001good evening everyone this is a call to order for the Bridgeport Board of Education meeting on Monday May 22nd 2023 at 6 30 PM we are currently at Bridgeport Regional aquaculture Science and Technology Center I have never read that out loud so I always just call it Aqua but we are here um at this moment we'll ask everyone to please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance thank you all Mr secretary will call thank you manager good evening everyone um so we're Alan Ms Christine Baptist Paris Preston Bobby Brown it's a Keisha Casimir this is David gallon Mr Michael macaron president Mr Joseph where is it Mr Robert Trevor thank you Mr secretary I don't see any pseudo-representative oh I do uh student Representatives please say your name in the school you attend and then feel
002free to start your report Isabella sorry give me one second sure biotech let's get a ptso sponsors that was held on May 4th with participating in board games in a volleyball games a blood drive yeah Isabella you are are you driving we're kind of getting you in and out yeah I'm in a car but I'm not driving oh okay so um you could try again and see if it comes through clear okay I'll leave and I'll come back okay thank you other than that I'm sorry about that Jaleel oh yeah um I'm from Mooring Harding High School and my name is Joel Stewart Harding has many upcoming end of the year event activities on May 31st we're holding our law and finance fear many Professionals in different organizations on the law community service and business
003Fields will meet with our students at the gym several students from our law and business classes would be presenting their Capstone projects on a in our debate team will be holding speed debates for all the students to take part in on due for June 1st we're also holding a medical career fair the medical magnet program will be hosting different medical professionals in community health organizations that will have Partnerships with students from the CNA and other Medical classes will be presenting their Capstone projects as well as their educating students on the opportunities within medical programs at Harding on June 2nd in the partnership with the student council Harding will hold our annual field day and for our students and facility to bond and celebrate another successful school year we'll be also holding a special celebration of
004Mr Brown who will be leaving as a principal at the end of the year we want to say thank you to Mr Brown for all the hard work and dedication to our school for the last nine years we're we are going to miss him in the Juniors demand that he comes back to attend the graduation year finally on June 8th and 9th we will celebrate our seniors with a special outdoor senior celebration and final senior breakfast thank you thank you so much I see uh Julia yes hello how are you um it was Julia Strait and I the student representative for Bridgeport Military Academy um so what's new is that seniors had their prom last Friday the students were addressed to the nines and had a great time celebrating with their classmates and our annual
005fun day is planned for this Friday with a rock climbing call different sports games and a dunk tank the njrotc is having its change of command Ceremony this Thursday current students in leadership positions will pass their role into new Cadets and all Cadets are getting ready for finals and counting down to summer vacation um and our military ball is going to be June 9th this is the second annual military ball and this week if I'm not mistaken seniors should be presenting their Capstone as well and I also believe that this is going to be my last meeting if I'm not mistaken um so it was a pleasure being able to speak with everyone and I hope that everyone has a evening thank you thank you so much and thank you for serving on the board
006um at this moment there are no other student Representatives um and if one does come back we will make sure that they're able to present um there is no oh there's one more yeah sorry I'm also a representative okay go right ahead okay so my name is Brenda ronza I'm representing basic high school um I'd like to start with news and soccer uh senior Joelle Miranda earned a full-right Scott soccer scholarship to the University of Bridgeport another outstanding member of the soccer team senior Malik Coram will be attending the Sombra College in Britain congratulations Joelle and Malik we wish you all the best in your college and Sports careers oh we also have news on recent trips 30 of our Juniors attended the Houston Community College careers in manufacturing Exposition on May 4 with a
007projected 2 million vacant manufacturing jobs by 2028 was reported in news in recent years our school is encouraging students with an interest in the field to prepare to fill some of those future vacancies on April 21st Cedar students went to Fairfield University to see their production of the play eurodice a retelling of the Orpheus myths from iridosis point of view after the play students were able to participate in a q a session with the actors and director they discussed the rehearsal process finding their character how they deal with stage fright and more on April 28th Cedar music and Visual Arts students went to Westport count or country playhouse's production of the musical in misbehaving a review of Music set in Harlem Renaissance there was a life jazz band and the director's reimagined musical to simulate
008different exhibits in a museum so students were able to see all the art forms combined in one production afterwards students participated in Q a with the cast and crew discussing their journey to Cedar favorite movements in their career how they stay in shape stay healthy and more finally we have some events on May 5 on May 5th basically TSO held a celebration of Cinco de Mayo with the goal of educating attendees about this important day in Mexican history participants enjoyed an evening filled with great cultural entertainments food books gifts and much more and finally various students attended prom on May 12th which took place at Anthony's Ocean View in New Haven thank you thank you Isabella are you ready to come back yes I'm sorry about earlier but yes no you're fine so hi good
009evening my name is Isabella and I'm here representing Fairchild wheeler biotech in the past few weeks we hosted a ptso sponsored screen free night that was held on May 4th with students and parents participating in board games and a volleyball game no phones were allowed we also had a blood drive that was held on May 5th with over 40 participants we had our annual prom on May 11th for our seniors and our juniors and lastly schedules were posted for final exams so students and teachers are getting ready for finals and projects and that's all I have for you today thank you so much I believe that is all of our student Representatives if I missed anyone please let me know all right um the next item is public comment there's no one here for public
010comment um no one left their uh names for sign up so we'll move on to approval of meeting minutes the first one is special meeting for May 4th 2023 is there a motion to approve question to approve the special reading minutes dated May 4th 2023. is there a second second by Mr traber moved by Mrs okolovic second by Mr traber are there any uh questions Corrections anything all right all in favor uh any opposed any abstentions motion carries the next item is regular meeting May 8th 2023 is there a motion to approve well don't you have before you prove that it's possible they can be tabled that minute because I didn't have the chance I'll be very busy to translate because I believe that's the day we're supposed to translate people talking in Spanish so
011I don't know if it's possible with the permission of you and in the whole board we can table or we can approve it and then I'll send it to you all to translate it's up to the board you know I spoke with uh with the Chinese coming from you guys okay so we can table that until that tonight the tonight today I can translate what happened that thing in Spanish okay I'll make the motion okay motion to postpone the regular meeting minutes dated May 8th 2023 till the next minute to the next regular meeting second by Mr macaron all in favor there was supposed to be discussion okay any discussion about the meeting potentially table in the meat in minutes I have a question the meeting minutes are transcribed just like our ordinary minutes right
012so it was the English translation we're not doing a Verbatim line by line of what's being said it's normally our minutes are a summary so what is it in the summary that needs to be translated Mr bennahan thank you mother Jim um what the if some song word was not translated correctly it was some word that was not supposed to be not say it correctly so that's why I didn't have the chance because I would be busy about meetings in my doctor's appointment that I want to be clear the message of this parent of the Spanish people give it to us so it's word that was not saying and they need to be corrected for that so I want to be sure for the record it's actually the message for all these parents for adult
013education who I didn't worry about it that I went to the to that meeting but none of our meeting minutes are verbatim like United States question to Mr Denton responses it was not found it was not translate like I said word in Spanish the way it was to read they didn't never say the way it's supposed to be and when I did my minutes when I translate I will use to see the difference maybe we should just use our translation services then because they're supposed to have a translucent um service that day I really send it to his parents two days in advance I believe something happened was a good about like a communication that day but for the next time we will be ready for that time you know for something like that happening
