of Connecticut I mean I've been in other cities it's has never been a good idea it's just never been a good idea we do rely on the city for a lot of services we partner with them for a lot of services and there is quite a bit of you know intermarriage in that relationship with funding we do not need to antagonize the City by saying we're going to take take a stance that is going to penalize you for not giving us the support that we need with the funds for Lighthouse I think that we can reach an amenable result by having a collaborative conversation that's productive where we actually behave like professional adults who are educated and know how to reach

154out to our elected officials and have them help us with this issue versus writing policy that's punitive only to the people who go to schools in Bridgeport I'm done oh mrsic then miss Baptist as he had his hand up first correct me if I'm wrong I just heard you say that the City of Bridgeport will take Vengeance on our school district if we antagonize them you're not only wrong you're deaf okay point of order that was very disrespectful I asked a question that was UN was what I said that is very unrespect disrespectful putting words in my mouth or misr what I said did that was not a question you were being condescending and rude cut it out that's a we're on border line in subordination here in public we are employ take me nobody

155wants to fire you Mr now so yes thank you very much please keep the personal attack to a minimum and let be professional um um I am here on my own time I'm not being paid a quar a million dollars I should be treated with respect for my volunteer I would like go to your question okay now this is a move to get them to the table we've invited them to the table several times prior to your tenure we did not just invite them this is not just made up today because you're here this has been on the agenda going on what four or five months at least going back and forth on this issue we are asking them to come through the table our policies set our fees yes we may have a relationship

156with the city but that's an abusive relationship and through up the only way we could do it we control the board we control the money that comes to the board we control the cities the buildings until we release them back to the city they are our buildings we are paying for electricity we are paying for Jam jors we are paying for security guards at these events and they are coming out of our children's Pockets our children's Pockets that 350 yard loss Revenue that's coming out of a child's program that's a teacher that's not getting enough supplies in their classroom for a city run program they're D diverting funds from the bridgport Board of Education back to the city program presid then Mr G um Robert's Rules of Order requires that every person has an opportunity

157to speak and that once a person has the floor not until the full board goes around do they have the opportunity to speak as well and they can have floor for up to 10 minutes nothing more um I think we need to be mindful of some of the unintended consequences of having a targeted program that we want to address and other programs being offered in this District I had the opportunity to attend a basketball program at bassic high school that for years were providing a free service to the students but now was considering changing locations because they couldn't afford the fees let alone how the fees change was communicated to them um and so if there's issue with Lighthouse um good politics uh would be to bring the issue there but um to raise the

158fees without taking into consideration the services that our children receive that keeps them off the street and it was an amazing program I got to see um because you want to Target Lighthouse just doesn't necessarily sit right with me go the target Lighthouse you address that problem face on but the way this is written it will have unintended consequences for a multitude of programs that run in our buildings uh that will feel the real heat of the price increase and this doesn't necessarily give an a notice provision to it as when they learn about the price change so they can be in the middle of running their summer program and learn that there's an additional $5,000 they're going to get rid of the trophies that they were going to purchase for the kids so I

159think there needs to be more thought into the unintended consequences for um uh for this policy uh I understand you know money money money money money um results results results it's about the kids um and there's not always going to be a correlation to money and the kids because we really don't need to be nitpicking at everything because a dollar won't necessarily change the actual heart that a teacher puts in their classroom or actual program that keeping the kids off the street and so the unintended consequences for it and additional information I I kind of agree with uh I agree with Mr jellen did I pronounce it right yes it took it took took several meetings but um yeah I I I mad is there a motion on the floor okay um and so wait

160who made the motion second okay and it was and it was second so I move to call the question second second mrir yes Mr gullen yes Mr benam Mr AIC no Miss press yes Mr tror no Miss uh Allan no all right Miss C Perez my mic was on call a question y I'm gonna abstain back to Mr Mr benan no all right so it continues Mr Gellen you had your hand up next I really felt like we debated this to the ground already so I think we but but if we need to continue debating I all I'm all for it um mrulic um can we please um think I said what I said already about the lighthouse and I think you know we just need those numbers I think it's really impactful um I

161I I just think it's really be really impactful and tell a the real a whole story about how it will affect the multi-dimensional three-dimensional world right um going into just a targeting one program we just we just need to see how it affects the the the community as a whole that's number one but also number two collaborating I'm not sure how we do this but we I'm not have we had delegation representative in the in our um Finance meetings at all um have we requested to have them at our meetings have they send representation have they sent um they sent us a bunch of paperwork I can't remember if anybody was actually there did anybody actually appear I'll yield to Mr tryber to answer that question Mr travor no no I I'm actually gonna raise

