BBOE Regular Meeting, August 28, 2023

001we welcome you here Rising together there is a place we believe this is the place we shall build and maintain we are on board great information for NAACP education committee thank you thank you our next speaker is Miss Julian Kennedy just give us one second online has had a small issue with audio um it's been resolved go ahead Miss Kennedy Proverbs 29 18 says where there is no vision that people perish but he that keepeth the law happy is he I'm here in support of Miss Mrs Larry David about the decision that she made in reference to the use of the amphitheater she followed the policy she explained why because it took uptick in covid um she allowed um she's all she's allowed to make that decision which is under 25 000 okay the students

002the staff the community attending including myself enjoyed the convocation thoroughly um the question was asked to me when I interviewed for a position on the board the question was asked to me how would you ensure a good working relationship with the board and the superintendent now let me turn around ask you that how would you ensure a good working relationship with the board and the superintendent you're the board she's a superintendent obviously how are you going to do that okay how are you going to do that not by attacking her not by micromanaging her or being disrespectful because I hear the tone keep that same energy when you're talking to me because we have her back the community has her back you will not disrespect her that's what you're not gonna do is she is

003highly educated she's the person that we've been looking for for a long time she's come here she's intelligent she's the smartest person in the room you will respect her as such the community is watching you and how you treat her she is amazing you will treat her right thank you this concludes public comment at this moment we'll move into approval of meeting minutes we have quite a few approvals that need to take place tonight the first one is regular board meeting for June 12 2023 is there a motion to approve moved by Mr Bennigan's your second second by Miss Allen are there any questions comments or Corrections parent none all in favor any opposed any abstentions abstains Miss Perez abstains motion carries um the next one is special meeting April 28 2023 is there a

004motion to approve move by Mr Benny has there a second second by I'm gonna give that to Mr Trevor I did see him Mr traber second day are there any corrections or updates needed all in favor any opposed any abstentions Mr sokolovic and Miss uh Perez abstains Miss Baptiste Perez abstains special meeting June 15 2023 is there a motion to approve pulled by Miss Allen is there a second second by Mr bennahan are there any corrections updates needed parent none all in favor any opposed any abstentions Miss Baptiste Perez and Miss Perez abstains Mr sokolovic abstains the next one is special meeting for July 6 2023 is it is there a motion to approve move by Mr Bennett is there a second Mr traber I'm going to give it to Mr Schrader um are there

005any corrections or updates needed here and on all in favor any opposed any abstentions Baptiste Perez and Miss Perez abstains special meeting for July 13 2023 is there a motion to approve move by Mr binahan did I hear a second okay I'm gonna give it to Miss Allen seconded by Miss Allen are there any corrections updates needed here and none all in favor any opposed any abstentions Mr sokolovic Miss Perez and Miss Baptiste Perez abstains special meeting July 27 2023 is there a motion to approve moved by Mr bennahan their second by Mr trade I'm sorry second by Miss Allen are there any corrections and updates Karen none all in favor any opposed any abstentions Miss Baptiste Perez and Miss Perez abstains special meeting August 3rd 2023 is there a motion to approve move by

006Mr Benning has your second I'll give it to Miss Perez um Miss Perez seconded all in favor any opposed any abstentions Miss Perez of stains and Miss baptiste's Perez abstains that sorry can you can you please mute thank you I had asked yeah he's doing it or can you turn down your volume sir just give us one second thank you no worries um special meeting for August 3rd 2023 is there a motion to approve I move move by Mr benningham is there a second by Miss Allen are there any corrections and updates needed parent on all in favor any opposed any abstentions Miss Perez and Miss Baptiste Perez abstains special meeting August 7 2023 is there a motion to approve moved by Miss Allen's your second second by Mr bennahan are there any corrections and

007updates needed Aaron none all in favor any opposed any abstentions Miss Perez and Miss Baptiste Perez abstains now we'll move on to the Chairman's report for our Chairman's report I just would like to report out to the board um into the community the final phase for the superintendent search firm will begin on September 6 at 6 PM that will take place I believe we set for Central High School um this particular meeting will share where the group will update their um their expectations of the superintendent and the superintendent's expectations an agenda will be posted with outlining that specific meeting um that is the final phase of the superintendent search the next meeting will be there will be board training with Bertram and Moses uh Bertram and Moses is our legal representation we'll do a training

008on the boards rights as uh serving board members and then also how to um how does the superintendent engage with legal as well um that meeting would take place on September 27th at 6 PM um we are just waiting on location to be identified the next will be board training with Cabe Cabe is an organization that we are connected with to be able to help us outline the duties and responsibilities of board members and chair as well as the superintendent that meeting will take place on Saturday September 30th at 6 PM location is being determined this meeting will address the board board etiquette and also survey of the board this allowed board members to see their overall function as a unit in order to better serve Richburg Public Schools all committee chairs have received communication

009on being mindful of agenda items being focused on agendas and then mindful of times in which agenda times in which meetings are held so that individual community members and staff are not left at a late meeting so board chairs have I mean committee chairs have been addressed and will take you to the announcement um I'm also going to have I'm going to share part of my superintendent I'm not sorry I'm gonna share part of my committee report to Mr benningham on 18 on 8 17. we attended the school building committee and I asked him to share an update this will also be addressed in the facilities meeting that's oncoming so Mr benningham can you do that shortly please yeah thank you madam chair um be part of the building committee we have an uh Mason

010uh meeting with City councils at me as a board member and we have a chair um Mrs Bobby Brown in the next meeting Dr carmilla is going to be enjoying with us we've been talking especially about the New Boston high school they're in process sometimes the viewpad you see a lot of controlling a lot of construction and people ask when when when when well they say maybe in two years we're gonna have a classic done that's for now that's not uh you know uh concrete unit yet but so far they do an amazing job it's to take time remember it's a policy it's a protocol they have a process you know good construction and stuff like that but the board exactly in every wannabe and part and we know the best is going to be

011new for the students also they um I'm planning to have a new meeting to let another Community we don't know yet the date and the time to let them know a process anybody have a question for The Community House Ambassador is going to be done where how when a lot of people ask our questions so for so far that's all I have for now and then it's for Education meeting I will let you know more details thank you madam chair thank you I also wanted to share and I um wanted to address the board that this was our first school meeting of the year and I would like to welcome Dr Levy David to the district and her first Board of Education meeting official Board of Education meeting I would also like to welcome the

012ninth in kindergarten students back into the school year today we had an opportunity to visit basic high school freshmen as well as the building and facility so that was a very uh very promising view of the school and also getting a chance to talk to the different students so I thought that was very impactful there will be other School tours that Dr Levy will be sharing I've also shared those dates with board members if you are available to attend please add it to your calendar and attend um Dr Levy obviously in your report she'll share more on what that looks like I also want to address that as we are moving forward as a board there is a lack there will be a um an opportunity for each and every one of us to behave

013as adults this meeting is our first meeting this is our first superintendent that we've had this year uh and I'm asking that each of you as we conduct business today and for the future that we speak to each other with respect but that we also hold each other accountable and that we also maintain Quorum as we're meeting here I also ask that each board member you will be called on when it is your time to speak you will speak once you are called on I also ask that there is no talking over one another we are adults children are watching and our students will be participating in the future at our meetings I ask that you conduct yourselves with professionalism as we continue to move forward I do not expect us to behave like we

014are not adults that goes across the board so I asked each of you to do that I also want to acknowledge the fact that prior to Dr Levy coming we have been in communication if anything uh form of communication via text message via email or phone call when Dr Levy arrived I met with her and we decided that we would have each and every opportunity for board members to meet with her prior to our first meeting that meeting did take place for those board members that were currently seated and since then we have communicated via email via text or phone call when we met I made sure that board members had the opportunity to meet with her first because I had already been in communication with her prior to this way you all had an

015opportunity to talk with her at that meeting on just want to recall at that meeting on August 12th we addressed the Dynamics of the board we also addressed board members angst those that I am aware of was addressed Dr Levy spoke on the importance of board Quorum and being able to talk to one another and get an idea of the board that she would currently be working with so I just wanted to make sure it was said that there wasn't any communication and I wanted to address that in front of everyone that there has been communication can there be more yes but what I will say is that the board members did receive an email stating that me uh board um Dr Levy and I will be meeting bi-weekly those have been scheduled out for

016the months that to come those meetings are strictly for agenda items it is unfair that Central staff has a hard time putting together needed items to complete meetings for this specific regular board meeting those meetings are standing meetings with Dr Levy and my self as we build our agenda from there we will meet as needed by the week phone call text message whatever the case may be we will do that but I want to create a a system in which her staff is not ruffling and trying to figure out what is the next item for the agenda lastly just want to make it clear also that while meeting we will address any up and coming items that may come before the board as to why committee chairs have been made aware of when their items

