00124 2023 at 6 30 pm and we are at agriculture school um at this moment can we all stand for the Pledge of Allegiance thank you Mr secretary Wolf Hall good evening everyone um super Allen Christina Baptist Paris trusting present here Bobby Brown present Mr Kisha Casimir here Michael my come on Robert Trevor here thank you Mr secretary um I.T um the individuals that are viewing online are having a hard time seeing the screen so just give us one moment okay all right um the next item is student representative reports um please state your name the school you attend and feel free to give your report evening everyone my name is Lindsay Muhammad and I'm representing the Aerospace and hydro space engineering school at Pier 12 wheeler campus um just a few things not too
002much so first our Krispy Kreme donut fundraiser by the ptso was a success and a hit among students and faculty and our Aero senior class has a trip coming up this Friday to the Westport Playhouse to see eight Miss Piggy with decision Day on May 1st seniors have been choosing where they will attend this fall and for their next steps of their education and have been sharing them on our Fairchild wheeler decisions page on Instagram our ECMC college night that was originally on April 27th is being postponed a date has not been set as to when it will be happening our graduation date has also been set for June 12th at the Hartford Healthcare Amphitheater and the time is to be determined May 11th is our Fairchild wheeler prom for the class of 2023 and
003class of 2024 at the Waterview in addition to this we have two seniors today from Aerospace class of 2023 they have been chosen to represent their senior class as many have expressed their desire to have a senior trip as a sort of a last hurray with their fellow peers you'll hear more from them later on when you have speakers and that is all that I have for today thank you so much thank you next representative any student Representatives online hello I can go uh good evening Board of Education members and thank you for the time to share an update my name is Erica pinto and I'm here to represent aquaculture as a Central High School student the aqua boat captains are heading to Maine this week to retrieve the rvk Williams our new floating classroom
004we've been anxiously waiting awaiting the completion of this vessel and are excited that it will be in the Black Rock Harbor soon FFA members studied and prepared for their public speaking initiation last week the Region 2 competition was held at the Stamford vocational agriculture school at West Hill High School on Monday afternoon our three participants memorized the FFA Creed researched a variety of Ag and technology related topics and resources and wrote an agriculture related paper after presenting their work to the judges at Alexis Poff ranked third in her recitation of the Creed and Selena Rivera placed second in the extemporaneous public speaking by developing a presentation based on the resources she chose our third FFA member Lauren Kaiser won first place in the prepared speak public speaking and will represent the aquaculture School FFA chapter
005and Region 2 at the State Convention on June 3rd these competitions build confidence and the ability to speak in front of an audience skills we all need in our society today we are also preparing another Chef event invitations will be sent out later this week by Mr Henry the date is May 9th from 6 to 8 PM in our fish market the owner of tasty yolk will be the chef of the evening with a thigh themed menu we look forward to showcasing our fish market products and serving the community thank you for the ongoing support thank you so much next student representative hi my name is Evan Roy and I'm here to represent BMA report card Converses went very well teachers enjoy saying Cadets and their parents once again various field trips are planned for
006the remainder of the year including a trip to see a Shakespeare play a trip to beersley zoo and a trip to Discovery rope course Penske Auto Company visited BMA they are looking to hire current seniors when they graduate and train them in the auto motive industry finally senior Cadets are committing to the universities and are looking forward to our upcoming decisions day thank you thank you next student I see Brenda hello good evening um my name is Brenda ronza and I am here to represent basic high school first of all I'd like to start off by saying congratulations to basic superintendent's quarterly Award winners student Franklin utogle and Miss Michelle Johnson Franklin is a model student at basic and we were very proud of his admission into Housatonic Community College Advanced manufacturing program last year
007once he graduates he will be eligible to work in the manufacturing industry pursuing a great career Franklin is also a kind and loving student often seen helping others and making positive contributions to classes on behalf of our principal and everyone else at basic Franklin thank you for making our school a better place Miss Johnson has elevated math instructions at ambassic high school through her leadership and unyielding dedication to improvements of instructional practices she has led numerous mass-pd sessions around making thinking visible and has embraced hmh math curriculum integration into the school Miss Johnson thank you for making basic a great place finally I'd like to say on April 4th bcyo offered two sessions of leadership training one to freshmen and sophomores and the other two Juniors and seniors thank you bcyo for your continued impact
008on our students that will be all um thank you Evan uh I already had went for the BMA representative oh sorry um hello good afternoon my name is Jalil Stewart from high school in April we had a third or third student talent show which served as a Capstone project for some of our art focused seniors we also had a class versus kickball tournament our upperclassmen team be our underclassmen team but unfortunately lost in the finals to the teachers team in addition we also had a FAFSA celebration lunch on for all the seniors that competed completed their fast performs as airports financial literacy month we had the state of Connecticut comptroller and treasure visit our school last week they worked with students on saving investing and how to build a good credit score this week we'll