162of okay so so it's not to answer this question it back and forth right oh yeah all right so that's okay so then well Madam chair there is a parliamentary right do that Mr jelen all you would state to were you madam chair and ask the question yes your question could be asked but you got to put it through her and then she puts it to me got it um the finance committee have we had representation uh recent representation from a representation from the delegation first delegation I will to the best of my recollection they sent a packet of paperwork with uh I could possibly be wrong because there's a lot of issues that go through back and forth but I don't believe they actually tend they just sent a whole bunch of papers and

163they if somebody was there that could correct I don't but if somebody was there it's not an intentional oversight but they we've got a whole bunch of packages if you back in package now when was when when was this request made do we have a a time and date where was the request was made and when the um package was sent was it during the last quarter was it you know six months ago nine months ago it was on the agenda about six or seven months ago for the finance PE committee and I believe two or three weeks prior the request was made for somebody from Lighthouse to come up Madam so Madam chair um I guess what my question is can we send a request prior again to moving on this first read I

164know it's ready on the table but you know I think we just need more information more representation just more committee the issue here is bargaining power okay look at that we talk about un unintended consequences look at this paragraph on the thing the Bridgeport Board of Education has scheduled establish a schedule of fees that includes a rental fee for the use of space as well as labor costs associated with custodial security and cafeteria Services all organizations agencies and individuals except for the following will be subject to rental fees would you bargain with somebody who was already giving you something free who would do that when you go to the grocery store if they were giving you groceries free they said want to start charging you and they had to give them to you free you

165would not start charging this is giving us bargaining position just by simply changing those putting them under the line and it will get them to us on the table first read is not Bing it is not concrete there is time between the first and second read where we can bring these people to the table and have a discussion on what their percentage should be or even if they want to negotiate a new flat fee as they did about 8 to 10 years ago of $75,000 and has not increased one penny C so we are actually are in a position where we cannot bargain because we are actually guaranteeing them to free so they could keep ignoring us so this this first read we'll get them to the table and we could always amend the second

166read any other question but we haven't tried recently to call the delegation to have a conversation with them or Lighthouse recently to have a conversation with them they were invited to the last governance meting meeting I believe wait not the last one be two prior so that's for the lighthouse Lighthouse with the delegation I asked for them to come before us and advocate for their program and how much discount should be and there was no response last question to Madam chair um have I guess as the chair have you attempted to reach out to delegation as well to get support for you know for committee representation at all I have not thank you there nor a Ste committee so I have not thank you so if there's no further conversation the okay Mr chaber go

167ahead Mr chaber sorry I didn't I didn't know if it was about that um this is a this is historically a a decades long issue White House very Rel expand in right now recent years there have been no discussions um so um and your questions are reasonable um we don't need to make that call to all right we just need to pass the first read and then explore this further make sure you're comfortable the rest of the board are comfortable oh sorry the rest of the board are comfortable with going that route right if there is no further discussion on this there is a motion on the floor we will vote on the motion now all right um is there a um um there's no further discussion all in favor vote Miss uh cmir I'm

168sorry can you repeat the motion the motion is it was your motion so motion is to accept the first read actually as amended as amended as amended no Mr Gellen no Mr benan Miss yes Miss Perez no Mr trayor yes Miss Allan no Miss Baptist I abstain so oh sorry Mr Ben here yes what's the vote what do you have Mr benan was one two three four five it fail all right uh the next discussion is I mean the next item is discussion and oops sorry first read for policy 9130 construction of agenda to bring in compliance with the state statute this is also Mr s's item yes in your packet you'll see policy 9130 that was Pro previously amended it still got red still got red ink but we need to have the second

169read has been approved of that one so ignore the Ric and we need to add to be in compliance with State Statute to this policy all board materials must be posted to the Board website and you see Mr Dugas right there shaking his head up and down maybe he could come to the microphone and discuss why this is needed go ahead Mr Dugas um that's precisely it um there's one of the public acts passed in the Le last legislative session specifically requires this so I think you have no choice you must do it um I haven't read the uh policy but it if the changes are as described it makes sense and needs to happen thank you Mr Dugas is there a motion on the floor did I make it did I'll I'll remake it