017are due and make sure they reach out to miss Rita and her staff in the rest of the remaining of the staff to be able to gather all those items this was also done with the interim prior to I believe that the superintendent has a superintendent's job it's not my job to be on top of her every step single step of the way but it is my job to make sure that the board's items are put first that everything is prepared and outlined so that is my Chairman's report and I ask that we continue to conduct ourselves professionally as we do business of the Bridgeport Public Schools and then share yes Mr in the beginning point of privilege for a second sure I just want to give it one minute to silence because I know

018we have family from Hawaii we got parents we got family here in Richmond school and we all know what's happening what happened in Hawaii and I really meet um with two family um did last week and I just want to give you one minute silence because of the family I meet they really lost um family over there in Hawaii so I'll have a one minute silence for the for the family please well it will take a moment of silence for those affected by the fires in Hawaii thank you everyone thank you at this moment we'll move into committee reports and referrals the first committee is diversity equity and inclusion that is cheered by Mr sokolovic before you give your report I just want to remind those that are listening um and those that are presently

019here all committees have been posted the dates and times of when those committees meet the public is encouraged to attend there isn't a um a opportunity for you to speak during that meeting however you are welcome to attend most of these committee meetings do take place take place at Central High School unless otherwise at another location Mr circle of it thank you manager good evening everybody the diversity and Equity inclusion committee did not meet over the summer and it but in the interim two bids were received for for new and are currently being reviewed for recommendation to the board for a new um diversity Equity inclusion um professional development provider and the next Dei meeting will occur on its regularly scheduled date and time the third Monday of every month at 6 PM this week's

020meeting this month's meeting so actually September's meeting will take place at 6 p.m at Central Library and video teams are there any referrals to this committee are there any referrals to this committee are there any referrals to this committee parent on the next committee is finance and that's also Chair by Mr sokolovic the finance committee met on this past Wednesday and a review was made of the amphitheater purchase used for convocation we also received updates and information concerning the budget timeline for the 24-25 school year as the fund expenditures and balances and a preliminary forecast for the year for the end of fiscal year 23. the next finance committee meeting will occur on its regularly scheduled day and time which is the second Wednesday of each month this next month's meeting will take place at

0216 30 pm on Wednesday September 13th 2023 at Central Library and video teams are there any referrals to this committee are there any referrals to this committee yes very much I'd like to refer upon about the covid-19 all the equipment all the money able to spend because I know it's a thousand thousand thousand dollars in different schools and everything is private so that's money to learn the garbage so you wanna you wanna update on the inventory yes please inventory updates sorry about that oh one more thing I'd neglected to mention I apologize is that we have received um numbers but the RFP has been completed by um staff and it's ready for it's been reviewed by legal and it's ready to be presented probably at the next particular board thank you the next committee is

022governance also True by Mrs okolovic again the governance committee did not meet over the summer work continues on the school moving decommissioning policy via the work group and hopefully the work group will meet before the next scheduled governance meeting um which will take place at its regularly scheduled time the third Wednesday at 6 pm which is September 20th 2023 and it will take place at Central Library and Via teams I reached out to the superintendent today to try to schedule the meeting for the group meeting so we could get an update and work on the policy a little more before presenting it and for any things needed thank you thank you are there any referrals to this committee are there any referrals to this committee are there any referrals to this committee Herring none the

023next committee is Health safeties and Facilities committee Mr Chair by Miss Baptiste Perez health safety and Facilities did not meet over the summer our next meeting and we will follow the schedules the second Tuesday in September which is September 12th at 6 30 p.m um part of what I like to do as a board member is have my facilities committee meeting at different facilities so the location is to be determined hopefully Mr Garcia Hardin High School is available so that way I can have my meeting across town so that way it's more accessible to different parents in different times the agenda was just submitted so it should be posted soon and that's all I have to report thank you are there any referrals to this committee yes ma'am Mr sokolovic I've got two referrals there's

024something brought to my attention by a Community member regarding the Rehabilitation of Winthrop and integrating skane School into Winthrop like to get ahead of that and find out what's going on because apparently they're getting ready to bond for it already and we have yet to hear a word about it so I think we need to get ahead of that because there's going to be two schools merging again and as we've learned with the basic BMA merger when the community is not involved early it becomes problematic so I would like to have a presentation on that and maybe further discussion on setting up a community forum for the community both this game and went through community before we move forward with any on that and my second referral has to do with the bike in covert

025and RSV that's of course in havoc in the city and making decisions um like an update from health and safe on the from maybe a nurse whoever will be appointed to do so what we're doing in our schools to alleviate this issue are we still holding full full auditorials are we spacing out further what kind of mitigation strategies are we using for this Resurgence of the covert vaccine I mean covert virus no problem those [Music] those thank you are there any other referrals to this committee and I'll say it one more time are there any other referrals to this committee all right here and none is Personnel in contracts personnel and contracts has met throughout the summer one of those items are currently on the agenda um actually two of those items are actually currently

026on the agenda for approval this evening uh we also met to review uh Personnel matters as far as uh reviewing the organizational chart um that was presented at our previous meeting and then as the future goal we'll continue to see more updates coming from personnel and contracts personal contracts next meeting will be as it is on the schedule the next meeting is the last Tuesday of September the last Tuesday of September is the 26th and it will be at 6 p.m um and it will be at Central High School are there any referrals to this committee yes I've got two referrals mad at you yes I'd like to refer the possibility of issuing an RFP for some combined Board of Education expenses because so we could go out to bid perhaps um combining convocation and

027graduations to one facility and maybe we could get a better deal for our tax dollars because combined right now it's approximately seventy four thousand dollars a year and maybe we could get that number lower so we could we offering an upcoming fiscal cliff something or we could say for our students the better are there any other referrals we've referred this and began working on this before um create a calendar for all contracts over twenty five thousand dollars that are ready to expire I don't want us to keep getting into the position where we're on the fire and signing contracts without them being properly vetted thank you are there any other referrals for personnel and contracts are there any other referrals for personnel and contracts One Last Time are there any other referrals to Personnel contracts

028Mr Traver please use your mic sir plenty of information Madam chair um are we going to get a report on uh uh the new procedure or protocol that was being developed with regard to the eye care and vision and I forget what the other policy that was presented to us in the last few months where we asked that we'd be told ahead of time and we never saw the sort of final procedure protocol how does that go to your committee or to the full board uh I believe that will go through um my committee because it is dealing with contracts what I can do uh to the superintendent is that we connect with Mr Ulysses on that that was a um a project prior to your arrival of what we discussed so I will reach

029out to superintendent to see the update on that with Mr Ulysses thank you was your hand raised Mr Bennett no okay sorry I'm sorry um the next committee is students and families cheered by Mr bennahan thank you very much here the next student and family we're going to be September 14 2023. it's going to be encounter high school and Library sorry are there any referrals to this committee actually have one um last before the summer break arrived we were discussing the um the pack uh uh bylaws was it the pack bylaws we still haven't gotten a report on that so I would like to have a report on that and to see where that is and when is the finalization of it for parents thank you Matthew thank you again are there any other referrals

030Karen Nunn the next committee is teaching and learning that is cheered by Miss Baptiste Perez teaching and learning didn't meet an interim the meeting will be scheduled the third Tuesday of each month so that will be September 19th at 6 pm the location is to be determined just like with facilities I like to have it at multiple locations not just at two different buildings are there any referrals to teaching and learning I got I got one if you recall we had prior conversations about school start times for the high schools being a leader and we put it on pause while we search for under superintendent new permanent superintendent and now we got one I think maybe we should start exploring that again the latest school start times and I think we probably got to start

031from scratch are there any refer any other referrals are there any other referrals here and none those are all the committee reports you have you know who your committee chairs are again Community we invite you to attend those meetings so that you can be able to hear what's going on what we do is at our committee meetings items that are approved by that committee are brought before the full board and the full board will approve or either not approve those committee items and they're also on YouTube and on our website yes misters then again thank you I know Miss Baptiste said her committee is going to be September 12th on Harding High School we are not going to have no issues because it's the primary day you know the voting that day in the schools

032so I just want to know you know we're not gonna know issues I'm just saying it's gonna be you know because it's a primary you know September 12th until 8 o'clock at night so I don't know well it's to be determined and I had suggested hardened so not it has not been determined yet so I'll leave it to Mr Garcia to finalize and we'll come up with an option to release to the public okay thank you I just want to leave that for the record no more comment about that chair thank you at this moment we'll have our superintendence report I asked that board member save your comments and questions so after her report is finished Dr Levy you have the floor excuse me Dr Levy David you have your you have the floor it's

033my icon good evening everybody thank you so much for the warm welcome it's been a tremendous uh four weeks 28 days approximately since I arrived and I can tell you that the the conversations the the warm welcomes the incredible reception that I've received from this community has been truly heartwarming and I'm very thankful uh for the time the contacts and the conversations and especially for the time that I've been able to spend with our students who are incredibly authentic and unfiltered in their feedback regarding how they how they feel about our district and and what they expect from us um this uh it this report encompasses the first 28 days that I've been on the job I have shared a separate presentation with the board that just included a lot of the different activities that