009have two senior-led basketball tournaments eight seniors recruited and are coaching their own teams through the tournament all games except the final rounds are taking place after school May 6. this project is also a Capstone project for the seniors that are involved thank you thank you so much I believe that is everyone okay um at this moment we'll open up the floor for public comment you have two minutes one that's once the timer goes off we're gonna ask the before the timer goes off we're going to ask that you wrap up your your final statement the first person um it looks like there's three names here annalize Morgan yep okay hello ladies and gentlemen my name is Margaret Carlson and I'm a senior at Fairchild wheeler Aerospace and hydro Space School my name is Annalee silvaliamine
010also current senior at Fairy Tail Builder Aerospace so firstly I'd like to um relay to you all a bit on my own and my peers experience at my high school so for the past few years with covid we struggled a lot our first year as freshmen's in 2020 we our school year was cut in half and then the years after that especially sophomore and junior year we have not had a full High School experience and we've really struggled from that both mentally and socially and in general we don't really have a lot going on at our school so we would really really like to stress the importance of our Traditions um the last few years we haven't really had a senior trip um we have a trip coming up this Friday but it was not
011student organized and so it hasn't really fit our needs and our objectives for a senior trip I would like to also mention that throughout the entire pandemic it was extraordinarily emphasized that students are isolated for specifically for our graduation from half of our freshman year being stripped from us at home from sophomore year majority of students being online are told to come on separate days or junior year in which students could literally be punished if we were not social distancing properly it wasn't until senior year that we were actually able to get back with our normal protocols but because of that not only were students severely isolated we did not have much room for collaboration inclusion and expressing ourselves with that being said we haven't had any trips and with that we would like to
012say that even though Fairchild Aerospace our senior class has improved throughout the pandemic in writing Math and Science we have not been able to improve socially because we're not allowed a senior trip thank you so much ladies for sharing our next speaker you all set yeah okay okay our next speaker is Miss Joanne Kennedy good evening I'm coming up on behalf of Miss Ortiz and the students um I'm here on behalf of the students from Bassett High School Bridgeport memorial Academy who live in PT and attend these schools these students came to the community Forum at Hardy in February and reiterated that they had not received a response from the Boe or the superintendent's office to a letter that they sent asking about the new basic and I have a few questions for you all
013do you plan on responding to this letter from the students who are concerned about their future School what's the timeline for the new Bassett construction as of today there seems to be no activity at the site and at The Forum it was told to the community that it would start in March has a new Bassett project been delayed and if so why that's what the students want to know that's what the community wants to know and I believe this letter they sent you originally was in December and for no one to get back to the students is a little questioning questionable and it's not good for us not to respond to students and to my understanding there was a petition um that they had gave at The Forum also I was there at the Forum
014so they did given the petition and when the students come up just like these students they need to be answered back someone needs to get back to them about what their concerns are because we are here for them thank you thank you so much there are no further um speakers for public comment at this moment we're gonna do approval of me in minutes the first one is the regular board meeting on March 27 2023 is there a motion to approve so move move by Mr binahan is there a second second by Mr traber any questions comments concerns pairing on all in favor bye any any opposed any abstentions all right thanks Miss Baptist abstains motion carries the next item is special meeting on April 3rd 2023 is there a motion to approve moved by Mr
015binahan is there a second second by Mr traber are there any questions concerns edits here and none all in favor all right any opposed any abstentions Epstein Miss Baptiste Perez abstains Mr Trey burp Saints all right the next item is the Chairman's report um the first thing that I would like to do is uh we recently as a board lost a board member uh he uh um is here tonight Mr Joseph Lombard and the board would like to provide recognition to Mr lumbar tonight at this moment we're going to also be mailing this to him so I'm going to read it online foreign thank you in recognition of your service let me come over here sorry you can see me Mr Lombard yes no I I see the the board which is fine okay in
016recognition of your service to the people of Bridgeport Connecticut as a member of the Board of Education during 2019 and 2023 term your dedication to the students and staff of Bridgeport Public Schools as well to the community at large is deeply appreciated we want to say thank you on behalf of the Board of Education thank you for your time your service your wisdom your knowledge and we pray all the best for you moving forward and this is from the Board of Education I know we'll mail this to you but if you would like to have a few words please do well thank you very much it's very kind and thank you for inviting me to this meeting to receive that virtually um as I said in my brief uh resignation letter it's been an honor