170okay make a motion to amend policy 9130 to add at the bottom all board materials sh shall be placed on the district website is there a second second by Mr Gellen is there any further comments or questions here and none all in favor I have a question I you have okay question okay um we're voting to accept this as is with the inclusion of all board members sh or board me board material shall be placed on the website right yes I have I have a question for regarding what is this 1A uh we got rid of the language that states um the final decision as to whether an item is included on the agenda lies with the chair person um only so if by changing that language if three of us three or more of

171us have an issue and you refuse to put it on the agenda that's possible correct I don't think that's the item we're discussing that's not yeah that's not what we're talking about which which one are we disc the only thing we're talking about is adding the the the language that's given by the is it the state no I understand The Language by the state but we're just adding that and we're not approving 91 these those were already approved yeah those already approved so the only thing we're talking about she so what happened was we put this draft this draft hasn't been Blackline it hasn't been made black so we're just looking at the draft in itself before it becomes blacklined so this was the version approv on three yeah it's already been approved it just

172hasn't been edited I just Miss Rita put this the only document that we had at the time Madam chair may offer a point point of clar clarification yeah these speak bylaws were not posted in the transition but the second read you're looking at if you're go into the minutes of the very next meeting it was approved as presented so you will be able to track that this is the actual policy we approved right that didn't clarify anything oh sorry what what's the clarification that you need so we voted we approved this we never posted it and we're being presented a Redline version that we're just adding something new to it correct I mean I have no issue with what's required by state law I guess we can't pick and choose the process of which laws

173we're going to follow but okay thank you so if there's so um all in favor I any oppos any abstentions here miss Baptist Perez abstains um that was just the first that's accept the first we we got to bring it back correct again next all right and then the next item is discussion and possible action to approve a settlement agreement with Bridgeport educ uh Bridgeport Education Association for a new contract for the period of 2024 to 2028 Mr Dugas you have the floor this item may require executive session uh if anything a non meeting yeah um so um I'm here to present to you a settlement agreement that was reached with the teachers uh for the period beginning July 1 2024 through 30th 2027 as many of you will recall we negotiate teacher and administrator

174contracts one year ahead of time we have statutory deadlines uh which we filed in this case going into negoti ations we what we always do um whether it's here it's Trumble doesn't matter we always look and see how do teach your salaries compare with other districts and I provided with you some materials um I'm happy to explain them but suffice it to say that your salaries are very low they're not competitive um and so uh you know certainly a primary goal in these negotiations was to uh try to improve the salaries of course we also have to balance that with the ability to pay those salaries and um fortunately uh I had the benefit of working very closely uh with Marlene seagull who I think is uh is available for any questions and at the

175end of the day I mean the question I kept asking marleene as we increased our as as the union presented proposals and we increased ours was Marlene do you think the district can afford this and given her experience I I rely on her judgment uh uh tremendously um and so that was the other balance the other thing is um Dr Levy David had communicated that she wanted the starting salaries to be in excess of $50,000 so that was another goal that we took to heart in these negotiations and and I think we've managed to balance all of that um the um I gave you a copy of the settlement I can briefly describe what it is but importantly in the first year talking just about the wages now um currently steps one and two have

176already been eliminated we are eliminating steps three four and five and that's what allows us to get uh to the $50,000 over the $50,000 Mark then what we do is we increase the top step the highest step on the salary scale for each lane bachelor's Masters six year two and a quarter percent um and then all the other steps get just a 1% increase now I know that sounds low but remember those folks are getting a step movement and the 1% um and um so that's what's happening the first year in the second year again we're adding two and a quar per to the very top step we're not eliminating any more steps there's no other General wage increase that goes on the other steps on on the scale so it's just to that TOP

177Step but again everybody's advancing a step and I should say that one of the other very important goals here was to make sure step advancement happened every year so those teachers who are on step see themselves moving forward um and that's very important in terms of retaining uh teachers um the third year a little bit more money at the top um 2.35% and then only half a percent on the rest of the steps again everybody moves a step and then LA and then finally in the fourth year what we did is we added a new Step 17 at the top um no step no other money on the wage scale and then everybody uh moved a step okay now at the end of the day in the materials that were provided we provided you with

178the total percentage increase to the salary account as well as the dollar amounts um that are there um again I would defer to uh Marlene seagull but again I asked the question repeatedly Marlene are you comfortable do you think we can do this and um and she advised me uh that we could particularly in light of increases in ECS funds that are um on the horizon so um the other the other components um just in terms of money um in the last contract ra we did not increase any of the stiping okay so this time around we've agreed to increase them two 2% each year we also spent a lot of time looking at some of the hourly rates that are in the contract um and we've increased a number of those where we thought