034I've engaged in over the last 28 days this one's a little bit different because I wanted to make sure that you had critical data that I promised at the end of that report as well as addressing some questions uh that that arise after my arrival so I'd like to go ahead and begin that process if my computer will work there we are so as you know we held a wonderful and well-attended convocation in the Hartford Healthcare Amphitheater on August 21st it was a tremendous labor of love from a lot of uh Personnel teams all over our district who collaborated and came together to pull off what I thought was a spectacular event in record time and I think that the majority of people who were there enjoyed it we had an exit survey and I

035believe we had 93 percent exceeds for the reaction that we received from staff who attended so we were really happy to be able to provide an opportunity for everyone to gather to get together it was the first time since covid that we've been able to do that it was very important to be able to do it in a place that was open air and safe since we are having a Resurgence of the covet pandemic and we wanted to be mindful that we were not putting individuals at risk and it was also really important that we had our students there so they could showcase their talents their incredible talents and they could also see their teachers they are custodians see our cafeteria workers see our bus drivers see our facilities our maintainers all of the different

036individuals who collaborate to making Bridgeport successful really and truly celebrating the fact that we all love education and that we're building a brand new Legacy of what it means to be a member of Bridgeport Public Schools and what it means to be a student in Bridgeport Public Schools so it was a tremendous event and I was just really gratified by seeing that everybody had a good time I had a good time I even danced a little so that was a great experience I also wanted to share with you some of our enrollment numbers so far as of today effective today we have 854 students enrolled in pre-kindergarten that's up 34 students from this time last year so I'm very gratified to see that we have students enrolling and that we have parents who are prioritizing

037Early Learning and we're going to continue to encourage all of our parents to register and bring their babies we will take care of them it is not too late to enroll so please continue to bring the children to Bridgeport Public Schools and we will take very good care of them for you additionally I wanted to give you an update on our and this number is actually the title on this slide is wrong this is total enrollment not magnet enrollment this is total enrollment as of today and that total enrollment is 19 264 students and that's up 122 students from last year and that's also exciting we're seeing a great deal of interest in students coming back to our district and that's what we want to do attract students back to Bridgeport let them know they're

038going to receive a quality education in Bridgeport Public Schools and that we're extremely dedicated to listening to their needs and meeting those needs and we're going to continue to engage with our students we had a fantastic day today as our board chair mentioned uh both at Harding High School meeting with our freshmen and also welcoming our students at Bassett High School and engaging with them and and talking to them and their parents about what they expect out of a 21st century education and I I held my breath a little bit waiting to see what they would respond thinking it was going to have something to do with tech because my sister is very engaged in Tech but actually what they said to me was that they really wanted teachers who were more linguistically uh diverse

039and teachers who would listen to their needs and address their needs and their individual unique characteristics they really wanted to make sure that their particular individual needs were being met and they also very specifically shared that they wanted to be able to feel safe in our schools and so I asked follow-up questions you know what do you mean by safety and um they specifically said that they wanted to be free from being harassed online picked on for their clothes talk to in a way that was disrespectful or rude not bullied and they wanted to be able to feel safe in being who they were at school and to have teachers and staff who supported their individuality and to help them with conflict resolution these were freshmen sharing these ideas and I was so impressed that

040they were so able to articulate their needs so specifically and it was really beautiful to be able to have our mayor and also have our chief of police president to listen to them and I want to thank both principal Vernon Johnson and principal Ariola for providing a setting for us to have those conversations with our students following uh that particular meeting we went out we took students out to the new construction site of where basketball opened hopefully on August of 2025 and we asked them to talk a little bit about what it would be like what it what could it look like to have a high school right next to a university and their answers were excitement they were so excited about the premise of being next door to a university and we had a

041student there who is a graduate of basic high school and now is on a full scholarship playing soccer at Bridgeport U and he was able to talk about his experience being a student in Bridgeport schools and so it was a very rewarding warning for all of us I'm sure that Madam chair will agree and and our students were spectacular so please bring your students to Bridgeport we're doing great things um so the enrollment that you're looking at and these are my errors I'm the one that did the typos so I can't blame anybody for those and nor would I do that uh the enrollment that you're looking at is our total magnet program enrollment for the district as of today we have 4088 students and that's an increase of 66 students from last year I

042did not include Central magnet in this count I included only the other internal and external magnet programs that not only recruit students from other districts but also have students from Bridgeport Public Schools I plan to provide the the board with a more detailed breakdown of what that enrollment looks like across all of our campuses at a latter date but I wanted to know that initially we are increasing our magnet enrollment across the district which is very exciting I also wanted to provide our our board with an update on our teacher vacancies I want to thank Denise alter Dixon our director of human resources and all of our amazing teachers on assignment who have been recruiting teachers across the state and across the country we have a grand total of 67 vacancies that's 17 vacancies less

043than we had last year at this time and again we're working really hard to ensure that there is a qualified certified teacher in front of every single student on they want and we're continuing our recruitment efforts We are continuing to share why teachers should choose Bridgeport and I had an opportunity to speak on that during convocation and I hope that it will be something that we continue to prioritize because it's so critical to have a qualified and certified certified teacher on the very first day of school so we're really excited to see a reduction in those numbers as well uh next I'd like to share that I have engaged the services of a visibility strategy strategist for the district her name is Veronica Sofer she is incredible she has an award-winning marketing and communication strategist

044Nationwide she has agreed to help us out while we issue an RFP to find someone to help us with very critical priorities for Branding Bridgeport Public Schools and those include website design press releases that have to go out so that we can communicate more clearly not only with the media but with our families internal Communications with our staff our teams our teachers especially when we have critical things happening in the district how do we do that more effectively more seamlessly external communication strategy for how we will not only message our vision message our values our beliefs but message the great things that are happening in Bridgeport I want to see published and in public the very amazing talents that our students have in this district and I don't want to see them at Christmas or

045during spring break or at the end of the year during graduation I want to see them every single month and so it's critical that we have someone who is an expert in working on that strategy additionally she's an expert in community engagement how do we encourage not only our parents but our community and business partners to engage with us for those of you who follow me on Facebook I'm out in the community and as I go out in the community and I meet with our small business business people I am taking selfies with them talking to them about our priorities and encouraging them to re-engage with our school district and I'm going to continue to do that in my 10-year as superintendent in Bridgeport also some of the other critical pieces that we need are

046internal branding marketing and communication sustainability we need to have someone in-house who can do this work once her Consulting tenure is done and so she's going to be training um one of our own to do that work so that we don't have to continue to re-engage communication strategies every time we want to share information with the public every time that we have a new initiative every time that we are sharing information with the media we want to make sure that we have an expert in-house so that's really critical additionally I want to make sure that we have an improved media response there's nothing worse than when something happens in our community and the media cannot get information from us especially if it's something that impacts our students impacts our schools our staff it's really critical

047that we're able to get that information out accurately otherwise the information that you will receive will not be complete it may be biased so for me it's really critical that any information that is accessed by the media is accurate complete and reflects the best values of Bridgeport additional additionally she'll be supporting us with District collateral design so that's any type of logos for our campuses their campus websites the individual colors for their websites how to make that visibly appealing how to make it easy for everyone to navigate these pieces when you go to the website you should not have to engage in a scavenger hunt to find the information that you need and so I want to make sure that anyone who visits our website is able to quickly and easily access information that they

048need and if they're not able to do that that they're able to quickly access the individuals that they can call to help them in real time and finally ensuring that we have fantastic program and Personnel recruitment branding that helps us to not only engage quality certified individuals to come to work with us but to retain them in our district and to have them encourage their friends who are also seeking employment to come to us and and finally but not the last of these crisis response it is really important for us to be able to get information out quickly when things happen in the district in a way that is accurate that is not rumored that it's not hearsay and that it comes directly from us and I want to be able to do that seamlessly

049and effectively direct directly with our community our parents and all of the uh wonderful over 3 000 employees in the district um I heard a question earlier regarding um covid-19 and the Resurgence we've actually already had a team meeting with our district nurse with Mr Garcia and also with our director of HR we assessed our PPE and our readiness should we have to take steps to move in a different direction and so we played out several scenarios we're going to include Chief Porter in the conversation and ensure that we are prepared so the conversation has already begun we've been assessing those expiration dates on PPE that Mr menahan mentioned to make sure that we have what we need so I want you to know that we are prepared we are prepared should we have a

050Resurgence of the pan the covid-19 virus or any other virus for that matter in our community we're prepared so those are the pieces that we need someone for Branding and marketing and Communications I ensured that that contract did not exceed the amount that I'm allowed to actually sign a contract for by the board and I did so also after securing several uh quotes as was requested previously so I'm making sure that as I am learning what is expected of me that I am addressing those pieces and that I'm being very intentional and very methodical in ensuring that that information is accurate it's complete and and that there's no question about how we're spending District dollars and there's no question about the Integrity of this superintendent um the next piece that I really want to make

