001good evening everyone this is a call to order for the Bridgeport Board of Education regular meeting on May 8 2003 2023 at 6 30 pm and we are at aquaculture school at this moment we'll ask everyone to please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance thank you everyone at this moment Mr secretary can you do roll call good evening everyone thank you Mothership I'm gonna say well Allen Christine Baptist Paris here is Bobby Brown yes Miss Akisha Casimir here is it David gellan president Mr Michael macaron here where is it Mr Robert triber thank you Mr secretary you're welcome at this moment we will have student representative reports if students are online or in present please state your name the school that you attend and then feel free to start your report yeah I guess that
002is I'm not sure if this is a student casual Maine Hanson casual Wayne Henson your primary student okay go ahead you could do your report okay would you like to give your report yep go ahead an evening Board of Education members and thank you for this time to share an update my name is Catherine Hansen and I'm here to represent aquaculture as a central Magnet High School student on Friday the 4th Aqua students will be representing the Bridgeport Aqua FFA at UConn in stores students chapter students will be competing in other other schools for their FFA FFA chapters in Connecticut these com these competitions build confidence and the ability to speak in front of an audience like I am doing right now skills we all need in our social society today good luck to my
003fellow Aqua peers on Friday all week this week we are celebrating Teachers Appreciation Week at Aqua teachers have breakfast coming tomorrow lunch on Wednesdays and other treats throughout the week thank you to the awesome teachers at Aqua for all you do for us we appreciate it and lastly we are excited to host the annual year-end Aqua Cup on Tuesday June 6th with a rain day of Wednesday June 7th plans are in the works and may include a ceremony for our new research vessel the rvk Williams thank you for the opportunity to report and for the ongoing support of our Aqua program thank you so much I'm sorry one question could you please repeat the date of the boat please June 6th and June 7th thank you no problem you're welcome I am gonna I'm not
004sure if this is a student but Blakely Rosemarie foreign okay Blakely would you like to give a report please unmute yourself okay if anything will come back to uh student Representatives as they come into tonight's meeting the next item is public comment and what I'll do is I'll read your name please step up to the public comment um feel free to share your thoughts you will have two minutes once the timer uh when your two minutes is about to be up the timer will will go off we just ask that you summarize your last statement all right there's also a translation here for those that need translation the first person we have is John Weldon foreign so I'm here today to say thank you for the very thoughtful uh acknowledgment of my service that was
005recently delivered to my home when I was appointed in 2016 I had no idea what would come as I reflect on the last six years five as chairman from that initial appointment and winning two elections I have memories of so many who sat where you are today and who sat in room 305 of City Hall that argued for the things they believed in as well as so many parents and voters that I encountered along the way who wanted to see Improvement in the school system I've met countless dedicated teachers administrators and others who always did their best to move the district forward inspired by those people I actually recently obtained an 085 School business administrator certification from the State Board of Education and am not certified to run the business Affairs of a school system
006I never would have thought that as I reflect on my time on the board it has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life thank you again for this very thoughtful gesture thank you Mr Walden our next person is Gabriel soberio if I mispronounce your name please correct me once you come to Napoleonic good evening members of the Bridgeport border of Education my name is Gabriel sobera I'm a college student and I'm here to speak to you on behalf of my mother Miguel escalera about the potential closing of the Adult Learning Center at 418 Castle Street last week my mother was informed that the institution where she had she has attended ESL morning classes for over a year is closing after this semester we fear that my mother and many other students take
007who take advantage of the high quality free English as a second language classes that the center offers will not have a program to go to I learned that the adult learner Center has been in existence in this location for over 20 years and therefore differently day programs at this school the center provides services to over 200 adult students over the course of the Academic Year many of these students are low-income minority and immigrant students who live on the east side and East End neighborhoods why did the district decide to close this location according to the Connecticut State Department of Education Bridgeport adult education is mostly founded by a state Grant in 2022 683 dollars almost 4 million dollars was received therefore the issue here is not funding as Bridgeport taxpayers impacted by these vle decision
008we are here to ask questions and demand answers if the district closes The Adult Learning Center where where are the programs going are they going to continue to be accessible to all students including immigrant students many of these folks or parents of school age children who rely on these programs to gain access to better jobs and help your children succeed academically our community particularly the Bridgeport immigrant Community is not going to allow the closing of the Adult Learning Center to go unchallenged we are here committed to fighting to the institution and demand answers for the district we hope this that the situation will get resolved and that the Adult Learning Center remains open thank you for your time thank you so much for sharing before I move on let the record reflect uh Mr jelum
009and Miss Kashmir is in person moving on our next speaker is Monty mountie okay I don't speak English okay would you like to say something though it's okay we have the translator Miss murderer okay all right thank you thank you for being here um the next one is Cesar Ortiz this is hello um good afternoon my name is um actually um I would like to tell you thank you for the time um actually I am thinking that this program is to create decision about their um the process all of us are we can improve on in some processes like uh on creative company sounds sorry hold on one second they are they're all muted okay if you want to try again yeah go ahead of course thank you um I wasn't talking about the um
010this process uh it's so good because we we can create all of us create uh better processes um better uh things for our community uh things like better companies like uh better position better situation for our population all of us because something is also hard for some people for some people in con um keep um better processes or um take some calls for because they don't have some uh the opportunities to learn now we can all population can take um the opportunity to go for example to um Community College after here and learn and improve uh to to keep this um Community all of your immunity up um improving on about the um better uh things that they have in their minds in our minds to improve our community so thanks so much for for
011all of you and to all of you for the time I really appreciate it I made Partners too thank you thank you so much for sharing let the record reflect Miss baptiste's Perez is with us um the next person is Miss Chantel sin Santana okay would you like to say some words all right go right to the podium um buenas noches adult education is community um is a [Music] place building Escuela foreign [Music] the student is basically saying I am assuming that the adult building that's about to close they would like to get a petition going to prevent that they have a lot of uh parents and other people in the neighborhood that exists that build that that class and they're trying to do everything to stay in that building so they would like for
012the board to please take some consideration in that and she also mentioned about getting a petition signed to try to keep the place open for them thank you the next speaker is mogales brown Buenas notice soy magalies then going Apollo and la Escuela location is foreign [Music] thank you again another student that that is asking for help for uh for the building to stay open for the adult education she says that uh that the the parents that do attend this they have they have children that go to Neighborhood schools and that everything is around this neighborhood of the building where they attend Adult Ed and she's asking for support and help to maintain that building open for them thank you our next speaker is Albert binahan please go to the podium translate for me good
013evening everyone as I'm is the chairperson and I'm here to um support about not closing the Bridgewater location I know for the beginning and I know of the total grant for this outdoor education um the Departments I believe they were so it was 3988 683 but as a bomb member I was one of the last person to know about this situation I don't know where's the communication what happened what's going on wasn't until as the way supposed to be our community our people you know because I know if they had to closer to run away to fix it to the parking lot or whatever we are we okay with that but not let them know the community let them know then what's going on I'm not agree with that I always standing at the bottom
014of my email always say with with better Communications it's very successful so I don't understand where was the communication why they don't tell the community the way supposed to be you know I'm very clear I speak very one very clear so why can't I speak to them and let them know what's going on so I hope it will have a solution for this situation at least they can transfer where to go on to have the building that building is one of the big points in an East Side as the parents stand here they say oh we have a lot of things there especially the baby City for the kid you know parents have kids and they're not trying to different places in different places that really have adult education so it's going to be account
015like you know if this building is for 100 people let's see this room so you're gonna put 20 25 more that's against the law so we had to you know to check what's going on as I say if you don't have communication we're not going nowhere and Mr bennahan I'd like to communicate with everyone and be nice with everyone so let's let's work a little more about the situation about how to help adult education I'm gonna say very fast translating in Spanish foreign thank you um Miss Gladys Walker Jones oh goodness just some direct takeaways from the finance committee meeting on Wednesday April 19th and the special meeting with the search firm on Thursday May 1st deductive reasoning if Bridgeport Public Schools is saddled with growing operating deficits amidst increasing enrollment in the City of
016Bridgeport out of the 12.4 million asks is set to propose a base increase of 2 million and one million dollars toward a scholarship fund and their budget director um that's so necro in response to wfp elected city council official Tyler Max question captured in the Connecticut Post on April 6 responded the only hope is to continue to grow bridgeport's tax base then Boe presentations made to the city council Business Leaders families current and potential stakeholders needs to focus on the intersection of a good no Great Schools producing at or above proficient Scholars at all grade levels in all of our schools as a major Catalyst to build said tax base and if good to Great Schools are essential to increase in the tax base the city's Only Hope according to the budget director then it