179it was appropriate um medical insurance both medical and dental will increase a half a percent each year currently medical is at 22.5 dentals at 15% and each of those will go up half a percent for the year so teachers can contribute more to the unfortunately rising cost of uh health insurance um a number of other changes the only ones that I'll really um highlight I mean we we cleaned up the grievance procedure language in some place some places a number of days to take certain action where calendar days and another other day it was school days it just didn't make sense it was hard to follow so we cleaned that up um importantly we have increased the number of days that a teacher may use for family illness of the sick days they get every

180year from five to 10 okay um and those are those are sort of the key there's a couple issues that uh we just weren't able to address and we're going to address those um um going forward but that's that's effectively uh the deal um I gave you the total percentage increases um the so and I also gave you so far the contracts that settled this year overall we're about a percent above on a three-year contract where the trend is right now but I think that's appropriate frankly I wish there was more money um to give to the teachers and to help them out but uh I think it's it's movement in the right direction particularly in terms of the starting salaries um you know I I I wouldn't you know dare to speak for the

181uh teachers but my perception is they were satisfied uh with the agreement we reached it was a collaborative process and I'm glad to say we're able to reach it um without having to hit hit each other over the head at binding arbitration no happy to answer any questions you may have thank you I'll open up the floor for any questions for Mr Dugas or or did you want to have Miss seagull say anything Miss seagull would you like to add anything before I open up the floor for discussion uh thank you thank you good evening good evening Miss seigle um I just like to uh add to Mr dug's uh presentation that uh we we aimed to um increase salaries in accordance with the uh average increases uh in other districts um and in so

182doing to create a competitive position um for um Bridgeport um in terms of uh affordability I clearly stated that in each year uh when we calculate the monetary need um that need has to be met through a combination of Revenue which includes not only the state ECS but also the city contribution or city share it would include any remaining reserves in the internal service fund um any projected savings uh through various measures um and any other cost saving measures in order to create a structurally balanced uh budget the um additional amounts um are uh in in terms of comparability to uh prior years such as the current year where their step movement would be uh approximately 1.2 1.3 million uh higher um however there is an offset with the increase in the uh premium car

183share and uh the expectation would be that as a comprehensive fiscal plan is constructed that uh there would be um other offsets within that plan in order to achieve this critical and primary goal of ensuring that teachers are properly compensated and that Bridgeport is in a very strong competitive position with other districts thank you thank you Miss SEO I open up foref any discussion does any anyone have any item anyone else like to talk about this Mr benan just clarify thank you madam shair just to clarify this is something to give extra money to the staff like getting more perc yeah yes okay in that situation I agree 100% because our staff deserve more money I know sometimes the stuff they go through a lot of things sometime they come from the pocket to buy

184stuff for the school and for the students and yes I agree 100% I know we got money for something else it got we got money for something else it's not important to get it but this situation about the staff all the briso school I'm Agreed 100% they deserve it 100% I'm it's not doubt for me I just want to be sure clear that thank you is there any other further Mr Traer I just want to ask the superintendent's opinion having stated it the convocation what she wanted to achieve hi um first of all I'd like to thank marene seagull and Floyd Dugas for all the work that went into this process and also Union leadership that were present for negotiations I wish I could have joined you but um for me the goal was always

185to be able to provide our employees with a living wage that aligns with the rise in inflation and that allies with aligns with the high cost of living in the City of Bridgeport and I want to make sure that for those that do choose to live in the city of Bridgeport they're earning a way that will make them want to stay in bridport and invest in our city invest in our kids and invest in our institutions so for me um being able to bring it above the $50,000 threshold was really important I wasn't exactly sure what that number would look like um I really relied on Marlene to help me to see what that number could look like long term but I really was excited um about the outcome and although I know that everybody

186can't be completely s satisfied at all times I I am hopeful this is a first step forward in continuing to support our most precious resource um second only to our students which is our teachers and ensuring that they're able to feel confident that when they come to Bridgeport they're going to earn a competitive wage and that we're not going to forget about them um when we're at the negotiating table so thank you for that thank you Mr sovic yes first of all I'd like to thank our teachers for sticking it out such a and we know we are aware that you are the lowest paid I'm apt to approve this contract definitely I have no issues with the contract but I do have some questions about costs for mull um year-over-year cumulative throughout the contract