051sure that we focus on um is our district and campus web pages I want to ensure that there is alignment that there is a standardization in how we present information to the public and how they're able to access information about their schools whether it's their teacher syllabus whether it's school hours whether it's how to get a transcript I want that to be a standardized process that's aligned that's user friendly and that is automated for our community we are in the 21st century so it should not be difficult for us to do that and that's part of what our visualization strategist is going to help us to do and uh that aesthetically pleasing visual when you enter a website really determines whether or not you continue to engage in accessing information from that Source or not

052we know when we start clicking online and something looks too busy or looks unappealing we're going to close that page and move on to the next one I don't want people to close the page when they come to Bridgeport Public Schools I want them to look deeper I want them to be interested to be engaged and to be very interested in having their students come to our schools because we have phenomenal programs and we can compete with the best of them and I included for you an aerial photo of our beautiful future site of basic high school we were there live on the football field today talking with students and parents and we're going to continue to engage in the process of having students lend their voice to what should be included in the new

053basic high school both those students that are graduating and those students that are going to be freshmen actually Juniors entering juniors in 2025 and incoming freshmen so we talked to the freshmen about what their experience is going to be and I want to make sure that they know that we are prioritizing their needs their thoughts and especially their feelings are really important during adolescence and that social emotional learning piece is what we heard today that they really critically need um the next piece I wanted to provide a staffing update um when I arrived um one of the things that I did as soon as I was named and actually prior I took a really deep dive into how our organization was structured and how Staffing was being used in areas where we could be more

054efficient and I uh determined very quickly that we definitely needed to align the social emotional piece of the services that we deliver to kids we have a lot of Staff but we don't necessarily have alignment and so I am proposing not only a new Deputy superintendent because that position is currently vacant but also an assistant superintendent for social emotional learning Comprehensive Health and student affairs all of the different branches from our nurses to our counselors our social workers to all of our attendance Specialists who go out and knock indoors to ensure that our students are attending on time and regularly are going to be under one umbrella we're going to case manage and provide support for all of our students directly under one number well I don't want a single kid to fall through the

055cracks they told me very clearly today what they need and what they want and how they feel about it this position is critical to ensuring that we make that happen that position is currently posted on Apple track it is not costing us anything to post that position on Apple track the deputy superintendent position we looked at several different firms we looked at um youngity and Associates we looked at the firm that hired me and we also looked at our local Connecticut Education Service Center and we chose to go with them the other two firms were charging twenty thousand or sixteen thousand dollars to conduct the search our local Connecticut firm is charging us thirty five hundred dollars and so we are expecting that they're going to help us to find an amazing Deputy superintendent my

056recommendation in the interim is that we uh as we wait for that process to happen is to have a qualified retired superintendent to support us in that interim position because that position is critical to the work that we're doing it's critical to my beginning Journey here in Bridgeport and my ability to support all of the different departments that I support and finally um I also wanted to talk a little bit about um uh the central magnet we've hired a permanent director for that position it is currently filled it's no longer interim we also have currently an interim director of adult education those interviews will be held this week in order to fill it and um we have now someone who has moved and transitioned into the director of Athletics health physical education and juvenile detention

057and you're probably asking why Athletics health physical education and juvenile detention because our students that often end up in juvenile detention oftentimes don't feel they have something going on at school that is motivation motivational and engaging for them I want that person to work with our students in juvenile detention get them engaged in sports get them engaged in doing something productive and hopefully reduce the recidivism that we see with Juvenile Detention so we're trying something new we're trying something new and also we have secured an administrator and assignment to support our soar program at Dunbar Elementary I am very very determined that we're going to turn around Dunbar Elementary that we're going to get it off of the commissioner's list that is going to be a highly performing school it's a beautiful facility and um

058to do that we have to ensure that we're supporting them appropriately additionally I also assigned administrative support and additional administrator to support Wilbur cross Elementary we're going to stop seeing Wilbur cross on the news and to do that we're going to give them the support that they need so these are some of the changes that I've made with Staffing in order to address the needs that I know are very critical that are probably at the top of everybody's minds and that are constantly making the news pages I want to make sure that if we are making the news Pages it's because of the amazing programs the transformation of our kids that go from struggling to being successful and our parents who are really satisfied with the product and the services that we provide them here

059in our district that concludes my report thank you very much Dr Levy for sharing your report what I will do is I will go around the table and ask each board you could just take a moment and gather your thoughts and questions we'll go around the table and you're able to ask your questions to Dr Levy and then I'll do it one more time and that will end the questions because I want to make sure that we we have quite a few items on our agenda and I want to make sure we get out in a decent time all right so if you've already I'll start with Miss Casimir do you have any questions or comments for super for superintendent Dr Levy David your mic is in front of your name tag sorry no no

060that's not a mic yep there you go is there oh that's a different one yeah we got it thank you Dr Levy David for that report I personally am excited about you being here um my first question is about um The Branding marketing and Communications person uh Veronica sofa so I just want to understand she is here temporarily until we get somebody that's already working for the district to be able to do her job getting used to the technology of myself she will be here with us for a time of 90 days helping us to stand up a lot of the work that I mentioned while we conduct an RFP search um and and see if we can find someone who can deliver the same services that she is providing like I said before she

061is one of the best she's a nationally award-winning strategist and if I was going to get somebody in here temporarily with the budget that I'm allowed to spend I wanted to make sure that I got the very best and and you're going to be very impressed with Miss sulfur when you meet her she is an incredible communicator and strategist and I'm just really excited that we have the ability to have someone of that caliber thank you um two more questions uh the interim director of adult education can you tell us a little bit more about that person just a little bit more well that person is someone who is not new to the district is someone that has already been in our district knows our district has been with us for many many years and

062it's just transitioning into that position that is a position um where they have a passion to serve adult Educators um that person has applied for the position to be vetted as the permanent person for the position so when we conduct interviews that individual will also be vetted for that position and that person is a teacher or has teaching credentials or yes that person well I don't want to speak out of turn um Miss alter addiction can you help me out with that one ma'am please come to the mic I think it should still be on yes it is so the interim director of adult education actually has prior experience as a director of adult education from a previous District so she has experience and she's been with our district for I want to save baby

063going on to a year or two years now I believe it's perfect thank you and my last question um I just wanted to ask about um the assistant superintendent for social emotional learning I was wondering would the juvenile detention be better placed under that person and the only reason why I'm asking is because when um I have a criminal justice undergrad right so um when I was in school I remember my professor talking about um like the the two criteria for kids who enter into the Juvenile Justice System um one of them is inconsistent discipline so the child does something one day and the parent disciplines them one way and the child does the same thing the next stated parent disciplines in a different way and it's different different different every day and the second

064one was unresolved family conflict so I'm not talking to the aunt or the sister in the family for 12 years and I start talking to him again and then not talking to him again for two years so that's my only question is what are your feelings about having the Juvenile Justice leaders under the assistant superintendent for social emotional learning and I'm just wanted to know what your thoughts on that is the question you're incredibly perceptive the um athletic director is going to be filling that role temporarily until we are able to identify the assistant superintendent the student affairs part of the job description encompasses Juvenile Detention so it's going to be all under one umbrella our social emotional learning our counseling our social work our health and also our student discipline and how we work

065to ensure that we have restoration for those students and that we are able to reduce the recidivism that we see in juvenile detention so I'm I had to place that service under someone that I knew could do some work to encourage our babies until we're able to identify that position you're welcome Mr Gillen good evening and thank you again for the wonderful presentation Dr Levy David a couple few questions um question number one regarding the marketing of strategy um and it was for 90 days it's temporary what are some of the goals you plan or you would like um is Veronica to achieve within the 90 days within 90 days I would like Miss Veronica to begin engaging us in a strategy first of all for internal external Communications that's my priority how do we

066communicate better with our community how do we how do we ensure that those Communications are prompt they're timely and relevant and that they're not so overwhelming that people don't read them I think sometimes we over uh include too much information and and when someone is already worked the full day and we send something that's two pages long it may not be the best way to communicate with our parents and so I want her to really address how do we create very simple uh templates to communicate that all of our principals can use that all of our teachers can use and align Communications through art art district so that when parents receive communication from One Professional it's not radically different from what they would receive from another if that makes sense so that's one of them

067the other is to begin training our internal person on how to begin taking on those responsibilities so that that knowledge that she is bringing is not lost and that we have someone internally who can step into that role whether we continue to have uh finishing the contract with her or with another vendor so that we have an individual can continue to work on those internal and external Communications and also I would like for her to really support us with the website design and the crisis response piece because for me it's really important that we're ready uh should we have a crisis and as you know a crisis will happen exactly when we're not ready for it so I want to make sure that we're ready for that and that we're also ready to have a

068better way to address the the visual communication that we have with our customers in the district thank you um a follow-up question regarding the training um would 90 days be enough time to train someone internally so um hey I guess have we decided who the internal individual will be um there's this into individual internal individual um have experience um in this area already um it goes about just the top questions that I have regarding the internal yes I won't share that person's name in an open session but that person has been identified and that person is currently working with me already and the the goal is to begin the process of building their capacity and building their ability to identify other areas where they can seek that information and knowledge to build their capacity and