017behooves the Board of Education to shore up their skill set make and take the time to fully vet and hire a new superintendent who in addition to all of the necessary Education and Leadership soft and hard skills has demonstrated astute and Savvy political skills at both Rob Traver I agree the city and state level to secure the bag by bringing in more than the requisite resources the ass from the city a novice just won't do take the time to help rebuild the City of Bridgeport and to do and to do that we must Shore up each and every school Under the direction of decisive collaborative transparent tough-skinned leadership who is culturally relevant City in good to Great Schools are totally intertwined one cannot successfully persist without the other thank you so much the next person
018is Doria Hernandez Maria okay or Hernandez yes Hernandez foreign Colonial thank you she's another student that is asking for support to keep the school open she says she has a son and a daughter that attend in that same building and just asking to please keep the adult bed School open thank you and our last speaker is Nelly Jada and if I mispronounce please correct me that's fine I am Nelly um good afternoon thank you for the opportunity again I'm Nelly I'm the executive director of Connecticut Worker Center I'm here with three worker leaders Rosa Rodriguez Flor Montenegro and Gente Lane Miguel um Connecticut Worker Center is a non-profit organization who um assists immigrant families and we have members from our Center that are worried about this um a program the ESL classes that are for
019adults we hear from then we receive some calls and also the worker leaders are having phone calls that they are concerned about that the program is closing and we would like to know where they're gonna move because we have to inform them and every day we're receiving more families asking for English classes and we want them to learn the the the English because they need to support their families they need to support their kids at school and I think we all know that we have to to learn I'm myself learning English every day more words but I'm serving the community I'm in Bridgeport 25 years and I have the opportunity to work with immigrant families and the most important thing there are four programs and I who was researching that I know that is like
0203 million 90 88 dollars assigned for this Bridgeport adult education and we want to know that you know you all of you please consider that this program should be open if you are gonna relocating other place please share the information but the most important thing is those families who are already there are worried about it thank you thank you um that concludes public comment at this moment we'll move on to approval of meat and minutes the first item is meeting minutes for approval is regular meeting April 24th 2023 is there a motion to approve so move move by Mr bennehan second by Miss uh Cashmere any discussion any corrections all in favor all right uh any opposed any abstentions hearing on motion carries the next part is the Chairman's report I am happy to report
021that last week on Thursday uh the Board of Education held a special meeting and then within that special meeting we went over the superintendent search we right now have about 19 candidates and there's going to be further development as more information comes on to where we are as far as the steps concerned for this particular search all right as more information comes we will continue to update the public the next item is committee reports and referrals uh the first one is education diversity equity and inclusion chaired by Mr sokolovic yes this committee has not met in the interim since the last meeting we will be meeting again on May 20th but we do have one agenda item under new business coming up thank you are there any committee are there any referrals for this committee
022I have a referral yes ma'am um research be put into um Equity opportunities amongst our schools for students with field trips one thing I've noticed with teaching and learning is that we're seeing the same group of schools go out of state and on field trips and that opportunity is not being spread across the board for the rest of our 37 buildings and so I would like to see maybe like a look at what opportunities the equity our students have for like out-of-state field trips um overnight field trips um and look at how we're doing maybe over the last two years just not thinking about the covet year but like how our schools are doing with providing our students access to Equitable learning opportunities outside building thank you are there any other referrals for this committee
023all right next moving on is finance also Chair by Mr sokolovic as the finance committee did not meet in the interim again as well but the next meeting will be um Wednesday May 10th at Central Library at 6 30 PM it'll also be available on teams thank you are there any referrals sorry oh yes let's finish referrals and then we'll go we'll go back to the student any referrals to finance thank you Sam yes um I don't I want to refer a yes I want to refer a matter to the finance committee we've been talking about the budget for the last months and months and months we're looking at the state and the um local contribution to our budget as being inadequate um and when we look at it we have been looking at the
024devastation that would occur if we don't achieve the financing we need to succeed so I want to refer to committee the idea of beginning to develop a standard by which we think we need to have what what we need to do the job correctly for our students not just to survive with what we've been surviving with and so um it's an idea that I've seen done in some other districts where they basically put together a plan the master plan uh for if we had all the money we needed what would we be doing for our kids and so instead of saying let's not cut this and let's not cut that we want to say if we were doing it right for our children in Bridgeport we would have X number of social workers we would
025have X number of math tutors or reading tutors so the idea would be to it's going to be take a longer time it'll be a process but to begin to investigate what kind of resources we need to do the job the way it's done down the coast in the wealthier suburbs thank you are there any other referrals for finance hair and none next one is governance also chaired by Mrs sakolovic yes governance also did not meet in the interim but we do have an agenda item on coming up as well and the next meeting will be where my confidence May 17th at 6 PM Central Library and also remotely via teams and YouTube thank you are there any referrals for governance uh Miss parent um referral um for requests for comment for a whole school
026management agreement between uh Bridgeport Achievement First and Achievement First Bridgeport Academy yes it's a request for comments so I guess this is a yearly request that comes to the Board of Education in regards to an agreement between um the Bridgeport Board of Education and our Charter School partners for whole school management between uh Achievement First and Achievement First Bridgeport Academy so I wanted to bring that to governance to give an opportunity for the board to be able to make comment yeah yeah just send that to me I'll discuss the details after I have a referral as well to governance um recently um we visited the Harding High School building um I forgot what they're called Miss Perrin um not archaeologists um they uh there's a organization that has opportunities to clean up any of the
027items that are in the school to display them at a local library so this particular individual or company wanted to know where are we going to do anything with anything that was safe from Hardin I know it was a conversation so I told her I refer to govern governance to see what policy we may have in place for something like that or if there is one right the main issue is is really no policy in place right now that's why we're developing a policy as part of um the new a new policy to prevent a Harding from ever happening again if there's no real clear steps there may be some in the obsolete policy that we can look at to see if there's anything for anything left but as far as getting back into the
028building itself salvaging anything as he saw do our walking is really nothing that's not contaminated other than the fuel memorabilia we say is but we it's worthy of a discussion no problem I will invite them to you know to attend your meeting are there any other referrals for governance Mr traber did you have your hand up no all right moving on next one is Health safeties Health Safety Committee and Facilities Baptist health safety and Facilities have not met an interim tomorrow we'll have a meeting at 6 pm here at aquaculture one just take a second to go through the agenda items we're going to have a presentation on our HVAC Grant Awards we're going to have discussion and possible action regarding an Esser plan with the SR funds as well as the SR Master plans
029for discussion for a roadmap of how we're going to use the remainder of our Sr funds for the district we're going to have our building reports for Hall and Edison school we're going to have a discussion regarding a clear and consistent district-wide policy for the usage facilities for all sporting events we're going to have a presentation on health related grants in the district the district is applying for to see how they can be used for students social emotional and physical health looking past Esser and we're also going to have a presentation on the school resource officers scope of work so again that meeting is going to be here tomorrow at aquaculture at 6 00 PM anyone that's interested in attending um please feel free to attend in person although we don't have public comment um
030and it'll also be available online thank you are there any referrals for this committee all right here and then the next one is personnel and contracts personnel and contracts did meet did not meet we will be meeting on um May 30th uh at 6 30 pm at Central High School again that's May 30th at 6 30 p.m at Central High School um and just like everyone else feel free to join the meeting we are currently in the process of reviewing um the different departments within the district so if anyone's interested in knowing how the Departments move or the decisions or who does what this is an excellent opportunity to learn about how the district is uh its leadership moves throughout the district so it's been really great so this is also Mrs kashmir's of gender
031items so it's been really great hearing how each leadership moves any referrals for this committee yes um in finance we developed RFP for a lobbyist I would like uh have a second set of eyes on that dude contracts for the item the next um committee is students and families chaired by Mr bennahan thank you madam chair our next student environment is going to be May 25th 2023 at 6 PM it's gonna be in Waterville school I want to try to do in different school because I know parents asked me sometimes because that so far I've been going to Central High School so I'm trying to do in different schools so the parent that can come you know enjoy it with us I believe it's gonna be the last one and you know school calendar you
032know and I want everybody to work for it last one we have it was amazing we talked about so many things especially I'm gonna keep talking because we need to open that conversation because I know we open about so many things policy and rules and and laws and everything but it's something very important that I come into my attention the parent talk about LGBT in this special opportunities for women um miss Lynn in Miss Russia we were talking about The Unwanted information out to the parent to the students that they can know Bristol school they're here to support them we're not here to discriminate nobody so if another school private school and charter school they can do it wide Bridgeport School they cannot do it I know few they have but I don't feel the
033information is out the way it's supposed to be so I want the information out and let's support our students is different important so as I said it's really it's gonna be May 25th experience in Waterville school thank you madam chair any referrals to this committee um I would just like to add I know that it has been in conversation about the parent handbook I would just you know like to see where we are with that because the school year is almost over I know it won't be finished but like maybe just any process for the parent handbook thank you um and then the last one is teaching and learning also Chair by Miss Baptiste Perez the last teaching and learning committee meeting met on Wednesday April 26th at 6 30 pm at waltersville school we