187what's the price tag the total percentage uh growth over four years is 17.49% with an average of 4.37% per year and what does that work out to dollars sense please oh well over four years it's uh 21.8 million in the first year uh about 5.7 million the second year about 5.3 third year about 5.8 and in the fourth year about 4.9 however as I stated uh previously um those amounts will be reduced by various offsets one of those offsets will be the increase in the premium cost share of 0.5% per year which equates roughly to of $200,000 per year so 5.7 is actually 5.5 and then there may be there may be other offsets as I have stated regularly um at Finance meetings and and board meetings the average teacher salary has been increasing because

188most of the new teachers hired to fill vacancies are experienced teachers so they're being hired at higher steps in the salary table than in Prior years therefore the amount of turnover savings that we have realized in the last two years has not been as substantial as in uh the previous years um do we expect some degree of turnover savings I think it's Reon reasonable to expect uh turnover savings at at some level uh but not necessarily at the level of uh years prior to um 2021 thank you Mr Eagle you that actually hit my points I'm for I'm forward taking into next advocacy advocacy stages to Advocate to pay for these well spent dollars thank you if there's no further questions Mr Jalen go ahead I was like a comment I'm comparing you know the

189numbers here and the Trumble numbers pretty close so I think a great job to this team um for a win for our teachers so thank you Miss Baptist I mean sorry Miss uh Casmir I just want to say thank you so much to the teachers um one thing that I I was wondering uh Dr Levy David is have we to your knowledge have we ever asked teachers what do you what are you buying what kind of school supplies for your kids are you buying that you take out of your pocket you know um because we know that teachers take money out of their own Pockets to buy school supplies and then I guess the second um part of that question is you know are the grant writers asking places like Staples Five Below Office Max

190for donations of school supplies I know it may be a trivial question because of I know we're talking about a macro perspective here just for a second for the micro perspective yeah currently thank you for the question currently we provide um I can't remember the dollar amount I would have to rely on Marlene to remind me for brand new teachers to support them in purchasing supplies we do not do it for any other teacher other than the brand new teachers but I do know that oftentimes teachers purchase just about everything um for their students including writing utensils pencils paper notebooks uh you name it you know student needs a water bottle teacher will will purchase it when we see a need um it is in our nature and in our moral code to fill it

191um and that's what teachers do so I don't think there is a limitation we purchase clothing uniforms for students and I say we because I've done that and and oftentimes we we don't advertise what we're doing um or we just do it um the second question regarding um remind me of your second question grants are we writing grants or asking at places like Staples Five Below Office Max yes uh I I don't know that we're asking for Grants specifically from those organizations but we have posted a position for an additional grant writer specifically to seek out additional grant funding for our schools for our programs and for a variety of other needs that we have is it against the policy if I wanted to help the grant Rider out that would be a question for

192Mr Dugas not too involved Mr Dugas just saying have you thought of this place have you thought of that place and then them taking the lead on the ask that's all you got some extra time tonight is that what you're thinking no I'm I'm I'm sure um we could figure out a way to make that happen I just feel like I would be very useful in that area that's why I'm asking thank you may may I um may I please interject uh yes Miss yes go ahead thank you I just wanted to add that um the district has a teachers's choice um ecod program it is specified in the contract and we introduced the EOD uh several years ago um under Esser we increased the dollar amount from $30 per teacher to $150 per teacher

193now it applies to classroom teachers only and the teacher must be on the 1st October payroll which is this Friday and the payroll closed today so I will will be looking at a payroll report probably tomorrow in order to identify the eligible uh teachers and uh those teachers will receive uh an ecod notification from school specialty and they will be able to spend uh $150 at school specialty um in addition um each school Under under the direction of the principal receives a school operating budget every year and this year the amount is $25 per student um in Prior years it was uh reduced to $20 um during the Esser years it's has been maintained at $25 per child um and that is in addition to all of the materials and curriculum uh resources provided by

194the district to the schools we our goal for next year um is to maintain $25 per child uh subject to uh finalization of the comprehensive fiscal plan with the superintendent so that would be a goal uh we also deliver um uh Cottons of paper five times a year to schools uh those deliveries are not intended to be the entire supply of paper but it is intended to assist the school uh in uh building a uh an inventory of of of cotton uh and then they are supposed to supplement the supply as needed uh with their allocations now I'm not implying in any way that $25 per child is um uh sufficient uh clearly we'd like to be able to provide a higher uh number U but it is important to understand that the district is