069maintain our systems and so I it may not be enough time to finish but it certainly would be a great place to start to put them on that that journey and on that road um now um because I know it's a 90-day term will the board beginning updates um what's the Cadence of that update every 30 days uh where we just get a report at the end of the 90 days our um um where we are at the end of The Journey um how do you plan on sharing that information with us I plan to make a report monthly on our progress as we work with Miss Sofer and also as we go through the process of the RS RFP and identifying a strategist that will work with us long term my goal is to

070have someone who can work with us for the entire calendar year and actually have an entire Arc of learning throughout the district for all of our different leaders in the district and that this will be sustainable work that it won't be something that once the consultant leaves it's it's lost is my last question on this topic um will be Harvey grading at the outcomes have you can have you thought about those conversations started yet in terms of data collection are we looking um into surveys from parents family students staff what are your what are your plans that is a great question and yes we do want to collect data from our parents from our students and from our staff about the different pieces that we roll out as they are rolled out and to get

071feedback regarding the usability uh the ease of use for those pieces and how whether or not they're actually improving the experience or not so those are pieces that we are going to survey and evaluate with focus groups not with the entire District thank you for that um I'm gonna just make a U-turn and ask a question regarding your hiring strategy what are some of the hiding strategies I think the numbers look pretty you know um good in terms of last year compared to this year regarding our vacancies for our um teacher so thank you for that um and thanks for all the team members and HR has been working um to ensure that we're not in the worst position but what are some hiring strategies um that you are looking into in order to recruit

072more team members and Order uh retain one team members very busy busy uh with other universities around the country and also with other organizations around the country whose work it is to recruit uh teachers the the issue that we're running into is that we're not graduating enough teachers in order to serve the entire state of Connecticut so when we look especially at teachers that are multilingual if we were to take every multilingual teacher that's certified in the state we would still not have enough to meet the needs of Bridgeport Public Schools so that is something that I'm working with very very aggressively with our universities in order to increase the way that we're recruiting and incentivizing individuals to actually pursue um multilingual as part of their learning strategy so that we can serve the needs

073of our very unique population not every population is this diverse we have approximately 47 languages spoken and we have newcomers from pre-k all the way through 12. and so for us and this is something that our students brought up at basic our freshmen said that they would really appreciate it if we had teachers who could support them with multilingual needs until they graduate not just until middle school but until they graduate and and that was a really specific ask that they made of me today so that is now something that I'm going to take out there into my diff my network and also the universities that I'm partnering with in order to ensure that we can have individuals that are prepared at the secondary level to work and actually support our students who are multilingual

074and also provide professional development for our current staff on how we support students who are second language Learners with our instruction because there are very specific and I could name a dozen strategies that are available to support students that are multilingual Learners it exists it is not something that we're creating from scratch we just have to make sure we're providing the professional development that we're that we're supporting our teachers in that process and that we're monitoring and providing feedback as they grow in that process as well um and I think that's all I have and I do look forward into the breakdown with the regarding the magnet enrollment um in our next meeting thank you thank you Mr binahan Sheriff um thank you on Dr Camilla for your report um I see every question we

075ask you you have a full answer and that's very important and I like that I'm very proud thank you for your report but I'm gonna tell you to let you know please everyone one is about basic everybody know I love all my schools but no one's about you know it's my baby be there as a former PDS or person for four years and deal with so many thousand parents I would like to be involved you know be there because I know parents asked me and they keep asking me what's going on with basic what is information I know this has happened in the last minute you know but the next time I would like to be part you know Ambassador High School I love my style the principal driola I interviewed after Viola to be

076there you know he's amazing he changed that best in high school Bond here to the moon and I would I was a witness for that but I appreciate that you know all your information today about basic but I'm not concerned about the two position you have and I know they're very important and I emailed that asking that question that if we don't have no staff they're certified to be taking that to position I'm talking about let's say saving money you know I know we can save money there we can save money maybe in the benefit so that we have stuff that can be applied for this two position not be going out you know thank you so much for the question and I appreciate your continued support and guidance um I can tell you that

077unfortunately we do not these positions are positions that require someone that has central office experience and that not only has central office experience but also campus supervision experience it is something that builds over time and is incremental I um I want to make sure that we are hiring the very best high qualified experienced staff to take on these very important roles we don't want to set up someone for failure who doesn't necessarily have the experience to do work at this level this intensity and with the level of responsibility and number of staff that they're going to be supervising and so for me it's really important that we find someone that really checks all of those boxes do we have that internally at this time no we don't and and if they you know would if

078they are available they should identify themselves and apply so that they can be vetted so that's that's my my most important piece whenever I post a position ensuring that if we have the opportunity to promote from within we do that but if we don't that the person that we recruit is incredibly qualified overqualified even for the position so that we can ensure that it's not someone that is growing into this position and learning it from scratch our needs are too great and we really need people that are experiencing hit the ground running thank you and also going back uh thank you for information now if you clarified you know what I want to hear and also about the basic I know before we went to vacation we have a committee they won I came one

079day let me know I will sit down with you bring you to the community give you the minutes give you the update because I'm having uh documented with involved parents students Community leaders principal and board member so I would like to communicate going so you can I'll give you update about you know how far we go about the basic high school but nothing more to say thank you for everything you know so far I'm very proud you know how we could keep going like that I know nothing is perfect it's going up in that because we are not perfect only God but at least when I always say Google communication we have a great successful thank you for everything thank you good evening great presentation as always you'll become familiar with my questions that usually

080revolve around policy and money um the first question I have is about the Pre-K slots I see that we've improved someone I can't remember recall the numbers like 26 but my main my main concern is uh how many empty slots do we still have for Pre-K I don't have that information for you at this time but I can certainly follow up tomorrow with that information yes please thank you and also um you're aware of the kindergarten the new kindergarten cutoff age I'm sure and that's going to probably cause a surge in pre-k for next year I'm going to be taking any steps to prepare for that we have just begun that conversation it's definitely something that we're going to study deeper so that we can be prepared and um we want to really look I'm

081looking right now at a demographic study that was done uh prior to basic being constructed just to look at those numbers to see what the projection is for students coming into Kinder so that we can be better prepared thank you I do I'm going to refer some of that to myself my finances get a closer um The Branding The Branding I believe we have an RFP out already if I'm not mistaken didn't an RFP come out from The Branding committee for it did I believe she has sent it back out again oh it's gone back out again and those are still um Russell granddaughter is correct the last I checked Miss Siegel said she would be using Esther dollars too I'm not sure if that's still the same I will have to follow back up

082with her it sounds right and I'm just concerned about the operating operating budget because because it usually resides okay photography okay and now the magnet schools there's an increase of 122. 122 you're right um now wait 66 66 students um do we know if the inter entered in our district or out of District because as as you may or may not know that one out of District student is worth three of us to it so if we get them we got to maintain that balance to know if we're currently in balance out of balance it kind of fluctuates in and out I requested an overall report uh I'm going to provide this the board with a breakdown of the in District versus out of District but I can tell you that that's part of that

083marketing and branding strategy to recruit more students to come to our magnet programs I think that a lot of times we take for granted that people know what we offer and exactly how that's going to impact their kids and I want to make sure that we're providing parents with accurate information up to date information and that they're able to see students working and being successful in real time because that's the most powerful recruitment tool that we can have for our magnet programs for any student who doesn't reside in Bridgeport right absolutely agree most of my son is uh they definitely need some more recruitment efforts especially in the suburbs especially the way the funding formula is currently set up speaking of funding I've got um one additional question I probably can't be answered on the

084fly but um we operate at a loss for our magnet schools and each student is kind of subsidized through the operating budget and that increase I would like to know the impact on the budget I think my link this Siegel could get that at a future time and I believe it's going to be part of Miss Siegel's report that she will be providing to the board in her financial report we have talked about it I don't have that number off the top of my head but it's one of my projects that I hope to to be able to turn around very quickly in this District awesome thank you and final points are on Staffing Staffing levels it says we're adding uh larger layer of administration not that the jobs aren't necessary all jobs are necessary

085but in the last round of budget cuts I hate to talk about money in the last round of budget cuts central office is the first place that's usually looked upon for Staffing reductions and uh kind of concerned that we might be building up too much that we might have to just yank away later unfortunately and also I noticed that the director of literacy and director of mathematics was not up there it was on uh cheat we got a personal we're still looking for literacy of mathematics those positions have been posted interviews are actually going to happen this week for both positions we did a post for a director thank you for reminding me a director of literacy and a director of mathematics uh one of the things that happens when there's a financial uh stress

086is that you're right there are layoffs at the central office level but the layoffs have been to the point where we no longer have a curriculum and instruction Department in the district and it's impossible for us to do the work of moving our students forward without having curriculum and instruction support staff in the district so we're going to have to get creative I'm going to think positive because I'm always an optimist that we will have the money and the funding in order to be able to support a dish because we need a whole lot more we need coaches we need interventionists there are a lot of positions that we need to be able to staff but we are beginning by having people that can help us to build it out and that an automatically to