034had a discussion with the latest assessment data and just to share a general overview of what we found was that with the ARP as their funds that were implemented in our schools the additional coaches teachers support for our students with each cohort over the last three years we've seen incremental growth which has been beautiful are students there yet no but we're working towards it and hence a lot of the comments with necessary funding for our schools needs to go forward we saw growth in our Ela reading and writing mathematics and this was the first year where we really got data for science uh we received a special education update Report with areas for growth in the district where we will work towards creating more inclusive special ed environment and then we did have a brief
035presentation about what is taught to our youth transitioned in from high school into adulthood um I forgot the name of the program but actually uh preparation resume writing interviewing skills uh programs that collaborate and are open to all our Bridgeport students um and that includes the career Bay program at Central High School but also for all our high school students that think Dr Jenkins mentioned that it starts sixth grade uh resume writing and career planning for our students and so that's relatively new but it's being implemented district-wide as well as we had a conversation on educating our students on local Civics and their local Civic duties and that was what was done at teaching and learning thank you are there any referrals for teaching and learning foreign that concludes committee reports as mentioned all of
036these committees are posted on our district website we encourage the community if there's an issue or if there's a topic that's being covered or something that you feel passionate about please attend the meetings they're open to the public there is no public comment however you can sit in um and view it also online so give your thoughts and concerns these are where some of the major issues happen before they come to the regular board meeting so we encourage you to all go there at this moment we're going to turn over to miss Perrin for the superintendent's report good evening um the basic BMA update um we are we'll be sending out invitations um for a planning meeting for various basket could be in May stakeholders um as we move forward in the planning process Dr
037Baldwin will be sending out those letters and information um the first tentative date is May 22nd so that will be coming out within the next 24 to 48 hours also this week is Teacher Appreciation Week um so please make sure that we're celebrating our teachers um an adult adult education site at St Michael's um we are in conversations about uh relocating the adult education site um for Effective um July of this year we are still in conversations um to see if we can engage in a um short-term lease um with those stakeholders to be able to do so um Mr Denton is here to share more information about that process in our nursing department scoliosis screening has begun in grades five seven and eight our assessments for smarter balance for grades three to eight um
038will be taking place this week as well as Reading Plus for grades 9 to 12. the student climate survey for grades 9 to 12 is scheduled for the week of May 15th through the 19th um there are several grants that we are looking to participate in and I wanted to share that information with you all um so we have the Newtown Savings Bank which has funded five scholarships for Bridgeport students attending Bridgeport Military Academy Harding High School Fairchild wheeler um Aero fair shot Willer bio in Fairchild wheeler I.T we also began the experience Connecticut on what your experiences that take place the first Saturday um field trip was a great success with our fourth grade students who attended the Wizard of Oz at the downtown Cabaret the next field trip is scheduled for May 27th
039at the Gillette Castle in East Hampden Mary elf of Fitch trust these are nine proposals that we sent through in February for a total of 28 thousand dollars the next round of Fitch funding is due May 26th these are offerings that are made available to various principals throughout the district to engage um insight-based improvements for their buildings um currently there are several in practice proposals one is the right to read Connecticut legislature pass the right to read legislation in sections 394-404 of the budget implementer Bill Public Act number 21-2 the legislation systemizes the Statewide reading response based on the science of reading by requiring the state to oversee all state and local efforts related to literacy including setting reading curriculum requirements for districts providing professional development hiring external literacy coaches and coordinating with teacher preparation
040programs a newly established Center for literacy research and reading teacher reading success will be the Hub of that work also lifting literacy which is the Nelly make Education Foundation has released their lifting literacy program the foundation is seeking proposals that focus on evidence-based literacy programs in K to 8. School Mental Health Specialists the school mental health specialist Grant through the Connecticut State Department of Education would fund the salary of an additional school psychologist to support the mental mental health needs of Bridgeport students school security grant program and multimedia security grant program The District applied for another round of these grants to support ongoing security upgrades for Bridgeport high schools these upgrades include metal detectors x-ray machines and radios School violence prevention program the district is working on its second round of the school violence prevention
041program through the Department of Justice the school security team led by Captain Paul Greg has identified schools and projects and needs of updates and Renovations the grant um for a maximum five hundred thousand dollars across the period of three years our district bright spots on Bridgeport Public Schools decreased chronic absences and by three percent from last month this report is based on attendance through March 2023 chronic absenteeism decreased by three percent from last month the students identified as students with disabilities chronic absenteeism decreased by 10 from last month for students identified as students experiencing homelessness and chronic absenteeism decreased by two percent from last month for students identified as multilingual students upcoming events parent training um focusing on the IEEE which is independent educational evaluations and special education that will be coming up very shortly
042we have our annual El Summit which is taking place Thursday May 17th from 3 20 to 6 pm at Harding High School cafeteria um we have um excuse me the parent training is taking place at Discovery magnet at 6 pm on May the 17th we have our technology showcase taking place on May 22nd I'm at Fairchild wheeler we have our recognition ceremony um the last one for the year taking place on May 31st 2023 at Harding High School at 6 p.m our math meet for grade 7 and 8 students will be held on June 1st from 9 to 1 pm as sacred Union heart University's West Campus Auditorium now we have our pack ptso Roundtable coming up on June 7th at 6 pm at Columbus school there's also several different um spring art events that
043were taking place at various schools throughout the district we have an additional Job Fair coming up on June 3rd from 11 to 3 P.M at Central High School as well as our high school graduation day taking place June 12th at the Hartford Amphitheater um great Kudos goes out to Aerospace Hydro Space Engineering Magnet High School which has been recognized by Project Lead the Way as a distinguished school which is their highest award given this is the second year in the world that they have received this thank you Miss Perrin um Mr Denton if you would like to to share and I'm not sure if translation is still needed um concerning the item good evening my name is James Denton I'm the director of adult education first I'd like to recognize all the wonderful students and
044staff it's it's really an amazing program we've had students come in non-english speakers at all go all the way through the ESL ranks into our credit program receive a high school diploma and then go out of college I mean it's a good program it's it really is wonderful we've been at the Adult Learning Center for 13 years the lease goes back just for the day program as you know if when you see at night you know the we have a large program that runs at Central High School in the evening the the leases obviously up at The Adult Learning Center and we we have been in discussions with the church about a renewal and there were several uh topics that we kind of never came to an agreement on um obviously it goes till you
045know July so you know it's not a it's not a dead done deal obviously I mean without going to the board of vet but I if you allow me I could kind of clue in as to where where we are and why we're here is the the old lease said that we make all the repairs to the building and it's a very old building and routinely we have to you know make repairs to it just this March the the furnace broke the students will tell you there was a few days that was called there was no heat we had to spend thousands of dollars repair our guys did all the work the city attorney's office uh recommended that they don't use that model anymore with the with the repairs so they wanted to you know
046re redo that piece along with you know the the church wanted some increases in rents and but we were left with who was going to take on the liability of these repairs and it landed on you know it was ten thousand dollars each repair the Board of Ed would pay so as we were looking at the you know overall building and and the facility you know it became apparent that you know it's uh it's a it's a huge building it's a large building it has a gym we don't we don't use the the gem space there's but we do heat it it's a large utility bill it's a large electric bill that needs a total um lighting upgrade which would be out of our pocket and then theoretically we would recoup the cost there was
047there's a parking lot issue that they were going to pave but then you know they said they want they were not going to pay the you know if if things were renegotiated and uh you know one of the biggest things is it's not ADA Compliant there's there's no way for you know someone that's you know doesn't have good Mobility to to get into the building it's the first floor is high it's tough It's there's no there's no way there's no ramp there it's not an easy fix so when as this deadline I'll say to move out was looming that is also followed with a thousand dollars a day if we're not out in time you know I started talking you know with uh the superintendent and Miss Siegel about maybe alternative sites and the alternative
048sites we were looking at were the the thought was we were going to get a modern upgraded a better facility for the wonderful staff and students we we you know we we saw this you know obviously change is hard it's I don't think there would ever be a good time to move that program out after 13 years but we're stuck here in May which is the last thing in the world I wanted was to be in a board of ed meeting in May talking about this lease I I was I I didn't you know I I didn't expect it to to end here but it's may we don't have an agreement on the lease we are still as Miss Perrin mentioned we are still talking with them and you know we're hopeful that we're going
049to be able to get an extension to kind of make a transition out of there um a little smoother but you know I'm working on plans to find new updated modern locations with air conditioning and buildings that we don't have to make all the repairs on thank you Mr Denton would you like to translate as much as possible thank you yes thank you is again um neces um did you say that you have two or three both places that you're we're okay so um preparations [Music] she wants to know if there's um is there anything concrete now any place that you're specifically looking at for them to move before the the building is closed we have a few locations and what what we can do is just for the interest of time is that I