195supplying the districtwide uh resources on on a districtwide level the resources for all the curriculum programs that are approved by the district and uh supplying a school operating allocation um to schools and uh we're also supplying the teachers uh with with an ecod or purchase of supplies um of their choice through um a contracted vendor School specialty thank you thank thank you Miss seagull is Mr benan yes madame shair um Miss SEO I have a question the $150 you say the the teacher have to spend it they have to spend their any place or they have to spendly let's see give a sample you know we got staple we got WB Manson or they yeah another place sorry it it's a school specialty ecard it has to be spent at school specialty we selected School

196specialty several years ago because um they they were um under contract uh uh through the uh state for uh various types of school supplies they have multiple cataloges okay and uh we did work with the city at that time to secure approval uh to issue uh eCards uh so they must utilize School specialty for this purpose okay I'm asking because I know sometime in this book you when they order stuff one thing that can cost $75 another thing cost $50 and then the money is gone that's my ask because you know I got expence ordering the books when you can buy something let's see sample War a little more cheap you can buy in that book in one second the money is gone so no I understand what you said I just want to ask

197you that you can spend the money another place but I I would like to also sh that last year a very high percentage of teachers did not use the EOD yes I understand but I know they're going to use it this year but I will prefer we have more money for our staff they deserve it they work very hard in the district thank you madam chair all right is there a motion on will s like to make a motion oh you have a one more comment I'm just hearing what Mr benan said kind of ired me I I don't know I mean it shouldn't be renegotiated now but is it possible to make it a stip in for the teacher to spend I I trust our teachers to spend $150 wisely that that is not

198allowable under the law uh under I IRS law okay thank you it would also be taxable to the teachers thank would someone like to make a motion Miss B press uh just a comment of for the board since we love talking about systems and procedures I think one of the things we need to take into consideration is Teachers access to supplies it shouldn't have to be that I am in this x building and I have to wait for the secretary once a month to give me my Rema paper but if I'm a teacher in y building they have what feels like an abundance of res resources where they can get the Rema paper that they want I think we need to think uniformity so that way all of our teachers are not only equal but

199also have equal access to the resources that they need for their classroom and that starts District up but I wanted to bring that up is that there may not be uniformity as to access to um the supplies and um not sure if that's board action or leadership action but I think that's something that um expressed and I think that if there's anything as far as the board can do or leadership just to ensure that there is districtwide uniformity so our teachers are getting the supplies that they need I think I may have mentioned that to you but if not um that way it's just on the record too so everyone has access to what they need and there's no feeling that because I'm in this building I'm being treated or have less access than someone

200else in another building if I may we we also rewrote the provision of the contract uh with the approval of of the Union that pertains to the uh uh provision of supplies to teachers so it very clearly states that a teacher uh who believes that he or she should have supplies Beyond those already provided in the school May submit that request to the principal for consideration and if the need is unmet um the uh teacher may contact the executive director uh overseeing that school and then the executive director is expected to review that request discuss it with the principal and possibly have further discussions at the district level as well so there is a codified process um revised uh in the new contract thank you uh before I go back to you Miss Perez uh

201Miss Baptist Perez Mr trer had his Han up um going back initially to what Miss cmir said um um all of this notwithstanding teachers still will spend an enormous amount of money out of pocket as the superintendent said um on supplies for their children their students um and that is the nature of the business that we work in um and the U districts that we work in um so uh I do want to say that it's interesting to me I think that's an important point that Miss bati Perez raises um and and uh it would have been an interesting thing to discuss during the negotiations sort of how that proceeds I was curious why we hadn't had any discussions during negotiations about some of the issues that were coming up um this is obviously our

202first discussion about negotiation um but uh my understanding historically is that that exists because the there was a degree of autonomy built into the funding system in in the school district that allowed each school to determine how it was going to spend its per pupil allocation of uh money that $25 per pupil uh allocation of money or $20 as Miss uh seagull pointed out it's been as low as 20 we're up to 25 again um but the there was a degree of autonomy given to the schools uh I.E the administrators to determine how they wanted to spend it so I remember hearing different stories about different principles uh deciding they wanted to spend it one way or another so uh it would be a worthwhile discussion to have at some point as to how that

203gets determined and who decides that M Baptist pz oh it's okay uh would someone like to make the motion Mr s yes motion to approve the settlement agreement with the Bridgeport Education Association for a new contract for the period of 2428 as presented second second by Mr benan is there any further discussion hearing none all in favor I any oppose any extensions hearing none is there motion to adjourn moved by Mr benan second by Miss Casmir all in favor any opposed any exensions hearing none everyone have a good night thank you