014people on the board with the skills to speak two languages maybe something I missed any other questions concerned in the translation of the meeting minutes all right it's always going to be verbatim translated from everything set from the YouTube recording yeah YouTube exactly I'm gonna uh I'll translate and I will send it to me they can sing it to the bilingual Department to say the correct you know the word exactly they're supposed to be out and telling you know to the community and from there you know and then with the job that we'll put in in a minute the way supposed to be I just want the message exactly what is current Spanish you know the community everybody know what they say any further discussion so there's a motion to table all in favor all
015right I suppose no one upstairs one oppose Miss Baptiste Perez extensions uh we will be tabling the meat in minutes thank you for uh May 8th thank you the next one is the Chairman's report um I would like to share that the board has met with the search firm uh we the search room has gotten us down from 19 candidates and we ended up with five candidates from the five candidates we have moved forward with the four and uh recently one has dropped out so now we have three candidates that will be moving forward for the semi-finals has more information around this and we get closer to finalizing everything we will announce further instructions or further details but just want to give everyone an update on where we are with this uh superintendent search all
016right now we'll move to committee reports and referrals uh the first one is education diversity equity and inclusion chaired by Mr sakolave yes the committee did not meet in the interim um as we're getting closer to the end of the school year with the superintendent search and various other committees and graduations coming up we have a little trouble finding a date so we may be meeting in August I can't find another date are there any referrals for this committee all right the next committee is finance uh Chair by Mrs sokovic yes the finance committee met on May 11th um we discussed we spoke to this to a city representative Representatives about having a lobbyist the city seemed pretty much dead Cent against it but in their arguments they convinced us even more that we do
017in fact need a lobbyist of Our Own um in discussions with gray City Schools I have to believe I forwarded you all the emails that they actually most big city districts use their own lobbyists because oftentimes there's a conflict between what the city wants and what the boards of Education want so we've got an RFP on the agenda to be approved today coming up on the agenda and also we discussed the lighthouse and we found that the lighthouse was get was actually benefiting to the tune of approximately five hundred thousand dollars in rental fee waivers and we're going to be looking at that on governance are there any referrals to finance Finance all right the next one is governance this governance committee also met um we reviewed the school building policy which I just referred
018to which includes um certain certain Community groups get waivers of which Lighthouse is one of them they currently come compensate Us in an amount of seventy five thousand dollars and through prior discussions they were complaining about being charged too much for toilet paper so it's definitely time to revisit what Lighthouse pays in Pays in rent and other people for free so it's under consideration at the next meeting we should have representatives from Lighthouse come to us to explain why we should subsidize a city program where the city gets twice as much funding as this as our non-profit organization and also we discussed the student discipline policy and a new cyber bullying policy which will be further discussed at the next meeting and fleshed out on got an update on the school moving policy uh from
019the small work group and we're going to be continuing work on that until we can put together something comprehensive to present to the board and we finally discussed the whole school agreement for um achievement first school which is the agreement with the chart I'm Charter management organization apparently this is a state statute which we were supposed to always be following but this is the first time in my six years that I've ever seen this come before the board and it's a approximately a 1.4 million dollar contract between Achievement First Incorporated and Achievement First School so and that's something we we just get to comment on as a board and we should have probably had commented on this we've got six Charter Schools I don't know if they all got Charter magnet management organizations but this
020is the first I've seen in the six years so hopefully we'll be seeing more going forward and I believe superintendent parenting forward to the state and I don't know if we received any information back but the last time I checked nothing back yet all right are there any referrals for this committee are we going to meet again yes I apologize and I missed that on the last one too uh finance will be June 14th and governance June 15. thank you um the next committee is Health safe health safety and Facilities Chair by Miss Baptist Perez health safety health safety and Facilities committee met on May 9th here at aquaculture school there was a presentation of an award of an HVAC Grant we recently received uh there was discussion and possible action regarding how to move
021forward with the remaining Arps funds um and that should have been on the agenda for today so I'll make sure it's available for the next meeting um there was building reports for Hall in Edison school I'll reiterate the message that is sent there those School building facilities itself are extremely old has not been updated since World War II um we had a brief discussion looking at the capacity versus enrollment for that school and there were strong suggestions that if budget cuts had to be made it would be those two particular facilities would be of interest if buildings were to be closed uh we also had a discussion um further discussion regarding a clear and consistent district-wide policy for facilities usage during all sporting events um that again came through several instance instances at different facilities
022during sporting events where things got out of hand or at different high school buildings where students weren't allowed to enter so a lot of ideas came out or discussion regarding maybe the use of I student IDs but that's going to take further fleshing out then it was a presentation of all the grants that the district are applying to or have applied to regarding physical and mental health and then there was a presentation on school resource officers their duties and roles in school outside of school and what they are doing to be have a what they're doing to have an actual partnership within our buildings and the next meeting I have to double check with all the upcoming superintendent search meetings and see if it can be coordinated before the next regular meeting thank you are
023there any referrals to this committee Karen Nunn the next one is students oh the next one is personnel and contracts Personnel contracts has not met in the interim we will meet on um next week which is uh May 30th at 6 30 no 6 p.m at Central High School um are there any referrals for this committee all right the next one is students and Families and the student family will be made 2020 three um that's a Thursday I said the last time is going to be Waterville school but now because that day resources have an event and so it's going to be instructed high school at six o'clock any referrals to this committee all right last one is teaching and learning teaching and learning has not met an interim um again I have to look
024at the schedule to figure out what day is going to work to actually hold it but I think it conflicts with graduation but I'll have to double check any referrals to referrals to this committee all right now we'll move on to the superintendent's report Miss Perrin good evening um first thing on the um tonight's report was the basic mbma update um today there there was the work group stakeholder meeting that was held this afternoon this was the first one um with a Dr Baldwin in various stakeholders I'm out of that meeting um there was um some conversation in regards to um whether there's going to be an academy academy model versus a school within a school so that started the discussions um they also talked about a visit to the Dan Berry Junior ROTC program
025that Dr Baldwin and both um Dr raiola and Mrs attended um just to get some ideas in regards to Pathways and to be able to create some ideas around what that may look like moving into this new building and they also talked about school climate culture and review of school construction plans the next meeting is planned to be on June 14th at basic high school at 12 pm there was an all uh um a meeting at the adult education site at St Michael's on May 18th on kasu Street to discuss the relocation of the new site and new facility um as it stands uh we will remain at kassu Street site through October 31st 2023 and then relocate to a new site beginning in November of 2023. more information will be shared regarding the new
026site once confirmed for nursing um scoliosis screening um is still going on for grades five seven and eight for assessments our grade seven and eight students will be taking their Dibbles assessment that will be happening um through the end of this week as well as grades two to eight on their hmh assessment for math grade seven and eight will engage in the Reading Plus survey which will be taking place May 30th through June 2nd the schools the student School climate survey is scheduled for June 5th through 9th for grades three to eight currently in regards to assessments for our next Generation science we are at 93 completion and S back at 96 completion so we're still working on doing makeups for those as well next um I have a list of non-funded Grant agreements um