050don't know how long Mr Denson will be here but if anyone has any further questions for him you can definitely ask him so we'll you know we'll make sure that opportunity presents itself is that all right yes thank you thank you at this moment I'm gonna open it up for board members if you have any questions for um Miss perrin's report and then also Mr Denton as well concerning this item I I saw Mr traber first and then miss Baptiste Perez go ahead Mr Denton I'm sorry Mr drieber um I'm sorry we can't take any public comment at this moment public comment was earlier um if you have any questions if you have any questions concerning this particular item Mr Denton will be here after the meeting thank you Mr Denton I just want to
051make sure I understood your report this is strictly a daytime program yes thank you Miss Baptiste Perez okay um I'm gonna fully use my robber tools and go through all the questions I'm going to hit different items from the superintendents report and I'll leave the adult Day program last uh for the basic VMA update will we have any uh feedback from the resilient state project or mayorganim motor Buildings Department we don't have any response from that as of yet okay sorry I didn't mean to that publicly but okay um but there's been numerous attempts by your office to reach out to them so we can have an update as a school district before moving forward with this decision yes that was what the delay because originally I wanted to do this in March which was
052shortly thereafter and we haven't received any responses at all and so I just to be clear for the public correspondences has been sent out to the mayor's office State resilience project who's in charge of the environmental reports and so I I asked that a bit tongue-in-cheek because it's always the Architects that feel bad because they just do the design but a lot of the back and forth from the city hand and from the state no one's showing up um yep um so I sent an email first to um uh the post supposed person for Connecticut deep um that was prior to the Forum that we held in in February with no response um and I spoke about that at the Forum Ms Brown and I then met with City officials um to talk about next
053steps um and that they were going to be reaching out on behalf um to try to get someone in regards to provide a presentation in regards to resiliency we've never received a response and then I followed up in writing as well okay uh the next one I just have a generic question for the grants section are these all new grants or are the grants that were described new grants that we've uh are these all new grants or are these grants we previously applied to and received or didn't so the ones the new town savings uh Bank experienced Connecticut and the Mary Al Finch grants are grants that we are currently in the process we already have those um and some of these like experience Connecticut is a new grant that we just the first time
054we've ever engaged in that program however the Mary L Fitch trust grants these the grants they come through almost every year that are allowed to be sent out to different principals to be able to engage in this in their buildings whereas where it says the impact was proposals those are all newer grants that we're currently awaiting to see if we're going to be getting the funding for those to support those initiatives thank you okay uh then I have a few questions regarding the adult education program um how old is the lease it's been 13 years so we haven't renewed a lease on a rental property in 13 years correct who was the last person to execute it on behalf of the Board of Ed which superintendent and chair I'm not sure you do have a
055copy here and was it for a 13-year lease or was it for a five-year lease and we just let it roll over with the conditions yeah it was it had a bunch of renewals so we were able to go out 13 years John fabrizi signed it it started and year one was 2000 and 13. although I actually it would be this would be the year 10. 10 years okay uh sorry the floor is not open to public comments just for Board of Education members to acts um and now Mr Trey Bart did ask how many students are attending the facility you answered that is there a specific density of the students in the program that live within the area or is it district-wide it's district-wide I'm not sure who lives in the immediate neighborhood or
056not several Drive there's many cars there during the day is it something that we've looked into maybe having a density report it seems from public comment that the majority of the residents live on the east side and there's a concern from that local feeling but if it is a district it is a district-wide service I'm just wondering whether we've looked into whether it's utilized just in a particular community I don't have any hard data on that but I would assume it's people from the whole city and and some from Fairfield also how many from Fairfield not many we we have a deal with um Fairfield where they pass twenty five thousand dollars and we service their adult ed population I believe in total last year we had 17 Fairfield students taking 22 classes that's twenty
057five thousand dollars per student or twenty five thousand dollars in total in total how much is it per student to attend the adult education program it's free it's how much does it cost the district though per student to run the program maybe I'm asking this wrong miss traber you may be able to help me with this but how much does it cost to educate one adult student in this program because it seemed like people's getting one heck of a deal well I actually I I don't think it's really that great of a deal because it's but I mean they would have to run their own their own program I mean we we have I think we this year we were 1500 total enrollments so you know we could do the math well I want to
058know the math of the cost per student and then it multiply that by 17. not necessarily the math you're trying to do but we can we can get that information at a later date this isn't an interrogation I always remember right um I wanted to lease negotiations start um I think that was another big concern as a board member is that it feels like we were left out of the dark part but when did the least negotiations so start um for this renewal I sent an initial email to the church January 2022. so negotiations have been over a year now well it's been you know went dead for months at a time and it's been dragging on um you already somewhat walked us through what the facilities are like so we're responsible and you can
059feel free to add to the list we're responsible for any repairs to the property we we're tenants so we're taking on liability if someone hurts themselves without it being ADA Compliant um what it just redid the building what else what other kind of facility what are the facilities like I've never walked through the adult education Day program so um it's a um it's a lot it's an old Catholic School it's um you know it's an old it's an old building it's we're responsible for everything I will agree it does not sound like a good deal for the district when we're tenants and we're paying for our own repairs um I want to clear clarify some stuff and it could have been Lost in Translation the program is not closing correct correct okay and we're not
060removing any of the four programs that have been mentioned it's just a temporary relocation potentially correct we're we're trying to relocate to a better facility and then see um what are the hours for The Adult Day program and when does it run it runs uh the the ESL program which is the biggest group runs Monday to Thursdays and they're there from like nine to about noon the other we have a GED class that meets there during the day and then we have a credit diploma program an online program where students can you know work towards their diplomas and that runs you know a morning and afternoon session okay and then my next question I just want to clarify what I heard uh if the students don't leave the building on time we'll find a thousand
061dollars a day well the the terms of the lease if we're not if we don't renegotiate and and extend it and we're not out by July 1st it says that we are liable a thousand dollars a day uh that's the that's all the questions I have for right now thank you uh Mr binahan thank you madam chair um good agreement Denton I have a question for you um do you communicate with all the parents everyone be in that building you know about email letter posted and let them know the situation let me translate this in Spanish foreign I just saw the same thing English and Spanish yeah uh no I didn't this is uh I don't see it as you know a finished process it's kind of a fluid you know ultimately when there was
062you know something concrete we would let everyone know but you know we're still figuring it out because then you're looking because um just say like you said you never you know never transplant communicate with them um I would like to see if you can pass away but the permissible experiment it is possible to have a meeting in the center speak with all these parents let them know the process let another situation so they can understand what the process I know the problem is not going to be closed but I'm talking about the place so they can understand as I say in the beginning if you don't want to have a good communication within how they're going to fit how everything is going to be done you know we go communication everybody being the same page
063we can yeah yeah absolutely I'm not really on these like I say are you okay with dhami's parents I'm sorry sweetheart just no public comment this is just for the board like I said Mr Denton will be here after for any further conversation and board members as well if they want to share but we just want to continue the process if that's okay thank you so yes there's I have no issue with having a meeting but I do want to say that you know um we still are trying to figure out what's the best option um with Mr Denton um Miss eagle and I were on the phone um with individuals last week when you came into the office with individuals it was not released because we are still in the process of trying to
064figure out what's the best next steps so addressing the situation without having all the information to me is just as problematic as you know putting it out there that you know this is what's going on we need to have a clear idea of where we're going and what we're doing thank you Miss thank you Miss apparently and I agree with you with you and I really understand but of having this information out especially before the board members and the parents know you know I was concerned about that so but I'm okay with that you know because we can have planning we can do the process and everything's gonna be fine my question is the other one um is pairing on with Dental One Mr Joe Garcia was not involved in this knowing that he's part
065of the facility he know about the building maybe he can do something with a contract you know okay no Mr Joe Garcia he's he said I was born the master he know how to deal you know the process one Mr geography was not involved this is Mr Garcia was involved he he met with us and the church's attorney and the City attorney and I've been you know we we've walked the the building I I've met with him a few times to discuss you know the the plan if we do have to get out of there by July 1st so we're not left you know in a bad situation so um George Garcia is aware all right and you said about 13 years the building and with the lease and as never be in the top
066of that late to check what's going on you know be in process because it's like we have apartment in our lease inspiring after one or two years we have to be on top because and then they were gonna get consequence how come that little pass 13 years like that and you know I know you sent a letter that you said January 2022. but if you sent that letter Universe be involved say what's going on guys why are you not answering me the letter I need I'm going to another process let me know whoever it was the superintendent or the board member the chair you know what happened so why they they think it's still like a they don't care let me translate this please before you answer questions I believe I misspoke with the 13