087the additional positions and approximately in a dollar amount that would be a Marlene Siegel question I don't have that off the top of my head thank you so much you're welcome thank you Miss Baptiste Perez thank you for that wonderful enlightening presentation I I believe my two years on the board I've never seen anything like that um and I'm very proud of my vote June 12th um I just have a one board member already asked the question I was going to ask regarding the magnet schools and we'll get more information on that um I just have a bit of a follow-up question that can also go back to the chair uh I know earlier this year we executed an RFP for a crisis management firm and so with Miss Veronica because I forgot her last

088name already uh and the new potential internal position there's no need for this RFP just as a basic understanding for the public because they'll go back in news articles and say well what happened to the RFP I'm actually going to begin the process of working with Chief Porter with our fire chief and with our local crisis management team prior to determining if we actually need to go forward with that RFP for crisis management thank you for your guidance no further questions Miss Allen do you have any questions no worries thank you Mr traber please use your mic sir I just have a couple most of my colleagues have asked um all the questions that need to be uh thank you for your presentation Dr Levy David um uh the initial question I uh wanted to

089ask and I think it was clarified with Mr sokolovic but I didn't hear your answer uh the 66 uh Magnet School positions in or out of District I didn't hear what the answer was the the answer was that I'm going to provide a breakdown of where the students actually are for those that are in this trick and those that are out of district for the board later this week okay and then I just wanted to make sure I understood your presentation you did not include Central magnet you said but this also does not include Park City High horizon or Multicultural either right I believe it actually did include all of those campuses I can double check with my data analysts it did okay so it did it included all of them just inter-district Magnus this

090was also those I included everyone Central was the only one that I did not include and then uh how much are we paying Miss Sofer um our contract with Miss Sofer great question I believe it's 20 000 I will double check and I'll get that number back to you but it's under 25 000. I think that's all I have thank you thank you Mr Traver Miss Perez thank you for that presentation um most of my questions were already answered um so I just thought of a comment that I really appreciate the addition of the assistant superintendent for um for SEL and health especially post covid with Rising cases of anxiety depression with students um my question I do have a question I guess is the question is um so you said there's nobody in the

091district who's qualified for that position is there a plan to um do some trainings for current administrators so that if these positions open down the line we have people internally that can be promoted to those positions thank you so much for the question Miss Perez there is a plan to have amazing professional development for our current leaders so that they can begin to prepare if they want to promote within the district my favorite way to hire is to hire from within I like to have individuals that have the history who are local who know our kids and who understand the culture of our community the many cultures in our community however sometimes it's very difficult to arrive and have that especially when wages are an issue and so in order to recruit great talent that

092can come in and actually begin to also train our staff I'm having to look externally to find someone who has all of those qualities and then the follow-up is I think you said it's for the deputy that we're using CES but we're using that for the assistant superintendent as well we are we're just posting the assistant superintendent on Apple track we're going to see what kind of applicants we get first before Contracting out that search as well thank you um are there any further questions I don't have any I believe all of my questions have been answered already but I'll just ask again are there any further questions before we move on to agenda items yes I think is a great idea again just with it health and PE um and juvenile detention I think

093just looking at it from a creative standpoint and trying to get ahead of the curve uh commend you for that having a strategic and um purposeful plan for it it's different so thank you all right thank you Dr Levy David for sharing your reports um I just a request of mine if you can prove I know you sent a presentation out via email to board members if you can include this presentation in the portal for board members and once we have any updates please update it but just for their uh review thank you there is no old business to transact at this moment so we'll move on to our first agenda item for new business that I oh hi Miss Eagle hi yes um the first item is discussion and possible action to extend Saint

094Peter's lease for one year for classical studies Magnet Academy um is I Believe Miss uh Siegel will presenting on this item yes all right Miss Sigel you have the floor uh thank you and good evening to everyone I have put on the screen the addendum to the lease agreement for uh Saint Peter's Church which is the location of the classical studies magnet uh Annex uh this is an addendum to the lease agreement in order to extend the lease for an additional Year from July 1 2023 through June 30th of 2024. the agreement is for uh one year only because we want to be in a strong uh position to negotiate a second year which we expect we will need uh starting July 1 of 2012. um for the extension agreement uh we have negotiated stable

095rates and I have superimposed on the agreement the history of the monthly rent and you can see that starting in 2017-18 uh the rent was forty eight hundred dollars per month uh it remained stable for three years according to the original agreement in a subsequent three-year agreement the monthly rent Rose to fifty two hundred dollars a month in 2021 and then to five thousand four hundred twenty three dollars and sixty cents in 2122 and in 2223 last year to five thousand seven hundred eighty six dollars and ninety eight cents we asked the Archdiocese to uh keep the rate stable for 23.24 and I'm very pleased to report that they agreed and we're thankful for the stabilization in the rate um therefore the average increase over the last three years including 2324 would be 3.67 percent

096and the average increase over the last six years would be 3.22 percent uh this agreement was presented uh in committee and we're asking for board approval tonight thank you thank you Miss um Miss Siegel at this moment I'll open up the floor for questions as missoul mentioned this was presented in committee for any board members to attend um but what I will do is acknowledge any board members who did not attend committee that have any questions concerning this so I'll go down the line and you can share your comments and questions uh Miss Casimir any comments and questions uh Mr Gallon um good evening were any other locations look that um for different rates a classical studies Annex has been located at St Peter's for the last um uh seven years uh the school year

097has started so there hasn't been any change in the location uh so there was not any consideration by The District administration either last year or recently for an alternate site other location other magnet locations um that uses adex are the average increase um percentage similar 3.67 uh we we don't have any other uh schools operate operating uh at a similar uh site The Adult Ed program is currently using St Michael's on interim basis until they identify an alternate site in terms of annual uh growth in raids um the lease agreement for classical studies had specified uh that the rate would increase by the CPI which is Consumer Price Index nevertheless I asked that the rate remain uh stable and they uh agreed okay how many students are and attend this location um it's it's great

098I have to check the exact number but it's Pre-K uh K uh uh one uh and two I can uh check that number in one moment I'll have that for you in one moment uh so the um the projected enrollment uh for the current year this is a projection uh is 154. um the enrollment used by the state for funding purposes in all programs uh is based on October 1st data um and and the grade levels are Pre-K K one and two thank you Mr pinahan any comments or questions no question Nicole no question to come in this moment thank you Mr sokolovic any comments or questions no of course physical comments Miss Baptiste Perez any comments or questions no Miss Allen any comments or questions Mr traber any comments or questions no questions or

099comments Ms Perez any comments or questions no all right um would someone like to make this motion promotion to extend the Saint Peter's lease for one year for classical studies Magnet Academy has presented is there a second second okay there was three of you guys I'm gonna give it to miss Baptiste Perez are there any further comments and questions before we go to a vote all in favor any opposed any abstentions hair and on motion carries thank you Miss Eagle thank you the next item is discussion approval of Connecticut educator evaluation flexibilities this item has not gone through teaching and learning due to the time density of this so I added it to this meeting we definitely need to do this but I will if there's anyone from staff that would like to talk a

100little bit about this before the board Dr Jenkins and your mic should be on good evening and welcome back I stand before you today to provide an overview of the Connecticut educator flexibilities the State Board of Education has approved this school year I believe it was May 18th 2023 the opportunity for Boards of Education and professional development and evaluation committees that consist of teachers and administrators the opportunity to extend flexibilities for evaluation for teachers and administrators the flexibilities emerged as a result of the pandemic Connecticut was committed to making sure our Educators we put in front of still had the opportunity to develop and grow even in the midst of the pandemic so plans that were developed at a district level were suspended and school districts had the opportunity to adopt the recommended flexibilities from

101the State Board of Education and the educator evaluation Council from the state of Connecticut for the last two years the Bridgeport Board of educations have adopted the flexibilities I stand before you today presenting the opportunity to adopt the flexibilities for one more year this adoption would allow us to still provide a structure for supporting teachers and administrators with their growth and development but it also would afford US the opportunity to begin planning to launch a new educator evaluation in presented in subcommittee under the guidance of Dr Levy David and crafted mutually the Board of Education in the pdot committee which stands for professional development evaluation committee that consists of teachers and administrators to develop a new plan the information that I'm sharing with you was provided in your board packet in the memo from the

102State Board of Education issued by our Commissioner of Education Charlene Russell Tucker the flexibilities even though the word is flexible doesn't eliminate having a high quality standard for helping Educators grow teachers create a student learning objective they identify indicators of how we will support children as we grow and develop administrators do the same except they will have two indicators supporting student learning there are observations for staff that are tenured their observations for staff that are non-tenored 10 non-tenured or first and second year staff have a minimum the minimum doesn't mean that's all a minimum of three observations teachers who are tenured have to process allows for a great deal of feedback and support for teachers as well as administrators administrative administrator observations include site visits a minimum of two if administrator has been in the