027these are moving forward for school year 23 24. so um Council of churches uh will offer mentoring and short-term support to students in need of counseling this includes assistance for youth facing issues with family school or the Juvenile Justice System Council of churches will provide individual and family needs assessments workshops and tangible assistance in mentoring assistance to school Personnel is also available and this is a district-wide initiative ucom college and careers UConn college and careers advisors work with guidance counselors and high school students to provide assistance for all things College related College advisors provide needed supports to students as they explore their post-secondary options and begin the college application process that will be moving forward with basic and Harding Elevate Bridgeport will support Bridgeport Public School students through four program areas one non-accredited classes two
028mentoring three adventure and four College and Career the Elevate curriculum focuses on leadership development character education life skills and Service Learning and that is at basic the University of Bridgeport slash Goodwin student teaching agreement between Western Governors University and Bridgeport Public Schools the child provide course offerings to Bridgeport Public Schools districts approved high school students in a three or four credit dual enrollment course program for 22-23 school year and that is across the district the Western Governors University through this collaborative effort will provide Bridgeport Public School Employees flexible personalized learning Pathways to higher education bachelor's and master degree certifications and micro credentials through wgu's Innovative online university in applicable WGU Affiliates together we seek to provide a streamlined approach and expand access to higher education WGU is pleased to provide continuing education options to BPS
029employees and staff in support of employee employee development goals and that is district-wide as well Southern Connecticut State University student teaching agreement between Southern Connecticut State University and Bridgeport Public Schools is in effect for next year the Yukon teacher residency student teaching agreement between Uconn and BPS public schools for next year as well read Squad is a program that connects amenti in grades one to three with a mentor in grade 7 to 12 to meet weekly with the goal of bringing students readings below grade level to meet benchmarks and this will be taking place at Dunbar Discovery waltersville and high Horizons build on through service build on students improve their academic engagement empowerment sense of possibilities and personal and social development the purpose of this is to offer 400 BPS students the opportunity to participate
030and build on service learning programs additionally four build on SLP staff members will work with Educators and administrators from BPS to ensure youth are connected to Services happening at BMA Harding and Fairchild wheeler campus bpfe offers the mentoring for academic achievement and college career success um it's called the max program to all Bridgeport high school students students are partnered with the mentor and provided support services at the Navigator high school and post-secondary opportunities that's at high schools across the district today's students tomorrow's teachers will implement the circle teacher preparation training model tstt will provide program Services personnel and material necessary to assist the district in establishing and delivering the program tsgt will conduct weekly counseling mentoring and training sessions forms and workshops and provide materials food and facilities for such training activities and events additionally
031teacher mentors will provide stipends as well as student stipends when applicable at Central High School Child and Family Guidance Center Child and Family Guidance Center will work with bridgeport's pregnant and parenting teens by offering them wraparound services and home visits for parenting education and support that is district-wide big brothers and big sisters Connecticut will partner with Bridgeport Public Schools to promote academic and social Success Through the mental relationship in providing ongoing support Mentor mentee our program cultivates social emotional and academic growth and that is district-wide as well thank you some other pieces that were not on my report that I need to add I just wanted to share um I know I shared last month about bright spots in the district as far as attendance is concerned right now um that was through March of
0322023 right now for April through April 2023 Bridgeport holds um its chronic absenteeism at 30 percent which is still lower than its durgs of Hartford Britain New Haven and New Britain excuse me New Haven in Waterbury so Hartford New Britain and New Haven are at 38 Waterbury at 33 the state of Connecticut is 22 as a whole upcoming events the technology showcase um took place today on May 22nd at Fairchild wheeler campus we have our city-wide spelling bee coming up on May 24th at high Horizons from 6 to 9 pm um our quarterly recognition ceremony taking place on May 31st 2023 at Harding at 6 pm a math meet for our grade seven and eight students will be held on June 1st from 9 to 1 pm at Sacred Hearts West Campus Auditorium our Pac
033ptso Roundtable taking place on June 7th 6 p.m at Columbus school we will be hosting a job fair on June 3rd from 11 to 3 P.M at Central High School and of course our high school graduation day June 12 2023. we also will be hosting a mathematics summer enrichment program for grades five and sit on five and six the stem Explorations for young minds is a program where students explore science and math concepts while building simple machines propelled by ear and solar energy students will learn Concepts associated with propulsion and math tools together record and study outcomes obtained from Hands-On activities students will also work in small teams to design more efficient vehicles using common household items throughout the program activities will build students knowledge leading to the construction of a solar powered vehicle this
034program is available to students who have just completed crates five and six it will be held July 5th through July 21st from 8 30 to 12 30 p.m at bataya Tisdale and watersville schools applications will be distributed to all schools um Kudos um congratulations to miss my Kia Stovall um a Grade Three teacher at read school who happens to be in the audience tonight um who received the John McCormick award for teaching Excellence the Connecticut education association's highest award congratulations Miss Stovall you're welcome congratulations to Fairchild wheelers aerospace's Zachary Allen who was selected from tens of thousands of students entered in the annual math con it was selected as a finalist and competed on Saturday May 6 with the other top one percent of those entered in Chicago Zach finished fourth nationally for all Juniors
035nice job Zachary and then lastly I just want to say congratulations um to our uh law day debate winners from Fairchild wheeler Margaret Carlson and Thomas Donnelly Park City prep Anika Fazal I believe in mianna Singleton um and then runners-up from Central magnet Latonya Ferguson and Clementine natto and blackal and Amari Davis thank you Miss Perrin I'll open up the floor for board members to ask questions or comments for Miss parents report I'll start to the left of me Mr bennahan thank you madam chair I have a question for you I'm David I'm just about then you know about master high school and BMA and we we have a good meeting you know we talk a lot of things especially you know I'm giving a lot of questions a lot of comments but it was
036good but that's a lot of concerns that uh as US Cell to Mrs Baldwin um I will tell her the question and comment because coming from parents starving students you know about the situation about put to school together what's going to be the cons the concerns so like I said I'm going to say for the record I'm going to keep saying then you know I'm not agreeing to have to school together but I know we can have much thing better to have to school separable can give more let's say give up a BMA I know best in high school we're going to have a lot of um programs it's going to be amazing and I'm very happy for that our kids deserve that but I'm trying concerned about VMA trying to help them and giving
037more staff more you know more program and stuff like that so I know it's going to be a process like I told me that that the building in the today in the committee because this is the beginning it's almost for two years we're going to talk about this it's a lot of things good things coming negatives coming you know back and forth it's going to be a big process but I just want to let them know for the record we started this reading and I'm concerned about my staff and the students and parents don't let they say that for the record thank you no more upcoming and I'm sure thank you Mr safalovan uh no comments or questions Miss Baptiste Perez a question who attended which stakeholder group was the meeting with so there was
038a group Dr Baldwin um was there as well there was um invitation I believe to Mr benihan who attended for a board member and then there were several different individuals who were invited from Community groups so the individuals who signed up at The Forum um so there was one invited from each of those that were listed on the sign up sheet we didn't have any of the state reps or the mayor available to attend since they were there for the groundbreaking did they attend the Forum so this wasn't the form this one I mean the stakeholder group so no they didn't attend the stakeholder group that I'm aware of Dr Baldwin four questions asked during the groundbreaking uh since we had the opportunity with the mayor being there for follow-up discussions regarding the resilience project