067it was it was 10 years and the it was seven years with three renewals and so the last three years we're able to just renew it and there wasn't increase to the rat and so it was you know it was it was it was a good bargain so and that's part of the reason why now you know they're they're ready for some increases and and what not to move to move forwards I'm okay with Mr Denton not you for so many years you know that as a before member you're amazing person but I feel that lack of communication over here was it was not good because if we let them know the parenting situation I know everything's come in the beginning you have a meeting inspiring musical but at least let them know this guy
068this is what happened in the building we're trying to do the process let's see what's going on with the program is not going to be closed it's about locate because I know you have to be the safety issue the situation I understand and accept that and I agree with that but with that communication this is why departments are here foreign for your questions and your answers means um pairing you say about something about massive high school and you know what's going on the situation just to let you know for the record that uh you still and you will you you are our superintendental school here in Bridgeport people that have to understand of anything is happening in a building in situation I had to let you know I don't like when people are dancing in
069an email I don't know if you feel like I'm I'm not attacking you but I feel that when you hear they know you're here and they don't communicate with you they don't respect you I'll get upset because they have to respect you understand that you are the superintendent school and it's going to be a process I know they have to communicate with you but in one situation happen like this they make decision not let you know I'm not happy with that so I just want to let you know for the record I know it's going to be a process that will communicate with you they really receive my message I already spoke to him that you are the simple you know interest superintendental school they had to communicate with you anything happening in the principal
070school no more questions no more coming with the chair sorry uh Personal Privilege and then can you provide contacts to the audience as to what you're talking about because for anyone watching from home for anyone that's not part of the email chain they're not sure what you're referring to about yeah yes you can give the community a background as to what's going on so that way you say about the bathroom High School yep of course of course thank you miss them um what I'm saying in Spanish right no no no well if you you actually know all right all right no problem no problem um the situation is because um we will see the uh some um um letters not letters or comments that they're gonna all on the new best in high school and
071UB they said they want to do a ceremony another ceremony you know um breaking groundbreaking May 22nd and I'm like okay um how we well we'll find out Channel 12 News so my question is how come as a board member as a parent as a leader as a board member as Miss parents who friend at the school we don't know about that it wasn't shocked and that made me upset because she is still also bring them to school when anything happened in baseball school she had to know so she can communicate with us how come another people from my side they don't know so what I'm gonna understand the mayor may get that the decisions to make 22nd we don't know the time look at that meet the tape another time so I was confused
072I was I was not happy with that so I emailed um no thank you with your soccer like he killed me the situation as I cannot shut up I cannot get quiet I can't you know I didn't like that because I would say it would get a better communication we can work together you know we cannot do something else that's fine I did it the first time Mrs Brown we wasn't the first time I was in the second time I still have the hammer in the house in my truck and now we're gonna look at the third one you know um I know the reason why he's doing this but the big point is Miss parents still are super dental school she's supposed to know what's going on in our school anything happen so that's
073not the reason I was talking about I'm gonna translate this into Spanish to people you can understand UB this is foreign you're just up there for one part of the report so I just want you to know that because you know uh Mr sakola yeah I'd like to pick it back on what Mr Bennett said before I got the questions from Mr Dennis I'm here Mr Denton um yeah as the longest serving board member I've been through three superintendents the lack of communication from the mayor's office is no reflection on superintendent parent I've seen two superintendents have issues with communicating with the mayor of City of Bridgeport uh our last Super One superintendent back is Dr Johnson she also had trouble interfacing with the ganim administration and now miss Perrin one superintendent that did not
074have problems interfacing with this Administration the superintendent testani now you can infer what you will the differences between all three superintendents and the differences in the treatments and you could put that on top of the largest black and brown students being underfunded and what we got is disparities in treatment disparities in funding and it needs to be called out our superintendent is our superintendent it will discuss the respect how do you announce on news how do you have a news release about a second groundbreaking at basic a second groundbreaking at basic now we all know what groundbreaking opacity again coming up into the elections it's a political Ploy it's a disrespectful political point because the Board of Education was caught unaware and the superintendent was caught unaware it's unfair and it needs to be called
075out again stop it and now I'll move on to that wasn't about you either but you're like right front and center so the eyes on now as far as um the program what are the total costs of keeping the program operating in the building so you have like a breakdown uh the the lease is a hundred and thirty thousand a year the utilities are over a hundred there's um security and custodial Services which are another few hundred thousand with benefits so okay so that is that's going to bring me to another disparity you mentioned twenty five thousand dollars we're getting from Fairfield for 17 students yes that breaks down to 1471 students and if you break down a percentage I don't have all the numbers twenty five thousand dollars that they're paying they're paying not
076their fair share of the cost so I think that's something that definitely needs to be looked at wherever we go wherever we're going to go at this place they need to pay a little bit more obviously Miss Baptiste looks like she has a question oh can we can we move that to uh Finance yes that way we can look into it I I know that we've heard it with our magnet schools of other districts not paying their fair share but if we have to pay for the cost of the facilities the cost of repairs uh and all the whole the whole entire thing and for 10 years we've been taking care of another District another wealthier district with more funds because they don't want to take care of their own uh there has to be
077a time where we need to put Bridgeport first and actually take care of Bridgeport and have people pay what they owe absolutely and then if money wasn't if money wasn't an object money obviously is an object we're getting ready to basically if we're not properly funded decimate the education system in the next few years and if it wasn't for money would we be able to still operate in this school building as is if we had unlimited funds yes so if uh if May again will come out and say I'll fund this whole lease and the liabilities and have at no cost to the district would we be able to stay there maybe that's Mr superintendent parent question just for clarity's sake that this is all Grant funded so it doesn't come out of the Bridgeport
078Board of edge operating budget so of this year uh for uh 2223 we receive uh four million 177 627 for the whole adult education ground and of that two point uh seven came from the state level 1.5 came from the local share of the grant funds that we received um and it's broken down um based upon some of the positions that Mr Denton spoke about for our staff and security so we will still be able to sustain right so um all right Piggyback in off that that's for the entire adult education program for all buildings and all students that is correct we still got the same concept in play that if we spend money from one place in par as part of that Grant we can't spend it somewhere else so the city city stepping
079in and funding part of it would be helpful to keep maintaining services or maybe improving services in adult education correct thank you that's all I got all right and then I'll okay Mr traber no no I was going to go down the line um you haven't spoken yet so go ahead you did on your okay so all right so I'm gonna go through the rest and then I'll come back uh Mr uh Jasmine do you have any comments uh Miss cashmere do you have any comments just a couple of quick questions so the church is the one that owns the building right correct okay um and I think that Mr bennahan's idea of having a meeting with the students is a good idea I just think that um because time is of the essence I
080think that you should just go right into it with the numbers it costs this much to maintain this building every month um you know tell them about the boiler tell them about Fairfield paying 25 000 a year like when this meeting comes hopefully there'll be a lot of people that shows up there I just want you to be very very clear you know about why these decisions have to be made about the building that's why that's all I wanted to say um if I could reply the um the the repairs are are an unknown I mean we we don't know what to expect and you know that's the the problem and the well you can tell them what you spent though right oh we could definitely we we could definitely talking about like what you
081have spent and and what it takes to maintain yes the building yeah and the um the Fairfield students they they're in throughout all our programs they're not just at the day program right but I still feel like the numbers at the end of the day are going to make an impact when you have that meeting that's all it's just a suggestion you don't have to oh no I'm done thank you all right um and Mr macaron is no longer here so I'll go back around one last time Miss Baptiste Perez then uh Mr Traver um this goes in light of Hardin High School is there an evacuation plan and what would be the timing if we did leave the building July 1. how long would it take to exit the building all our supplies all
082our stuff um is there a plan and um yeah that's the first question uh yes there there is a plan we I've like I mentioned earlier I I walked the building a few times with um George Garcia and we we met and discussed you know the process and we can be out of there July 1st and on on the other end I have a contingency plan that um you know that we would basically break out into some satellite locations across the city and but the the real hope is to find a modern updated facility that we could go right into so so hopefully we can get uh an extension and get another space lined up and we can go from one right into the other let me clarify July 1 we have things done didn't
083work out in terms of negotiations right it's just July one how long will it take when would it occur like the removal of the supplies from the classroom if the day is from 9 to 12 Monday through Thursday you're talking about uh Friday Saturday and Sunday uh facility costs just clear out the building when school's not in session with the session Adult Day program have to end two weeks earlier or start at another site two weeks earlier because it's more than whatever time allotted that's that's what I'm really trying to our adult ed graduation is June 1st so we would essentially have the month of June and then um July 5th our summer programming starts so we have a block of time to to get to where we're going to go oh that's perfect and
084where's the graduation going to be Central High School that's good to know and at what time six o'clock email everyone should have should have received a letter we sent a letter yeah that's me um and then I think I asked this already I know the buildings oh but how old is the building oh I have no idea told me okay like my true opinion is if if it was a um traditional Elementary School you know we wouldn't be using it I feel like our adults you know we we should get a good spot too thank you Mr traber go back for a second um you started you you asked them to bargain or to renegotiate the lease a year and a half ago almost um what prompted that you said you had a 10-year lease