103district more than two years it includes the review of artifacts plans that are developed for parent engagement professional development plans those artifacts are reviewed to support administrators leadership and service to the district leaders who are not tenured or new to their Position will have a minimum of three observations under the flexibilities and a review of a minimum of two artifacts this is just the minimum requirement but we of course visit leaders and support them much more than the minimum requirement outlined in the flexibilities additionally we are looking to move towards giving good feedback and supporting continuous Improvement it's a theme that I've shared with the board previously one of the examples of continuous Improvement as we embark on a new plan and I had shared this with a colleague today in the old goal system

104we often talk about the outcome and not as much about process because we you can we want great outcomes for our children and great outcomes for our staff but we also have to focus on continuous Improvement in process so the example I shared with a colleague today is if you go to the doctors and you get A1C test to test your blood sugar and if it says your pre-diabetic many people focus on the number I'm pre-diabetic the only way to change that number is to change your habits and engage in continuous Improvement such as exercise hydration good sleep change in diet managing stress those processes will lead to a change in the outcome of the A1C often we pair and look at student data or numbers without working on building the capacity of the individuals

105that serve our children to make those numbers a reality that achievement a reality so if you choose to adopt the flexibilities it would give us an opportunity to still support our Educators at a high level and engage in the planning and development of a new educator evaluation plan based on the framework from the state of Connecticut here in Bridgeport Public Schools thank you Dr Jenkins at this moment I'll see if board members have any questions Miss Casimir do you have any questions for Dr Jenkins no she made it clear no questions no comments Mr gellan do you have any questions or comments uh Mr binahan any questions or comments Mr sokolovic any questions or comments yes too um what's the union buy-in on that plan prior to coming to this meeting the pdac committee which

106includes representation from the Bea leadership as well as the bcas leadership administrative leadership agreed to the adoption of the flexibilities pending the approval of the board I believe are like one of the vice presidents and members of that committee Jen Kellerman was present at the meeting will you confirm that inference okay I appreciate that okay thank you and in the development of a new program that is going to be implemented they're going to be integral in the process as well this is a placehold until we develop a new one and they will be an integral process because you said teachers in them to translate that into Union representation because sometimes teachers are hand-picked they don't push back sometimes oh most definitely we will partner with the leaders of our two unions to make um a

107supportive plan an enriching plan a reality we did have a conversation on Friday prior to this meeting and so I would not bring it forward without that conversation and support from the professional development and evaluation committee which consists of union leaders as well as teachers and administrators thank you Miss Baptiste Perez no no questions Miss Allen any questions or comments Mr Trader any comments or questions sorry Ms Perez any comments or questions no questions I have none either thank you for providing this presentation oh I'm sorry uh Mr Gillen sorry I went to go back go ahead um thank you Jenkins um question what are we using now for evaluation we are currently using the flexibilities last year they were adopted and approved by the Board of Education last year so 20 20 21 21

10822 and 22 23 we adopted their flexibilities recommended by the State Board of Education if we didn't adopt the flexibilities we would have to kind of blow the dust off the plan used prior to the pandemic and implemented um The Hope was to continue with the flexibilities so it's familiar and it would allow us the bandwidth and time to develop a new plan okay um you conduct pdsas with with to find out where we are you talk a lot about the process so we're in the process are we now in terms of this um not only utilizing the the evaluation but looking at the outcomes um how are how do our outcomes look currently uh looking at what we've been implementing over the past this couple years now um and where do you project us

109going in the next if we Implement if we approve this flexibilities now uh where will we be next year well next year are you just to clarify are you asking in regards to implementing the flexibilities where will we be with outcomes in regards to students or outcomes in regards to teachers teachers okay so in regards to teachers some of the work and I'll speak from the lens of literacy we're developing teachers ability to service students literacy performance specifically right now in this example grades K through six they're getting professional development they engage in their own individual development they are setting goals to improve the delivery of say foundational reading skills for children that is measured through an assessment tool called Dibbles in over the last two years we have sustained growth primarily in subtest our

110hope this year is that we would see more growth in the composite or overall score that process of plan do study Act is an emerging process from our work during the pandemic our Partnerships with partners for educational leadership which I spoke about I believe last day December as a result of having some flexibilities engaging initially in like a continuous Improvement cycle during our administrative Retreat the principals had more professional development on continuous Improvement Cycles I can speak for literacy that we've been engaging in those continuous Improvement cycles and we probably go through a plan do study Act five times a year so that's how we're able to see progress and when we're stalled looked at the process of instruction to create growth for children thank you do you mind sharing the ptsas maybe as the

111cycle happens so as a board we can take a look at it and not only for literacy but across the board okay thank you and I have no further comments or questions uh would someone like to make a motion motion to approve the Connecticut evaluation flexibilities second uh motion has been made by Miss Baptist Perez second by Mr traber are there any further comments or questions here and none all in favor any opposed any abstentions hair and unmotion Carries thank you Dr Jenkins we look forward to any updates concerning this the next item is discussion and possible action on enter into a contract agreement with the university school to provide services for special education program and the expel student program this item went before committee um and for those that participated in committee you are

112aware of it and it's also in your packet is there someone presenting on this item tonight thank you Dr Levy do you know if someone's presenting on this car is it Miss Eagle is it you probably miss Siegel Miss eagle yes I'm here go ahead Miss eagle the um so there are two agreements uh with the university school uh the first is for a special education seats up to 40 seats uh this is a renewal agreement and the cost factor is uh 2.2 million dollars the second agreement with the university school is for an expulsion program um here again it is an extension um or a renewal agreement and the cost factor is uh 450 000. thank you Miss Eagle open up the floor for a comments or question from board members uh Mr Gellen

113thank you Mr binahan any questions comments or questions yeah a couple comments that contract come to us already signed so it's not really an approval it's just a rubber stamp of what happened before and I'm just really concerned about I just want to get on a record I'm really concerned that contracts keep coming before us not a reflection upon the current superintendent but it's been a problem in the past and this current contract is a 92 percent escalated price tag from the last contract and there's something something that definitely needs more to oversight that's why the importance of the referral of the calendar so we don't keep coming into this prop I'll be holding no for those reasons but I don't have any problem with the phone thank you Miss Baptiste Perez any comments or

114questions I mean it's been said is already a valid and executed contract um so the agenda item tonight it's to a certain extent a bit asinine but I suppose if the board wants to bless it it's already enforced and being used now so um I it was discussed in committee that it was a necessity uh if we did not enter into this contract the a la carte price per student would have been way above what we entered into and then we also would have subjected the district to various different types of liabilities so it's already been entered into it's a necessity and so um under someone's wisdom it was brought as a board item but I don't see the purpose in it but it's here Miss Allen Mr traber yeah I have a couple of

115questions I guess my recollection of what we had on the agenda at the committee meeting was the expulsion contract remember it was two contracts in one yeah I don't recall the sped contract I remember it being discussed but I don't remember seeing it I just remember the 9 the 450 000 contract being discussed so the 2.2 was a part of that you're saying I believe so miss miss Eagle can you explain a little further uh yes certainly uh there are two separate agreements the special ed agreement uh as I indicated is a renewal agreement it has been in place with the University School uh for many years um and it is the equivalent of uh of an out of District placement obviously it's not out of the geographic area Bridgeport it's in Bridgeport um but

116it's processed as a mandated service for students uh who will attend a placement at a site other than their own school um there are hundreds of special ed agreements every year for out of District placements and um it had been agreed with the board many years ago uh verbally that specialized agreements would not require for approval the second separate agreement is for the expulsion program which also has taken place at the university school for many years so so what I'm saying then is what we looked at at the committee meeting was simply the expulsion agreement because that's what required our board to review that the special ed agreement it was not before us um because that was a sped agreement so it's the expulsion agreement that we're looking at tonight with a four hundred and

117fifty thousand dollar uh price tag um and if I recall that agreement is for 30 slots um or was it 45 40 slots can you uh tell me Miss Eagle how many times yes I believe the expulsion agreement is up to uh 30. okay and we are anticipating uh do we know how many slots a year we are using in the past year how many expulsions we had um I I don't know the I'm sorry go ahead Miss Eagle oh I wouldn't say anything here um I I don't know uh the the exact number but the number of students uh at the site will vary um weekly or perhaps daily uh depending on the length of an expulsion um I I believe I was told um that uh we were going to open the school

118year with with six but that was a few weeks ago I do not know the um exact number at this time do you recall off the top of your head when we met how much we maxed out at last year any given year any given week oh I wouldn't have that data oh okay that's a statement of necessity and yet we never discussed necessity or why so I was just curious if we knew what the necessity was I'll have Dr Levy respond all right I don't have the exact numbers but I will definitely provide that information later this week as well okay thank you um go ahead Mr traber um okay well I guess that's it that's all okay Miss Perez any comments or questions not at this time I'm gonna go back to Ms