039and all that no uh then I just have a question for most of the district-wide initiatives um well how is it marketed uh like is it at the beginning of the school year is it consistent blasts for example like the Council on of churches just so that way families know they have access to uh all these programs are in the schools I feel like some of them know especially the high school programs but uh for like the rest of the buildings just to know that this is like a consistent resource that's available um that's the question okay so what I'm asking that the principals do is that they're communicating with their monthly Communications that they send out so whether it's through a newsletter whether it's something that's posted on their website so people are aware
040a lot of these things here have to do with of course the social emotional pieces so a lot of that comes through the social work and the guidance counselors as well then I had a question regarding the University of Bridgeport Goodwin uh it's going to be free credits for our students there's no payment Association these are all non-funded so there's no monetary agreements for our students for those they don't have to pay anything okay uh this may be silly but is it transferable so if a student takes the credits at UB but then decides to go to Sacred Heart will they be able to transfer those credits are made depend on the institution it may depend on the institution so I can't say that um in total truth that it would be I don't know
041okay and the university is that plus well are for we'll provide BPS employees flexible uh it's flexible but will BPS employees get like a discount a sliding scale will certain courses be free so this specifically with this um they're looking at providing a discount for so most of the grants that we've gone into in regards to getting access to additional credentials they're either at a discount or some type of sliding scale and it's this exclusively for Bridgeport Public School Employees this one is yes that's all I have thank you thank you Mr Mac um Mr traber then Mr macron sorry on the adulthood uh it's extended now to October 31st can you last time we met we were looking at July 1st right so this we were a thousand dollars a day after July 1st
042correct so um what we were working on doing is trying to create a short-term lease um so we had an idea of where the students would be able to go to so the church um did agree to doing a short-term lease with uh BPS to extend beyond that June 30th deadline to um October 31st which it would give us another four months in the same location for the constituents while we engage in the process we're still finding another location that is ADA Compliant and so forth um so that they have agreed to that in the interim Mr macaron I have no questions thank you all right that is I have okay Mr bennahan no champ thank you I just want to go up on Mr Barbershop about the allocation and um I will stay in
043that meeting we went to the meeting we have a meeting this fall off we already see I posted I was more concerned about the cameras you know to let you know that where how when you know communication let's put it this way it was lack of communication now they know they understand of course the problems are not going to close it's the building so now that's why they extended to October so they can have days parents they know what they do they're trying to remember they got kids you know it have a process then one day to other you want to be just like that so that's when you let you know at least the parent they understand that won't come down now yes yeah I I I I understood that I understand that now
044uh Mr Monahan it's good that they've done that I agree with you it gives us more the transition we allow for the communication to be improved um I just didn't know how it changed from the last meeting where we were going to pay a thousand dollars a day after July 1st so I just I assumed it was some sort of agreement we'd reached but it wasn't in the report thank you oh well the contents of the four month lease extension be at least revealed to the board so we can look at because part of it too was that from what I can recall we were responsible for repairs to the building and the original lease and so I'm just curious to see what we came up for the four month extension and what we're going
045to be responsible for there and the costs so the costs would basically I will share that with the board but the cost will remain the same for the rental agreement which was I believe it was about ten thousand three hundred and eighty nine dollars I want to say per month um there has been a cap on the um number of repairs that they can ask for us um with a Max of five thousand dollars per month and we make the determination in conjunction with facilities whether this is something that needs to be done at the time to be able to function appropriately so those are some big ticket items but I will share the lease all right if there are no further questions or Miss Perrin we'll move on to um old business the first
046item is discussion and second read replacing in its entirety policy 91 7d1 remote board member participation in person and committee meeting this this act this document sorry guys is in your um your meet in minutes um we lost a quorum so we have to wait until those that have stepped out the room can come back so just give us a second all right Quorum is back um where was I um we are back at Old business um discussion and pop discussion and secondary replacing in its entirety policy 9171 remote board member participation in person and committee meetings um this is your item Mr sokolovic so if you want to get started yes I'd like to start off by it as I do always with these long things that have been read once before I would
047like to make a motion to wave the second read in its entirety and focus on the one change made before we've moved on to the next motion too is there a second by Mr traber are there any discussions comments or concerns is there any comments or concerns this is the way the cave suggested language that we read through the last meeting we're just gonna yeah just a little even just read the one change that was made and inserted on bullet 11 which did make it into okay there are no further questions all in favor uh any opposed any abstentions here and then Mr sakovic yes and I'll move on to well I guess I'll read it first number 11 bullet was added as discussed at the last meeting under wait let me just go back
048sorry by the three 9321-2b does c it is CS thank you and number 11 was n and it is entirely new language added to the cape to tailor it to our board's needs and wants as this reads as follows the chairperson of the board or the chair of the committee May participate participate remotely in an in-person meeting but when doing so may not function as the chair for the in-person meeting in order for the chairperson or of the board or the chair of the committee to participate remotely he she must designated must designate another board member who will be physically present in the meeting room to act as chair of the reading with that I will make a motion to approve the motion to approve 9171 remote board meeting participation in in-person and committee meetings
049as presented in the second read is there a second by Mr tree discussion I have a comment Miss baptiste's parents so if it's a committee and hypothetically Mrs kalvik Miss Brown and myself was on it let's say Miss Brown is the chair of that committee she's she can only come in remotely and Mr bennahan happens to be in the meeting she can assign Mr binahan over committee members to to lead that although he's not on committee and doesn't have approved I believe that might be it hold on one second please then we might need to yeah yeah and I think the word I think you've got a very good point there um perhaps you can make a motion to amend the word board because we do have a process for the board to somebody pick
050up because it could just be the vice chair or the secretary or what have you and if nobody's here or somebody else can be appointed and I've just replaced that word board for committee committee member chairperson of the boy Kurt another Committee Member correct she must correct yes so motion two amend by striking the word board in the one two three fourth line and inserts committee second by Miss Baptiste Perez any discussion Mr traper yeah hi it is awesome okay um wouldn't we be better off just saying remember because if you change it to committee members it's not if you see the preceding sentence or the opening of the sentence is the chairperson of the board or the chair of the committee we have two different roles and so we're trying to cover that either
051with member or we have to repeat member of the board or member of that committee and be more specific and me I'm recommending just to lead board and make it member there's a slight problem with that because on the committee only community members have powers to vote and say something and they're not members that's my point they're not a Committee Member right so they can't run the meeting so it has to be so to be explicitly stated I believe that's a better option and I withdraw my second change the language sure sure what do you want to see just make two separate sentences in order for the chair of a committee to participate remotely he or she must designate another Committee Member who will be physically present in the meeting to act as chair of
052that committee meeting period in order for the chairperson of the board to particip to participate remotely um designation shall fall in the order of command Vice chair then secretary and if neither are available a member of the board who is physically present in the meeting shall act as chair of the regular board meeting then that way it hits the committee issue and it clarifies that we already have a chain of command but who leads the a meeting if the chair is not physically present but if in this particular situation let's say Miss Brown is not here and I'm sticking out and Mr bennahan is sticking out but there's still Quorum for a meeting and Miss Brown is online then she can designate a regular board member to run the regular meeting because we all have