085that was rolling over well I knew it was expiring you know this this uh June yeah but we the the lease allowed for three-year renewals so the last renewal was this last year you didn't say three years over so yeah so it was seven years we had three rollovers this was our last rollover so I I wanted to avoid this what we're in right now but didn't happen if I understand correctly what you said earlier um the ten thousand dollar per month repair is what they want to seek in a new lease so that's like that would be like an insurance deductible we would pay the first ten thousand dollars for any repairs yeah it wouldn't be per month it would be per repair and it was first it was we made all the repairs
086and that that was the old lease so then we went they wanted um ten thousand dollars per repair we would pay anything over that they would they would pick it up as a capital expense and that's kind of where we never you know the the no one ever really took ownership of who's going to make these repairs okay and then um well I guess I just have I want to Echo what others have said um I I you're in a position where I agree you you've been negotiating now you're trying to figure out how to let people know where you're going um and it sounds like from what you just answered to miss Baptiste Perez that between June 1st and July 1st you're going to have time to sit down with people but I would
087suggest that you meet with them before the July first graduation like June 1st graduation because they're in the building it's more convenient otherwise they're going to have to come down for a special um so before the end of this period June 1st or this this um when I don't know when does your class schedule end the the week before last week of May you want you wanted to give them an update or you're at that's it and I guess I'll give my comments um just from hearing everything I I definitely agree with the board um I also feel that if you know if the building is not in a place where we're spending all of this this money I definitely think it's time for you know potentially a new place for them to be able
088to go I know this can be hard depending on where that location may be because if you have a larger audience that attends based off of where the location currently is it may you know discourage some of those that are going to be attending but I think with time and preparation and once you locate a building give them enough time I think it could be uh workable but I am beyond mind-blowing with how much we're paying just to repair a building how much of that money could be going towards you know either expanding the classroom or expanding resources within the classroom that's that's absurd um so that's just my thoughts on that so I you know good luck uh we hope we hope that we continue to get updates on where this process is we'll
089continue to work with this parent to make sure we continue to keep it at the Forefront so we know how to support you um and also to set the parents and Community feel supported as well but um please keep us posted on where this is going to be and I look forward to hearing more about it in finance as well all right thank you Mr Dent oh hand raised Mr bennahan sorry one more thank you mother chair uh they're gonna try you know um look um final location uh they're gonna have same way when about the chapter you know take care of the kids I know they have it in the front so I don't know if I can guarantee that there is a YMCA child care across from our our current location um I'm
090not I'm not I'm not sure if we'll be able to find a spot with the child care center next door but obviously it would be a benefit and down the road we we do have the option that we could possibly obtain some uh additional funding and we could start a child care our own tests on Transportation if they're transferring you know to different places out the parents are going to have a transportation uh yes we we provide bus passes to whoever you know needs one afternoon foreign will be here to answer any questions and look forward to some type of meeting or informational about this particular process oh hands are back up okay one more okay go ahead Miss cashmere thank you just very quickly can we have him come back again I mean like
091yes yeah yeah yeah follow up yeah okay how often can we have him come back to give us an update as often as needed as you know I don't think it's a problem okay yeah thank you all right Mr traber Mr Dunn um you said 130 000 a year for the least 100 000 Plus for utilities and another one to two hundred thousand for security and services well probably closer to the you know for security and um we have a full-time security guard and a full-time custodian between their salaries and their benefits you know it's above a hundred thousand that's like 400 450 000 dollars a year yes this one is whatever repairs we have to make yes good time to move think think okay Mr jump you go right ahead uh question I know
092you were looking for a modern location have you seen any amount of location that fits the bill in your opinion that you're looking at yes okay all right um again he'll be here after feel free to ask questions and we'll bring you back for continuous reports until we know where we stand thank you thank you um there is no old business to be transacted we're going to move right into our new business items the first item is discussion and possible approval of a healthy food certification for school year 2023 2024 uh Mr Steele is online um and I believe this has to be a vote so go ahead Mr Steele good evening kyoma Steele director of food and nutrition services this is a required annual vote by State Statute the district must meet Connecticut nutrition
093standards for our a la carte sales in high schools as well as the exemptions for sale of food and Sporting Good sporting events and fundraising fundraising events thank you and I have language that needs to be read into the meeting minutes um so what I'll do is would someone like to make a motion and then I can read the language into the meeting minutes board members um all right so I'm motion uh for the approval of the health and food certification for school year 2023 2024 is their second uh I'll give it to Ms Baptiste Perez second by Miss Baptist Perez any questions comments or concerns hearing none um all in favor aye aye aye any opposed any abstentions paranoid motion carries I'm going to read the language uh um required for the vote participation
094and healthy food option per person to c g s section 1021 to 10 21 5 F the Board of Education City of Bridgeport certifies that all food items offer for sale to students in the schools under its jurisdiction and not exempt from Connecticut nutrition standards um published by the Connecticut State Department of Education will comply with the Connecticut nutrition standards During the period of July 1 2023 through June 30th 2024 this certification shall include all foods offered for sale for two students separately from reimbursable meals at all times and from all resources sources including but not limited to school stores vending machines School cafeterias culinary programs and any fundraising activities on school premises sponsored by the school or non-school organizations and groups so that was just the vote that we took here's the second one
095um the second one someone needs to make a motion yes please read it um well make the motion we're gonna vote on it first and then we could read the language use your mic I move vote number two on the required motion uh for Combined food and beverage exemptions is there a second second second by Mr Benny Hinn are there any questions or concerns all in favor any opposed any abstentions hearing none I'll read the language the Board of Education of the City of Bridgeport will allow the cell to students of food items that do not meet the Connecticut nutrition standards and beverages not listed in section 10 to 10-21q of the Connecticut General statutes provided that the following conditions are met the cell is connected with an event occurring after the end of the
096regular school day or on the weekend the sale is the low is at the location of the event and three the food and beverage items are not sold from a vending machine or school store an event is An Occurrence that involves more than just a regular school practice meeting or extracurricular activity for example soccer games school plays interselastic debates are events but soccer practices play rehearsals debate team meetings are not the regular school day is the period from mid midnight before 30 minutes after the end of the official school day location means where the event is being held and must be at the same place as the food and beverage sales so that is the full language that had to be read into the meeting minutes all right we're going to move to B discussion
097and possible referral discussion of possible approval of f RFP for Di training um this came out of um diversity equity and inclusion so Mr sokolovic this is your item if you want to explain or oh sorry Mr pyrus is online Mr Pirates I'm here good evening everyone good evening sir so this item came out of the diversity and Equity uh capacity inclusion uh committee this is requesting your approval to issue an RFP to solicit for the services of uh consultant to provide capacity Building Services would Encompass various professional development Consulting and related reporting Services conducted on-site and or virtually as designated by the Board of Education well we need your approval to uh go forth and post it thank you I'll open up the floor for any comments or concerns concerning this item all right
098here and none oh miss Baptist Perez I'll be honest Mrs Callaway can you do brief a board member that did not watch the Dei meeting or read the minutes as to the necessity as to why this is available to the public and the district sure will cover it currently under contract with another provider this provider was uh never went never went out to bid so it was time to go out to bid only interesting language I should note would probably be that the um provider must give an update at a public meeting which is subject to recording which was one of the sticking points under the last contract that took issue with um having their work product recorded but as we were public entity responsible to the voters so to be prudent and enter into
099into the RFP language to ensure that their presentations would be public and be able to be recorded and it's basically mostly the same Services as provided by the prior provider a few additions for um thank you Title IX thank you all right um we've heard the brief overview um at this moment I will open up the floor for someone to make a motion motion to approve the issuance of an RFP for Dei training moved by Mr Circle second by Mr traber all in any more discussion all right all in favor aye any opposed any abstentions Karen none motion carries thank you Mr pyrese thank you all have a good evening good evening the last item is discussion and first read replacing in its entirety policy 9171 remote board member participation and person committees and person
100and in committee meetings this is also this comes out of Mrs sokolova's committee as well for governance uh please take the floor yes uh I'm gonna ask for some assistance from our fellow board members because I do believe we really should read this all all this at a record so if some if somebody would be able to take up quite a personal privilege can you make it available on the screen for our audience watching from home so they can see it in ring them all it please so we could do it like we did in school everybody take a paragraph so we're finished yeah because because this one's important we've been doing kind of a little bit crazy pretty long you don't have a paper oh um Arlene has them did you get if you
101didn't get one oh you did good so we didn't go oh never mind all right okay does everybody have paper copies okay all right it's up our first volunteer is uh Mr traber yeah he has it can we go to a please correct feedback uh electronic Board of Ed meetings parentheses background information for policy Review Committee page one could be back up Mr Trump I apologize oh yeah let's get listen we can skip the background information I believe because it's just that accents just saying why we need a new one if we start with 93 21.2 which will be yeah I didn't hear you the background yeah yeah that's probably yeah so Mr traber should be at the last page or the which page should he start at well she's going to give the background