119Casimir because I know you're away from your seat any comments or questions on this item it's totally okay all right I have no comments or questions on this item oh Mr gellan any comments or questions um just wanted to reiterate as far as the data collection go um that we'll be receiving from Dr Levy David what specific data we will will we will we be getting from you uh we're looking at trends for like the past year uh you know um people can want to elaborate a bit for us so we couldn't know what we're anticipating my plan is to research three-year Trend data so that we can at least have some longitudinal data to look at absolutely thank you appreciate that um my last question I guess now is if the um expulsion um

120you know asked from us from the board today is is that that's separate from the special ed contract or is it a one vote or can we separate the two contracts there are two separate agreements two separate agreements all right so yes Mr traber but we don't vote on sped agreements we don't exactly so we're going to focus on there's only one body expulsion agreement correct because that we do exactly okay and the data that we are going to get is going to give us an idea of whether use your mic sir I don't think I have it on it's on okay whether or not you know how many expulsions we have at any given time and so whether this becomes cost effective or in the long run because is not cost effective and we

121we could be referring these children to another site precisely look at that agreed um yes uh Dr Levy David go ahead just wanted to to address that concern because it is a real concern and I have entered into preliminary conversations very preliminary for the district to develop its own site it's a very preliminary and and of course that's going to require collaboration with multiple agencies but we do recognize that it's a great expense and we want to see how we can make that more cost effective and if it would be more cost effective for us to have our own site so I've entered those conversations already sir and and I would just say before passing on that was one of my concerns um so I'm glad that you did address that Mr uh right I

122was just going to make this point because we've had fits and starts of developing an expulsion program of our own and sped programs of our own but it could be seen more as of keeping us children closer to home and also it could actually be a revenue generator because if the program's a good a good Revenue if it's a good program we could Market it out to other districts surrounding districts because it is expensive to build and all these districts are using outside contract to send kids out of District here I I would agree to that at this moment if there are no further Commerce or questions would someone like to make the motion uh we are just reminded we are voting on The expel student program part of it for someone like to make

123the motion Pro motion to approve the special ed program expel students with the university school is there a second second to amend because we're not approving the special education program so I move that we strike out special education and keep the remainder of the sentence a second Ed and I apologize it's been second if I've been sir so call of it is there any comments or questions all right so now we'll uh vote on it all in favor aye um any opposed any abstentions Mr uh Trevor stains the eyes have it now we'll vote on sorry the approved the amended motion go ahead Mr main motion sorry go ahead Mr sokolovic uh oh no you just got a call for a vote on the menu would someone like to make someone like to make emotional

124no it's it's okay it's already a main motion on the floor it's just been amended to strike out the special education correct all in favor uh any abstentions I don't know I mean any I'm sorry let me redo that all in favor any opposed me no okay okay so there's three opposals uh Mr sokolovic opposes Mr Google okay it's been a requested for roll call vote Miss Casimir yes Mr Gellen Mr uh Lord Jesus Mr bennahan circle of it uh myself no Miss Baptiste Perez yay Miss Allen yes Mr traber stain he abstains um and Miss uh press okay so the eyes have it all right thank you Miss Siegel thank you um and the final item is discussion and approval of board members to attend cave slash caps training at the district expense on

125November 17th uh through the 18th in Groton Connecticut uh there isn't a formal presentation on this however it is um vital that board members do attend training to help them as they execute their duties as board members um and that's pretty much all that I have I did receive information from Miss Rita just a second uh sorry Miss Rita give me one second or would you like to share on it or yep come Miss Rita she's going to share on the room um and the pricing go ahead Ms Rita so if you were looking at Cost factors the event is from November 17th through the 18th it is a cave caps convention that is being conducted the accommodations are specifically at the Mystic Marriott there are only three rooms that I'm able to select for

126the district on this with the expense of 165 dollars a night and it's just one night when you are there there is uh lunch and dinner provided on Friday and then there is lunch provided on Saturday at the event for each board member that attends the cost is 499 dollars and I would just I know I submitted I spoke to board members to send it before the early bird but Mr traber expressed interest once we decided to add as a gender items so we'll have four board members attending I will share their names Mrs Casimir Mr traber Mr binahan and Mr sokolovic um also miss Rita shared with me that you can only cap it at three so my suggestion would be uh three rooms sorry my suggestion would be Miss Casimir has her own

127room and then the guys can decide who who bunks with who um but that's pretty much uh item yes did I miss you too I'm sorry and uh Miss Perez so that makes it five board members that will be attending but I don't plan on staying you don't plan on staying so then it's back to miss cashmere will be alone any further comments so her registration will be something it's done okay uh Mr traber I will add and the others are already set the accommodation is the only piece that needs to be finalized correct I will second I will open up the floor for any questions concerning this item I'll start with Miss Casimir and go around any comments or questions yeah just so I'm clear so do I pay for the room and then

128get reimbursed or the the supportive is going to pay for the goal of this vote is to have the district pay for everything okay and again reimbursed totally understand and that is your right to do if you choose so but that no I don't want to look the district is going to pay for it yeah let's go ahead and pay for it yeah thank you that's the goal of the vote tonight so whether the board supports it or not Mr gellan any comments or questions uh don't have any comments over here okay Mr bennahan any comments or questions all right Mrs I got a question uh were the rooms only 165 dollars that you could three rooms only at 165 hours or is there other rooms available if we want to stay separate and pay

129the difference it's a good question Miss Rita from the information that Cape specifically provided in their registration with the link when I go into register each one of you when it had reserved rooms they have a certain number of black rooms that have been set specifically for this convention in respect that could we just maybe book the three rules for people one and if somebody could book another room because I would be willing to pay the difference to free up a room so everybody could have their own space and have the reimbursement of 165 for the standard room route so that's might be a special rate that they specifically have set for caber caps within the cluster of what is there I can go ahead and handle what is needed if you're looking to manage

130your own accommodations then by all means please contact the Marriott and and handle it accordingly as long as I could go through reimbursement all right uh thank you Miss Rita Miss batus Perez any comments or questions no I just asked that for those members that attend probably just share what's learned during the conference with those of us that cannot attend so that way there's a continuous dialogue amongst all of us but then also the information is not just with individuals but shared amongst the group thank you Miss Allen any comments or questions thank you Mr Trey Bernie comments or questions yeah I just want to add that I was I know Miss Casimir Mr bennahan and Mr sokolovic went to another conference that would just came this is caveman caps and I was persuaded by

131Mr sakalovic that it was worth attending because uh there's apparently a a lack of urbans represented at these conferences um that they're primarily Suburban districts and so it's useful for us to have a presence there so that's why I changed my mind when he made that point to me and I think it will be useful to us thank you Miss Perez any comments or questions none at this time all right will someone like to make the motion all right okay Mr Gallon um will it be um today for any additional board members to jump into Fray I did not set a limit but I know there was there was registration and there's going to be a difference in it price wise so the question was Miss Rita I'm gonna turn her because she did registration

132is there uh any openings is that was your question for anyone who else would like to attend so if you're interested one more question Rita what is the difference between the early bird registration price and the one after it's too late oh that's it no that's not the question what I'm asking is is there a difference between the early bird registration which has already passed and somebody who wants to go today or next week is there what's the price difference gotcha thank you okay I have a question yes Miss Baptist for us when's the last day to register expressing your age no no problem if we have any more questions we go to Rita right we got any more questions about it or any clarifications we just talked to you yeah okay thanks I guess

133my only um a comment is that maybe we can go forward with this motion for those members that would like to but maybe leave some flexibility in case additional members want to go uh believe it to us or also follow up with freedom but we get arcade notifications and then um it's just approval for the board in general to go and then uh that can be the motion tonight and then we as individual members if we decide we want to go we can follow up with Rita so that way there's clarification in case there's a change of heart um for any member that may want to attend all right any further questions Mr sokolovic there you go um they're gonna make a motion to I move that the board allowed the board I'm sorry I

134moved at the board allow reimbursements and or direct booking for the convocate for the convocation for the conference the account for the conference the kid conference to take place in prison November and book whatever rooms are available the intention of it is to get three rooms booked and 165 dollar reimbursement for any additional rooms so can somebody clean that up Mr Draper I prove that the board approved um paying for group members to attend the cave caps conference on November 17th it period is there a second second give it to miss Casimir yep Miss Rita yes yes yes please please come if you're looking to book your rooms independently that's one thing if you're looking to register I specifically need to do that if you're going to come only on a Friday I need to

135know that if you're intent that you're there for the entire Friday and Saturday I need to know that you're not able to go in and book yourselves if you're going to attend that so I thought that there was something in what you were saying and I was like okay just only in regards to accommodations correct okay all right please see at the end of the day please see Miss Rita with everything we got you miss Rita all right so the mo the motion is on the floor is uh all in favor aye all right all right any oppose any abstentions here and none motion carries board members uh please reach out to Ms Rita for any further updates and please come back and tell us what you learned so that we can share information the

136last part is social adjourn motion to adjourn move on move by Mr bennahan seconded by second second by Miss cashmere all in favor aye any opposed any abstentions hair and none motion carries board members have a good night also Mr Bennett is asking board members to come together with the superintendent and take our first picture of the year if you're interested who's asking why who does foreign