053access to that material thanks make sense um I do withdraw a second I've got to throw my first my uh Federal emotion myself I will draw my motion could you please make that in a form of emotion so we can prove it motion to amend uh policy 93 21.2 C 11. of sentence full sentence number two to state in order for the chairperson of a committee to participate remotely he or she must designate another Committee Member who will be physically present in the meeting room to act as chair of the committee meeting period and add another sentence in order for the chairperson of the Board of Education or for the board uh to uh for sorry let me read that again in order for the chairperson of the board uh to participate remotely first um
054destination will fall in the line of order a vice chair and if Vice chair is not available then secretary if Vice chair and secretary are not available then the chair shall appoint a board member who will be physically present in the meeting room to act as chair of the meeting the regular meeting second any discussion here and I were voting on the amendment all right all in favor aye aye any opposed any abstentions paranon now we will on the main motion as is as stated as amended by Miss Baptist Press all in favor hi hi any opposed any abstentions hearing on motion carries I believe this parent was writing it down it everyone else all right so the next item is we're moving to new business and for the news business item is review and
055discussion of score sheets for the superintendent evaluation of interim superintendent Alicia and Perrin um before we go all the way into it I would just like to state that board members were asked to send in their evaluations I have not completed the score sheets only because I have not received all of them um what we can do and it's up to the board is we can discuss them and then once I have received them all I can tally it up and present it back to the board it's up to the board um and not everyone participated there are two members uh no three members who chose not to participate due to them not having prior work experience with Miss Perrin so it left on a few board members who did so that's about four people
056five people that were able to participate all right so I will open up the floor for discussion anyone would like to start for those that have completed the score sheets I may ask a question of yes superintendent first are you comfortable with so few board members having filled out the score sheets having this discussion at this point in time or would you rather wait for everybody to do their due diligence and responsibilities before you hear from them prefer if it was a holistic um discussion in Sharing but I will defer to you all well in that case I'd like to make a motion to postpone this item until all School sheets are and then completed and tabulated is there a second thank you second by Mr bennahan any questions comments concerns I have a comment
057yes Miss Baptiste Perez as a board do we realistically think everyone's going to complete their score sheets do you want to repeat it again I I don't realistically think everybody's going to complete their score sheets since everybody doesn't show up to meetings and then it I'm pretty sure what we have is the traditional Quorum that we how many are outstanding if three have deferred and I'm going to make the Bold assumption that is three new members that have a deferred correct and how long has this been out I mean I was late with submitting mines but I think it was by a day so that's been a few weeks now okay I guess my my comment is I don't think it's realistic you would probably have a holistic approach from active members of the board
058than to wait for inactive members of the board Mr Circle yeah I don't disagree with your sentence the board members sentiments however there's also another portion that needs to be completed as Miss chairperson Brown has been waiting for these submissions to complete the tally and to formulated into a report as a one report for the whole board to look at and I think it's reasonable at least to give Miss Brown the opportunity with the scores that she does have to compute to compile something as we've done in the past with our superintendent evaluations foreign yeah no that makes complete sense um oh I'm just very confident that it would be a holistic View and so putting time aside to actually compile the data I'm okay with postponing for I'm not okay with postponing for absent
059board members in the hopes that they have been watching videos and can fairly assess evaluation I'm sure that the members that have submitted their evaluations have actively participated on the board okay so I'll admit my motion to reflect that and oh but you didn't where was your motion second sorry okay so Mr bennahan could you with Gloria's second please and because I'd like a cleaner yes drawing my motion I'll make a motion to postpone pending the compilation of the scores currently in possession of Miss chairperson Brock is there a second oh Mr oh let the record reflect Mr gallenis join the meeting okay now where it was is there a second Miss Baptist um any comments or concerns Mr gazan you have a comment Mr macaron you have a comment I do not no comment
060from me okay all right Mr Trooper yeah I just have a question um I'm I'm assuming from these this discussion that we know who hasn't submitted we do and how many have not been submitted so if we're counting the board members who chose not to participate because they're new to the board um another board member has also said he does not want to participate and then we're missing uh Miss Allen and Mr binahans and that's it okay all right so it's now we can vote on it there's no further comments all in favor hi any opposed any abstentions Karen none it has been postponed I will make sure that it's on the next meeting the next item is discussion and possible approval to assist to issue solicitation for the annual food food service bids for
0612023 2024 school year um this item was requested by Mr Steele um the information has just been submitted to our portals um however we can discuss it if board members feel comfortable but I do know that you all have asked for time to make sure that any items that is bought before the board has given you guys enough time to read them and it's currently not in our it's in our portal now but was not in our portal during the week so I would leave it up to the board to share your thoughts and concerns on this before moving forward what will happen sorry go ahead Miss Baptist Perez we'll have enough time to um solicit bids if we defer to the next meeting correct say it again we'll have enough time if we postpone
062this to the next meeting that it wouldn't have an impact on I'm gonna defer to Mr Steele what is the timeline on this um my timeline is July 1st okay we do have a meeting in June so it could be possibly table till then um Mr sokolovic yeah is there any changes to the RFP from other than the stand the standard language I'm sorry please repeat yeah are there any changes to the RFP other than the standard language and uh front of the middle Food Service that we get every year no it's just it's the same language as every year we just update the food options that we're gonna offer for the next school year okay thank you any other comments concern in this potential postponement I I will just say that due to new
063board members being on the board and I have not gone through this I would you know I would support us postponing this because they are not new to this process so that would just be my thoughts all right would someone like to make a motion motion to postpone and second by Mr traber I am finished right now sorry sorry go ahead um motion to postpone uh discussion and possible proven to issue a solicitation that the animal Food Services food service figs for the 23-24 school year until next regular board meeting would you like to okay second by Mr traber any discussion for the discussion all right all in favor any opposed any abstentions hearing on motion carries we'll make sure Mr still that it's on the next agenda um the next item is discussion and
064possible approval for rewarding Vision RFP going from VSP to iMed for our active staff members benefits this item is also inside of your portal I'm not sure who will be presenting on this item uh good evening uh board members uh superintendent parent and other leadership uh this is Ulysses Rogers uh director of payroll and benefits for the port of Ed um since we are everyone's ready um do you mind me sharing my screen here yes Sam he's all set yeah is Mrs um Ulysses are you sharing it or is Sam okay it's up there I'm sharing it here okay uh here's my presentation on uh the City of Bridgeport and the bridge Board of Ed Vision RFP plan presentation uh for today a little bit about the background the City of Bridgeport and the Board
065of Ed have gone through the RFP process for the vision coverage for active employees we're acquired we are required to go out to bid every three years the bids were assessed based upon plan design and cost there was also a component to allow for the employee to buy up for additional service at the employee cost uh the British report of Ed has approximately 860 subscribers uh total subscribers that are under the plan is just over 1900. uh the plan does not cover teachers and administrators which is our certified staff members here on the slide this is our current three-year cost uh claim and a fee cost strictly for uh the Boe here on this slide are the bidders that were uh took part in the RP process we had Anthem iMed National Vision Administration in