102which is all background is in Texas good evening um as you know I work with Mr sokolovic and Mr traber and Miss Perrin on the governance committee and so um we've been looking at our bylaws and policies and so in 2021 under the Connecticut Freedom of Information Act public agencies including Boards of Education must make their meetings other than executive sessions open to the public that became a law in 2021. last year the Connecticut legislature passed a law allowing public agencies until April 30 2022 to hold public meetings that are accessible to the public through electronic equipment or through electronic equipment in conjunction with an in-person meeting like a hybrid meeting Public Act 22 3 removes the April 30 2022 Sunset date and allows public agencies to hold to continue to hold remote and hybrid
103meetings as long as they comply with the posting requirements of the Freedom of Information Act so as board members know your current policy 9171 remote meetings put all sorts of restrictions on committee meeting attendance for Boardman members how many times could they participate remotely and so what we've learned through governance is that we no longer need that policy in all of those restrictions because the Law Public Act 22-3 allows remote meetings to take place and so the document that's up on the screen is policy guidance from Cabe and what they suggest is about three pages into the document from Cade they bring you back to a policy that this board already has they bring you to the policy um notice time place and notification of meetings and so what they suggest is that you update
104your time place and notification of meetings by adding the language that says in accordance with applicable law the board conducts a regular meeting by means of electronic equipment so that that's really what needs to happen is following the 22-3 law updating your time place and notice of meeting policy which is your bylaw 9140 and so all of this information helps the Board to understand what was in place for remote meetings what's currently in place for time place and notification of meetings you can see it here they've put it up on the screen that's that's caves guidance that's caves policy guidance which Mr sokolovic through his role as policy chair is suggesting that the the board adopt so that we no longer have policy 9171 that we update time place and notification of meetings to include
105this language so that we no longer have these restrictions thank you so much uh go ahead let me just give one more one more brief bit of why it needs to be changed as well the new law and statute requires us to give anybody any board member remote access upon their requests with no restrictions being placed that's that's the biggest problem of the thing and we'll also before we get into it we got um as part of our policy we had the board chair and committee chairs having to be in person if it's a hybrid meeting and we're a natural legal and that's still acceptable if we want to include that because it's still uh allows everybody the same chance to attend oh oh nope sorry so that brought Clarity so at this moment we'll
106start to our reader Mr we had a question yes go ahead Mr chamber um do we not have some policy that basically says I mean it's fairly common in contracts when I negotiated it says anything that we have in this policy that's not in compliance with the law is subject to being in compliance with the law do we have anything like that in our policies I don't have anything written but we would we could just ignore the current policy because we cannot do anything in violation of the law obviously but we have been I think inadvertently in violation of the law and regardless regardless if we could or not the entire policy needs to be changed to come into compliance either way our policy is not in compliance with the law not what we've done
107and I what I'm saying is that it you know greater legal Minds than mine in decades of negotiating contracts negotiated always a section of the contract that basically said look if this anything in this contract violates the law the law counts not what this contract says um so I just wonder if it's not worth it at some point and that may be a matter then to refer to governance that we deal with in governance as a new possible item in the bylaws yeah I think we ever just cover ourselves there right I think I think it could be added but um it would be more beneficial to actually have our bylaws in compliance with the law so yes we're not suggesting otherwise that was never the end I mean change sense of that kind of
108boilerplate language was simply to make it clear to anybody that if there was a conflict the law applied right no doubt document okay correct that would cover us all right so where where do you want them to start reading I think I think we should start with this department where to pop what's going to be included in a policy which would be 93 21. the definitions correct this one Sam yep not that's the first page so you want to go to 93 21.2 that's it yep there you go go ahead um bylaws of the board time place a notification of meetings electronic Board of Ed meetings definitions meeting is defined as a hearing or other proceeding of the board any convening or assembly of a quorum of the board and any communication by or to
109a quorum of the board whether in person or by means of electronic equipment to discuss or act upon a matter over which the public agency has supervision control jurisdiction or advisory power Communications between and among a quorum of members convening on electronically linked personal computers or by telephone conference call are subject to the Freedom of Information Act this definition includes hybrid remote and in-person meetings public notice each board member and each person who has duly requested such notification shall be notified no later than 24 hours in advance of the meeting of the date time location and the agenda of any regular or special meeting the 24-hour notice shall also be posted in the board office delivered to newspapers designated by the board and filed with the town clerk except that such notice is not required
110where the time date and location of the meeting has been published in the annual list of meetings approved by the board and filed with the town clerk not later than January 31st of each year in accordance with the law the meeting agenda must be filed at least 24 hours before the meeting convenes parentheses in an emergency meeting the board May proceed to conduct business if and to the extent required by the emergency and parentheses the exception shall also be adhered to in the event of a board meeting held through electronic means as described in this bylaw when hybrid in-person meetings are held the meeting notice should suggest that the public participate by remote beings in order to avoid a situation where demand for space at the meeting by the public exceeds the in-person capacity limit
111yep you want to read voting voting put your mic on voting all board actions requiring a vote may be conducted by voice show of hands or roll call provided that the vote of each member is recorded in the minutes of the meeting proxy voting shall not be permitted Voice voting must occur in the event of a Boe meeting held through electronic means as described in this bylaw votes will be verbalized into the record by the board secretary abstention shall not be counted as votes but shall be recorded I'll just read the last one internet chat discussions in the event of a board meeting held through electronic means as described in this bylaw under those circumstances are members of the board to have private chats while engaged in the public session of the meeting all comments
112inquiries and votes must occur in the public forum for all to hear all board members are expected to comply with the guidance of this bylaw thank you now we're on 9321 B to be Mr sokopik heading is bylaws at a board time place and notification of meetings electronic board meet electronic Board of Education meetings continued policy statement the Board of Education May hold a public meeting that is accessible to the public by means of electronic equipment or by means of electronic equipment in conjunction with an in-person meeting in accordance with Connecticut's Freedom of Information Act the following Provisions will be implemented so that a remote or hybrid meeting can occur one Board of Education members shall make every attempt to participate through technology through a technology portable portal where they can be viewable or at
113a minimum heard for each other and members of the public the Board of Education will accomplish this through the use of an electronic video conferencing program such as but not limited to zoom go to meeting WebEx on board we're members of the public can call and or submit comments or questions two electronically thank you my name is associated two notice of the board meetings virtual or in-person location when a hybrid approach is utilized shall be published through the traditional means and Outlet as well as being noticed on a district website and in the Board of Education Office no less than 48 hours in advance the district shall post the agenda for three the district shall post the agenda for the meeting no later than 24 hours in advance for review and reference board members of
114the public the agenda will also be posted on a district website such notice and agenda shall include instructions for the public to attend and provide comments or otherwise participate in the meeting by means of electronic equipment or in person okay Mr Traver for uh subsection four when the board conducts a meeting other than an executive session or special meeting solely by means of electronic equipment it shall one provide any member of the public a upon a written request submitted not less than 24 hours prior to such meeting with a physical location and any electronic equipment necessary to attend such meeting in real time and B the same opportunities to provide comment or testimony and otherwise participate in such meeting that such member of the public would be accorded if such meeting were held in person
115two ensure that such meeting is recorded or transcribed excluding any portion of the meeting that is in is an executive session and such transcription or recording is posted on the board's internet website and made available to the public to view listen to and copy in the board's office or regular place of business not later than seven days after the meeting and for not less than 45 days thereafter and three if a quorum of the members of the board attend the meeting by means of electronic equipment from the same physical location permit members of the board of the public to attend such meetings in such a physical location all right the next one is 9321.2 C okay um I read it the bylaws of the board time place and notification notification of meetings electronic Board of
116Education meetings policy continue five the board the board when conducting hybrid meetings will make Provisions to allow at least some members of the public and press to attend in the same location as the board members conducting the meeting in a manner consistent with any public health Guidance the number of the public allowed to attend the in-person or hybrid meetings will be limited to capacity limited the capacity by local Health officials did I skip a line no I sure did limit will be limited to capacity limits put in place um consistent with Public Health and Social distance distance guidance determined by local Health officials six if the board conducts a special meeting it shall include the notice of such meeting whether the meeting will be conducted solely or in part by means of electronic equipment and
117not less than 24 hours prior to such meeting shall post such notice and an agenda of the meeting if such special meeting is to be conducted by means of electronic equipment sorry here I go losing my space uh such notice and agenda shall include instructions for the public by means of electronic equipment or in person to attend and provide comment on or otherwise participate in the meeting seven any vote taken at a meeting during which any member participate by participates by mean of electronic equipment shall be taken by roll call unless the vote is unanimous the minutes of the meeting shall record a list of members that attended such meeting in person and a list of members that attended such meeting by means of electronic equipment eight any member of the any member of the
118board or the public who participates orally in a meeting of the board conducted by means of electronic equipment shall make a shall make a good faith effort to State such members name and title if if if applicable at this onset of each occasion that such member participates orally eight executive session will be held I miss oh sorry nine executive session will be held when necessary and for the statutory allow allowed reasons and second video conference meeting open only to Board of Education members and those individuals determined by the board to be necessary to participate in such executive sessions if I want to do 10. number 10 pursue it to pa22-3 aborted members shall not be denied the opportunity to participate and vote in any meeting or proceeding using remote technology if such a member's request
119to do so when public health conditions improve the board May initiate a return to in-person meetings or in the alternative hybrid in-person meetings in which board members May either attend in person or participate remotely in hybrid meetings members of the public and the Press will be allowed to attend up to the capacity limits in place to comply with social distancing guide guidance and local public health department determination options and instructions on how to access Board of Education virtual meetings will be posted on the district's website a recording of board meetings shall be made available within seven days of the board's website and or Dash and I believe the rest is just statute references to statutes I don't believe we need to read those out loud unless somebody really wants to and appendix is microphone and
120appendixes appendixes appendices uh the just suggest how to run to meetings I don't think that needs to be included in the bylaws but uh one more thing we've got to discuss is um whether we want to include the portion of the bylaws in here if so we need to make that Amendment to add I guess at the end I know cheers okay how about how about how about we handle it this way so let me know if we want to go that way at first I make a motion to um thank you I make a motion to amend proposed policy 9321-2 C by replacing 93 to 1.2 T and moving it backwards to e and shifting anything else we want to include to read the chairman of the board or the chair of a committee
121May participate remotely in an in-person meeting but when doing so may not function as the chair for in-person meeting he or she is participating in remotely for the chairman of the board or the chair of a committee to participate remotely he she must designated another member who will be physically present in the meeting room to act as the chair of the meeting hello any discussion I secondly the motion okay and then spin seconded go ahead Mr shaper okay so where are we putting this uh I would I would suggest including a new uh a new um letter number or if you want to stick yourself if somebody else could figure out a good place to stick it to keep with the flow but I don't know well the apology statement is numbered one through ten
122this will be one of the policies that fits in there so maybe attitude number 11. maybe yeah yes you're adding a number 11. right so this motion like my motion would be modified to say I make a motion that we introduce this language as a new subsection 11. to the policy statement and I'll second that amended Amendment okay let's go on the amendment the amended Amendment are there any questions before we do that what is it instead of adding this vote is is strictly calling a number 11 and putting it in that place correct oh but the general analysis discussion and first read so right and then I have a reflected as the first read we're not approving it today we're just getting the first read through and I hope nobody asks for a second
123read so the amended Amendment easy it is voted on so she asked the question yeah what's the amendment to the amendment instead of incorporating a language about the chairperson okay that's a subsection 11. it goes to 11 instead of a new whole new one letter okay all right you have questions you're looking okay all right so there's no further questions uh it's been properly second all in favor all right any opposed any abstentions hearing none motion carries now let's vote on now we're on yeah Amendment as amended and if we wish to incorporate it we've got to approve it to be incorporated into policy whether we want it or not the language yes okay yeah I I I personally think um it'd be cleaner to have the boy the chair or the person here because
124I see I see potential problems with the chair of a committee or or the chair of the board being in person for the simple facts that it's hard to see if you're up on the screen I'll have to see if I want to speak with Mr bennahan he acts up and we get into a big argument there's no gavel to be uh knocked down so it's make it a little harder to control a meeting be via teams so when everybody else is in person so I I would suggest uh including that into the policy all right so anyone else that would like to share their thoughts on the chair or the committee chair being in person versus virtual go ahead Miss Kashmir sorry and that's okay I just want to make sure that I understand
125this so for example if the chair wanted to join a board meeting via video chat she wouldn't be able to run to me to share the meeting the whoever she she would my vice chair yes you would basically like have somebody or another board member chair the meeting just because of the fact that you're on video and out here in person correct I just want to make sure to understand yeah nothing else thank you and that's the same thing for committee as well okay yes I think for the committee level I'm split because when we have poor committee level attendance from committee members I've been in a situation where it's just me I.T um and we're here in person and then committee members are online or one committee members online and it kind of defeats
126the person of why did I show up in person no one else is going to be here why did we it could have been a remote meeting um that's just a general comment in my opinion it's just so from my experience on the board I think for our regular meetings it's fine it makes sense given that regular meetings we're more likely to have actual public comment in the public show up and depending on how long we're in the room stay um on the committee level that makes I'm 50 50 I suppose it I mean as long as we have committee members showing up and it's um not just the use of our facilities going away so there's just one person in the room chairing a committee um but I feel like that deals with other
127issues outside of the purview of this particular item okay so I'll come back Mrs okolovic yeah yeah just just to lay that conservous Baptist for us the reason the reason I did this is because there's a lot of people not making Quorum so that's why they keep it in place you as a chair of the YouTube committees and me as a chair of my friend committees and any other chair has the option to call a totally remote meeting and I'm still codified in there so if there's a problem like like for instance I really I really feel weird when I'm sitting in this room by myself and it seems like a way so if I got some sort of idea people won't be available they'll say I'll be I'll be out of town that week
128or something like that and if it's only myself I think I could um just shift to remote so we don't have to waste the building in this touch I was going to agree with that because I was like we've done it in the past just to prevent if we're not going to be the entire committee is not going to be present then remote just seems a better option so um it's just I've heard this from other people in the district and even students is that we have to go to school there's a notion of covet being over and our students are showing up in person so why as a board member we're not showing up in person and that's just a comment that I've heard from like I said a vast number of constituents from
129the level of student to adult um as a working individual sometimes you're going to be late in traffic you're going to log in remotely um but I do hear their concern um and as a working individual I'm like well if I'm running late and I can log in and that's going to give us Quorum for a meeting there's another so it's valid on both points like I said I'm in between thank you Mr bennahan so Madam chair if laga they were talking if you be online and we have the meeting so the vice president miss Baptist will take care the meeting so it doesn't mean you if something we have to vote you cannot vote because you're online no no all all of my all of the cheers duties will remain the same except chairing
130the meeting so being a Committee Member part of the board I will still vote I would still ask questions can I run the meeting but I just won't run the meeting because I you're not in person I'm not in person so it's not it's almost the same thing for the committee or the chair is just the only person that whoever right now I'm the student family need a chair if you're not gonna make it so one of my um I catch on Miss Joe yeah I have to run the meeting run the meeting okay I understand thank you Mr traber and I'm sorry I meant to go back to you sorry that's right um we're simply codifying here what you've been doing right pretty much that's what this is I mean the one time I
131saw it was I think my first meeting where you chaired and you were you participated um and that makes sense I do understand your point it is one of I mean as somebody who decided I didn't I agreed with those students um and resign retired um I didn't want to go into school I wanted to go into a safer place I but one of the things I'm sort of seeing I see with my wife's work I assume you all are seeing it in other work situations is the ability to actually do things remode is a New Horizon for us and so to offer that flexibility especially with especially with um you know volunteer people you know the board members don't get paid they're they're not you know they're volunteering to do this to have that
132flexibility to deal with as you said getting stuck in traffic or other conflicts and still be able to participate really is a God bless you uh really is a a unique new uh way of handling that situation so I see it is as a good idea to keep it the way it is but I do sort of wonder if you were if you were sitting here alone you're with the staff people right the staff people have to be able to coordinate the meeting somewhere if if you weren't meeting here where would the staff people coordinate the meeting from they can do it all online from wherever they are okay yeah I assumed it has I just hadn't seen it in my experience okay so so call of it yeah yeah I definitely agree with women's
133Baptiste Perez said that we should be all in person and we did open the schools and I I was one of the people saying changing the last policy to make those restrictions because we should be in person facing our constituents especially coming up when we may start making these public budget cuts how easy would it be for us to sit behind a screen and tell people they can't have their jobs no more tell people that their school is going to close and not face the hundreds of people who want to speak to us and in person I mean it's so easy to disassociate yourself on the computer and on a screen I don't have to like it but um unfortunately this is the policy we got and the problem the law we got to abide
134by if it wasn't for the law I would never suggest even changing this policy but we got to live with it and do our best with it now right um any other comments or questions all right the last place we were we were at the um we move on to the main motion which is we're really not approving it so emotionally it is to accept the first read of policy 93 21 and all the subsections as amended all right is there a second second by Mr bennehan are there any other questions comments or concerns care and none all in favor uh I gotta hear y'all hi any opposed any abstentions hair and none uh second first read motion carries good night everybody anybody who wants