066our current incumbent which is VSP and our iMed has been deemed a successful bidder based upon plan design and savings uh for this particular RFP in choosing I made the city and the Boe we're realizing approximate Savings of 77 000 over a three year period the boe's approximate savings it will be between 27 and 30 000 over the next three year period of course the savings does estimate does not account for any utilization impact to this that utilization changes these numbers will possibly fluctuate up or down and today with the city with the boe's approval we can move forward with the city with the imid plan that will take effect on July 1st of 2023. and that's it thank you Mr Ulysses Mr Rogers um I'll open it up for board members to share thoughts
067comments or concerns I'll start let me I'm going to go down my list Mr Mr Benny Hinn first one now okay Mr sokolovic yes um I don't recall seeing this at contracts I don't recall CNS in governance this is not actually doesn't seem like an RFP it seems like this city once again went ahead and signed a contract on behalf of the Board of Education Without our input am I mistaken no they're they're actually waiting based upon the figures that we're I'm presenting today where we nothing has been determined we're waiting and the city is waiting on your approval and how did we determine the Board of Ed sheer versus the city share well over these just the estimated Savings of the 77 000 based upon the utilization and the overall head count uh like
068I mentioned earlier there's 1900 just over 1900 um non-certified staff members um that are using the vision plan uh 860 of them being uh Boe members we're going to realize approximately 27 to 30 000 in savings over that three year period and how much is the city saving um approximately forty seven thousand and how many employees in the city are benefiting from the eyeglasses this is probably from the a60 over I say about 1100. and also through those percentages work out thank you yeah well I'm just really I'm just reluctant to approve a contractors we we should have been in the initial RFP process this has happened before over and over again with the uh Medicare retiree savings and every everywhere we have a joint contract with the city over and over again the city
069shuts us out to the very last minute and last time we didn't have time because it was we wanted a gun I mean we need to be in the loop from the RFP process I'd be more comfortable if this was before committee so we could have a thorough discussion to ensure or everything's in proper I mean this is a regular board meeting we've been here over an hour first time we're seeing this once again and this is it's unacceptable for the city to keep bringing stuff to us like this and I'm not going to vote to approve this tonight I want to see that committee any further board members oh I'm sorry let me go back down my list Miss Baptiste Perez um I Echo the sentiments of Mr sukalovic to a certain extent um
070the big difference between this oh it's not a huge difference but one differentiating factor is that the city hasn't gone forward and executed the contract and no representative on behalf of the Board of Ed has approved it because that was the issue the last time with the retirees I vividly remember that but this is still also pretty late it would have been good to have noticed that the RFP was being issued how long um when was the RFP first issued Mr Ulysses uh was issued probably in January yeah it would have been nice to know in January RFP was being issued um this is completely ancillary but somewhat relevant I was like I like imet as a a provider I had to build it when I saw it it was going to beat out the
071rest in terms of savings um that's just a personal opinion I like the classes but um I understand your sentiments it would be a good because I'm sure there's other rfps that are coming up because this wouldn't come up again in three years and the board is subject to change so it's hard to keep this one at on my mind as coming up again during my term however um that's just the minor difference between this and the last contract is that it last contract was actually executed and this one hasn't but we should have been notified by January not May thank you Mr traber um first question Mr Rogers uh is it three years or five years it's three years one document says three one says five but that that was because we have the
072option to extend an additional two years one year extensions for two years but it's really a three-year contract okay so when it says we're required to go out to bid every three years it's really not every three years it's every three to five years well the contracts are normally three years but we can you can do it extensions twice that is correct okay and who requires us to go out to bid every three years or five years well we're since we we have joint um we shared uh benefits with the city it's part of this it's part of the city's RFP RFP uh process they manage the RFP profit process on their end and we go over we go we myself uh the city the city regulations rules Charter what requires no we what happens
073is the RFP goes out goes out stating that okay it's about to expire myself and the benefit team with the city will will go over um the RFP with our uh our consultant provider which is Siegel which does the overall analysis of the uh the claim the claims data the utilization the fees that are associated that's being charged to both the city and the Boe what we then we do once we receive the bids from the different um uh service providers we do a uh a a survey or scorecard based upon our um you know cost you uh Services provided um and what type of rebates or savings they can possibly provide to the city in Boe okay but I understand the process for an RFP what I asked was what requires the bidding every
074three years the city Charter the city regulations some legal requirements I believe it's part of the city Charter but I would have to check with uh our their benefit manager I am not I'm not sure and if I understand what you did just say in your explanation of how the process works you were aware of this in January yes so you didn't advise us of this in January that is correct so is it now clear that the board wishes to be advised of this kind of stuff absolutely timely basis absolutely and the uh 1900 or so total subscribers in the 860 board how many bargaining units is that uh it's approximately I'd say five bargaining units you have naij asked me um bcsa lyuna um caillu the nurses uh Union uh that are a part
075of that that is all affected by um uh this RFP um like I mentioned earlier within the presentation teachers and administrators to certified staff members are not eligible based upon their bargaining are not eligible to receive vision benefits so that they're not affected by they're not eligible they're not eligible to receive this benefit they have their own business no they have their own benefits they have their own village they don't have a vision benefit right they don't have a setlist right so I guess the last question that I would ask you is I'm assuming all of those this has all been run by those various bargaining units that's correct and they have voted to approve this the city is just waiting on our response for our approval if we need to push it back the
076city is prepared to push it back as well but we're looking to to possibly move forward as of July 1st thank you Mr um gallon any comments on this item no question in the comment just wish it would work to our attention um again I wasn't here in January but it seemed like we should have been broken before the tension it is a bit earlier uh I'm gonna want to reiterate the sentiment of my colleagues um but you know I just hope moving forward you know items such as the that require Court approval that was brought to our attention a bit earlier um in order so we can deliberate and look at the key components uh to determine what's best thanks thank you Mr macaron I agree with uh Mr Mr Gallon as well as
077Mr traber that this should have been uh we should have been notified of this earlier but I will go along whatever the board decides thank you Mr macaron um and I agree with all board members as well um this is not the first time that this has happened to us and I just think it's unfair when this item was brought to my attention I did ask would this be going through our specific committee to make sure um so you know in the future if there's any contracts at all rfps need to come through committee um so the board has appropriate time to review those items before presenting on them so I'm hoping that that process will fall in line with any and all committees involving rfps contracts mousse and everything else um Mr nope I
078have to give it to miss Baptist Perez and then I'll come back to you she had her here now go ahead um how much would it cost if we had extended VSP uh for the next school year or for the next year because it does include the City of Bridgeport versus iMed I understand the overall cost savings but what was that savings look like on an annual basis you want to know what the cost would be for I matter what the savings would be on an annual basis so I want to know what the cost for iMed would be for your if it was past year one versus extending the contract with VSP because we've only had VSP for three years correct and the choice was not to extend out the contract based upon the
079overall cost that uh VSP was trying to charge us the the over the overall cost for the next three year projection uh for vsb would come out to 000 for iMed it would come to 300 000. and that's that's a total for both the city and B Ridge Boe cost for the next three year period thank you Mr circle of it yes um who scored these who who scored these uh proposals myself in um city the city benefits manager usually we have quite a few more we usually got like four or five people scoring things if I'm not mistaken only two yeah I I still I still have a severe issue with this and seeing as he did say it is some time to push it back and we do have one more contracts committee
080coming up and one more board meeting coming up this year that we this time since we're not under the gun and holding people's medical benefits hostage like last time people would have lost benefits they would have lost out on money this time that's not the case until we do it properly and we put basically the city under the gun they're going to keep doing this over and over again so I would like to make a motion to Commit This to the next uh contracts committee and for for a thorough vetting by the board since we are partners with the city on this we got to access true partners and have 50 50 in what we say on our contracts with the joint contracts with the city second by Mr bennahan any further discussion Miss Baptiste
081Perez but it's already been presented to the full board how about any questions whether we want to vet out we can submit that to Mr Ulysses and then just bring it back at the regular meeting because if we wait for contracts that's the one that doesn't have a death there were a few committee meetings including mines that don't have a definite date with our superintendent search okay well then that's fine I was I wasn't sure because I know I heard a few times because of the upcoming searches well then no that works all right Mr traber yeah and I would ask Mr Rogers to be at that committee meeting please Mr Rogers absolutely all right um if there are no further questions all in favor any opposed any abstentions hair and none it'll be added
082to contracts um the last agenda item is discussion and possible action on RFP to engage in lobbying service on behalf of Board of Education this is this item came out of Mr sakola's committee and I see um Mr pyres was online as well so good evening everyone Hi Mr pyrus this item came out of the finance committee and it's been referred to you for approval it's been discussed and vetted out but it's been in a nutshell this is a um the bridge board of education is seeking proposals from qualified lobbying Consultants experienced in serving public school districts who can provide lobbying services for the Bridgeport Board of Education lobbying Services would Encompass but not be limited to rendering advice and representation on the following maintaining relationships and develop alliances with the elected officials Community leaders
083and other relevant stakeholders researching and examining legislation and Regulatory proposals growing and executing lobbying strategies for the Bridgeport Board of Education attending legislative sessions and committee meetings at the state and local levels communicating Bridgeport Board of education's goals and objectives with community and governmental agencies in educating government officials in Bridgeport Board of Education members on lobbying strategies so this in the nutshell is basically what the goals and objectives would be for the the lobbying consultant any questions concerned thank you Mr Perez we'll go around the board I'll start this side give you guys some time I'm Mr traber no questions Miss baptis Perez um all right I'm mixed on this I see the need for it um to a certain extent because there is a disconnect with Communications with our Representatives uh up at Hartford
084in the Board of Education a part of B feels that we for the most part as elective officials and who have been designated this seat as board members we do have part and obligation to sit down and actually I'm not saying I'm the best at this but actually extend and have communications with the Bridgeport delegation um to know what's going on with the Bridgeport delegation and what's happening in Hartford um because I I heard the sentiments like both the city has this and it's there but then we don't have the communication uh I guess my hesitancy is that part of it as politicians because either we've been elected to this role or designated to this role um and this is a bit of a self-critique is how much have we done to actually Bridge those
085Communications before taking this step um and so that's that's my primary concern um with this is it's just a personal reflection of actually sitting down I know Miss Perrin had had the meeting with the Reps not too long ago but everyone didn't show up I couldn't make it to that meeting but it was it was live um but still um making those Communications and it's not only just us as a board reaching out but to the delegation also not reaching out to us so I do see part of the need but the as all elected officials we all should probably do better the two actually have those Communications it would be good if the state um reps before knowing that they're going to support something on the education committee reach out to at least the
086board chair or see to have a sit down with as many members as possible or even a state senator reach out to us with funding that's going to come out it is a community effort we're all elected by the people of Bridgeport and you know this does come down as a cost for communications and so it's almost like how much is it is actual personal ego not saying is us but um that's just my only hesitancy and reservation with this is as a city we should be doing better but then I understand that to a certain extent as a board member the board has been ignored I guess am I going around this yeah which is like uh go ahead oh yeah I'd like to respond to that that was actually discussed and it's a
087good point that we do need better Communications that was in fact discussed that was discussed at the community level with uh was constant figures and all that they suggest that those are some reasons why we don't don't need it but the two don't need to be mutually exclusive I reached out to our national group great City schools and almost nearly every city has their own lobbyists for the simple fact that sometimes there are very there are conflicts of interest between the city needs and the education needs sometimes they're not in place like we have our own lawyer we sometimes use utilize the City lawyer where we're are interested online and interested saving money the same could be done with the lobbyists the city has a lobbyist the lobbyist says what they do for the city
088is they talk to the city council and they talk to to reps and advocate for them but when it came down to us we didn't need them to talk to speak for us because they'll speak to I gave them examples if perhaps we wanted to put a minimum contribution increase required on localities and have a lower pass and if the mayor tells you you cannot Lobby for that what would you do I would listen to the mayor because the mayor pays my bills both the lobbying firm and the legislative analysis for the City of Bridgeport so if there's any conflict and something that we want versus what they want they're going to follow what the mega says that we will not have a voice up in Hartford at all even if our delegation doesn't agree
089with it if they get pressure from the mayor we can't reach out to the other delegates but a lobbyist says that ability to do so and made it clear that even though if we considering proceeding with the lobbyists we expect to be able to communicate with the city Lobby yourself with our city delegation and our state delegation regardless of all seven are all lobbyists thank you Mr bennahan any comments uh Mr macaron tree comments uh no uh I I agree with Mr sakolovic okay uh Mr Gellen any comments um this is this is a certainly a tricky one in my opinion I think you know um we started to go walking through them at the same time but I I think we should um look at fortifying um and cultivating relationships without delegation um and
090to see where we how we land there that's my personal opinion I would hate to you know um put a fork um in a relationship by you know you know kind of doing any other actions you know uh I think we should try to build Bridges first and um reach out to see if anything um any communication I'm not sure if we can have them we'll come to the um some of our board meetings to share updates with us and it may not be realistic but I'm you know I'm looking to just how do we as a as a board you know four to five in our cultivated relationship with our delegation that's my opinion thank you I have missed let the record reflect Miss Kashmir has joined us Ms Kashmir I'm not sure what
091part of the conversation you were able to to grab but would you like to have any comments concerning this no no comments thank you all right um I before I go to Mr Traver I'm going to share my thoughts um um just speaking and Miss Perrin can also learn her thoughts as well um I do believe I do hear both sides um what Miss Baptist Perez is saying and also what Mr sokolovic is saying um just sitting in this particular seat I've experienced items get brought before in Hartford before the Board of Ed has had any knowledge of it um and to me I felt in this seat to be able to provide the information back to the board felt out of the loop not knowing what's going on and I can't even tell my
092board members what state representatives are allocating or supporting so although I hear both sides of it you know I do think it is important that communication has been said but just hearing the from the meeting that night it really made me think like okay well there could be an opportunity where we don't align Envision and where would that support live for the Board of Ed and whereas our state delegation has a duty to not just reflect just Bridgeport they have other areas we as board members are elected to just Bridgeport so who advocates for Bridgeport when they have to advocate for other areas and no disrespect to any other city that they may be responsible for our one job is our students in Bridgeport Bridgeport Public Schools so while we're still trying to understand how
093this will play out you know potentially could be costly or whatever the case may be I'm looking at it well when there isn't a voice in Harford for us who speaks for us because we obviously can't go up there doing that um maybe in our own time without the title of board member but at the end of the day who speaks for us and if they're not doing it somebody needs to be doing it um that's just my thoughts and Miss Perrin and I have um been in two meetings where we've brought conversation they've been invited State delegation city city leaders have been invited then there was another meeting that we participated in where we thought we were trying to see what the plan was that they were going to do as far as keeping
094us in the loop and it did not go that way um so it's just a matter of communication have you has mentioned and building of relationships um so I do hope whatever the outcome comes from the board that whatever relationships need to be made or built in the meantime can be built um and just hearing from the firm and hearing from the rep from you know Miss Constance Ms Vickers I hope that communication can continue with or without whatever way the board decides to go because it's definitely needed and I just think it put the district in an awkward position that day for that specific testimony but what happens later on or you know what happens what do we do next um has been a concern and constant thought of mine um so that was
095just my thoughts I'll you know turn it over to Ms Perrin if you have any thoughts on it and then I'll bring it back to Mr Traver um so when I think about the experience of engaging um with delegation I think it is important that we have a voice um that represents um the Bridgeport Board of Education because of conflicts um Ms Brown referred to a meeting that we engaged in with some members of the delegation and in in an attempt to be able to have open Communications and conversations which that was not the outcome um it was just you all are wrong basically um and that made it very very difficult to be able to even engage in a productive conversation because there's always other perspectives that need to be considered when we're making
096decisions so though I know that there may be a cost a great cost that may be associated with it I think it's important because the only thing that we have is our voice and for the constituents that we're working to be able to represent we need to be able to do that we need to be able to have a unified voice around that even if it's a voice that is not in agreement with something that is being represented by the city um the relationship is extremely important I think that we should definitely engage in conversations and you know chats in meetings with the delegation so we fully understand where they're coming from but I also think that it's equally important for them to hear from us and understand us as well um so I think
097that it would be a benefit for us to be able to engage in the process um Mr traber and then miss Baptiste Perez participated at the committee meeting in this discussion but I want to add some thoughts to this now that it's expanded here um I'm all for meeting with the Reps I have met with both state senators um my State Rep and uh um representative Felipe who is one of the education committee members who is pushing 503 um and um you know I I think that we should continue to try and meet with them and as Ms Vickers pointed out in the committee meeting um had she been involved she says that she would have started meeting with us last fall or summer and offered to do so this summer or fall and I
098think we should take her up on that regardless of this RFP this RFP strengthens our it strengthens our hand with regard to keeping their attention they seem to be very attentive now that we are talking about getting our own lobbyists so at the very least I don't think there's any cost to put against the RFP which is the motion we're dealing with tonight is there okay so I would say go ahead because at the very least we've gotten their attention um but I think that in the long run we want to have our own lobbyists for the reasons that have been articulated by others tonight um uh it's it's a it's a question of of um we have a we are elected to represent the students of the Bridgeport Public Schools um they have other
099interests um we don't um and so uh their interest clearly is shown um in the this current legislative session because 503 would give three times more money to a charter school student than a public school student um and there's been no explanation for why that's the case the number was seven times at one point it was down to four or five times now it's down to three times but it's still twenty two hundred dollars per Charter School student and 750 per public school student so to me yeah without an explanation there's something wrong here and there's clearly different interests um since if you were giving us all the same amount of money it'd be one thing but you're not um the uh and this strikes me as being a parallel to what we just talked
100about with regard to the eye um Insurance um the city talks to us when they feel like it um and so we want to make sure that we get um we were we we are in a best position to do our job um of representing the children of the Bridgeport Public Schools um so I I think that um I think this is important to go forward with um and I would when we get there argue that it's important that to have our own person keeping an eye on things in Hartford uh we as I understand it we didn't find out about what was going on in this legislative session until a month or more into the session so I think we just necessarily need to back up and make sure that we're on board at
101the right time when it matters and then let's sit down and talk with them in a respectful way Miss Baptiste Perez oh I to to clarify and I'll be quite Frank for prior sessions no communication came from from us it might actually be a really good idea to have a lobbyist I've learned from outside organizations of potential Ledges like never anything from the Board of Education or anyone from the city on behalf of the board um part of it too is I don't want this to be a crutch where it's just what our lobbyist says and whoever the representative is and is just the state senators that represent outside districts whether it's part of Monroe Trumbull and Stratford it's state reps represent the City of Bridgeport but that's neither here or there and my my
102only thing is I don't want it to be a crutch where we actually still need to have communications with what the needs are for the board because we should be having conversation with the Bridgeport delegation whether it's City or on the state level um when it comes to our needs and I think this is more geared towards the state level um but yeah no forget this session all previous sessions I've never heard anything from the prior superintendent regarding this is happening in Hartford or anything like that I've learned from all outside organizations um and it was those outside organizations that were organized had their own lobbying and was prepared and clearly debrief me and that's something we're missing foreign yeah I definitely do agree that this is it definitely needs to be done um as
103far as Mr Traverse numbers of the disparities between the charter schools and our schools and increase in funding Charter Schools got something that we don't have strong lobbyists that's another they've got a very strong they got very strong lobbyists they got a whole association just advocating specifically for them and I think we need to put ourselves on an even playing field once and for all all those conversations could have happened with our delegation that's not negated every every year since I've been on the board we've had a couple of legislative practices breakfasts with our delegations to vary in degrees we've got some state senators who have never shown up at a single one and we've got maybe one one or two State reps showed up at everyone so it's a very in degree of success
104of who shows up at our breakfasts and I believe this is definitely a need all right um I see Mr been here who hasn't spoken on this item yeah um I'm gonna be short um secondly today I was talking about three um City councils people and we've been talking about this and they were glad to have a meeting they were glad to enjoy with us they were glad to call all the State Rep over there we have to have a minute to discuss this situation put everything clear so we have a better communication because they know we're here for our students and support our staff and of course Miss parents too as a superintendent so it's very restraining that I have a conversation with them today this afternoon so I will let you know with
105them um Miss Brown you can contact them his parents so we can we can have a meeting in with them and they can call them from Hartford they will come because they the the the city council they will support us on that situation just want to say that for the record thank you Miss Baptiste Perez they may be interested in this conversation because there's an election this year for city council and so I don't think it's necessarily a genuine interest the state reps and state senators have secured their spot so maybe relying on them for publicity is not the best thing and just to go forward with the lobbying organization because it seems like it's more geared at a state level the City of Bridgeport has spoken and knows has only given us an extra
106500 000 did they keep the Bridgeport promise no so why we didn't get a million anyway neither here or there uh yeah I I I don't see the point at this time speaking with the city I mean no you know what let's work on Communications like I was saying but let's not also be used as a political propaganda all right Mr sokolovic yeah in that case um yeah I I would like to make a motion to approve putting out an RFP to engage lobbying services on behalf of the Bridgeport Board of Education is there a second by Mr second by Mr if y'all don't any further discussion all right all in favor opposed any abstentions hearing none is there a motion to adjourn emotion carries emotion carries good night everybody all things in favor all
107right all right good night