017to serve on this board with every single one of you in the time that you've been on the board as I have been um and I think that great work is happening and I'm glad that I was able to contribute in the part that I could during that time so thank you and God speak to all of you at this moment I would like to share that the as we are still in the process of our superintendent search the meeting of the committee of the Bridgeport Board of Education will be meeting on May 4th at 6 PM via teams with um the search Farm they have met with each and every one of the stakeholders that have presented themselves at the last few meetings um and at those stakeholder meetings they will gather the information
018the board will meet and then we'll come back on the further steps of that process so just wanted to keep you guys updated on where we are with the superintendent search um from what I hear from Mr ferry that everything has gone really well so I look forward to seeing the feedback that he provides from his superintendent search are there any questions concerning that okay yes oh sure results are completely I will that is can be a question that we ask him yes I will make sure to ask all right um and moving on to committee reports and referrals the first one is education diversity equity and inclusion chaired by Mr sokolovic good evening everybody um yeah diversity equity and inclusion committee met on 17th and we had some discuss we had um further discussed
019our request for proposals for um diversity trainings for staff and board members and what have you and RFP is ready and should be presented at the next board meeting for approval uh we also went over data of teachers Vice principals principals and administrators above principles it seems like we're still we're still leading the pack as far as the city but we're still in the same position where we were previously and we just give or take a point here or there but working towards getting a more diverse staff and it'll be a recurring theme on the committee until we actually have Equitable Staffing levels to us different ratios thank you are there any referrals to this committee I was just going to apologize for Mr said that the next meeting will be May 15th at 6
020pm at president Central High School again any referrals to this committee all right here and none the next one is finance yes the finance committee met on April 19th at 6 30 uh we gotta put an update on this this year's budget seem to be ready to close the year balanced as usual um and then we had a status updated at 23-24 budget there's been some improvement in the possibility of the State numbers going up to 3.3 at the minimum three million dollars and don't know where we're going to land yet the city has offered us two which we all know is inadequate we will be having um a meeting with the city tomorrow as a group and then on the Toyota so 25th and then on the 27th we will be having um public
021forums and I employ everybody to get out there we are asking from the city 12.4 million dollars as you can see some of the towns around us like smaller towns are already making cuts and layoffs because they have they gotten a lot less extra funding than we have and it's run out a lot quicker but we still we're going to be able to probably install it until next year but when we do our playoffs it's going to be significant because if we don't get the funding this system is in trouble so everybody Thursday the 27th 6 p.m BF 45 Lion Terrace the city council chambers be ready to testify because if you don't talk they won't listen thank you I'm sorry the next meeting will be on May 9th at 6 30 pm at Central
022Library Central High School library thank you are there any referrals to this committee question yes well I'm sure sorry um I'm like and I already spoke about this and I hope this time we can get the report about the lighthouse I just want to know what um Lighthouse own situation because every time we have every time we um ask questions I don't know why they hiding information that we can know what's going on because I know they use our schools yes can you give me a little bit of clarity of what you might want yes of course um especially what I heard and what I please correct me if I'm wrong that I paid they paid on seventy five thousand dollars to use the buildings and I know one school maybe can pay 75 000
023in light so I know the budget of Lighthouse very high and I just wonder because they know they don't only use the building they use like I said live gas AC custodians everything what's going on what we have in the school so I filled up seventy five thousand dollars is not enough for our schools so you're just looking to see if we're getting our course reimbursed by yes yeah because they got they got their own budget side I would love to see their budget at some point yes thank you manager Mr traber the Miss Baptist Paris thank you uh chairman um I would um support wanting to see more about what the lighthouse budget is and what their contribution to us is um the question that I had for you Mr sakalovic is I want
024to make sure that I understand essentially we restored a lot over the years in the last five years or more we were forced to make incremental Cuts every year uh and every year we had this discussion as we approached the budget time where we got rid of kindergarten Paras where we got rid of coaches where we landed you know we laid off we eliminated these positions um much of that has been restored with the coveted money am I correct yes and the concern that you have just to be clear to people watching in the public is that after the coveted money called Esser money Runs Out which is in about a year all of that stuff will disappear immediately unless we get some other source of Revenue correct and um and listening to your question
025I think I should actually say what those positions are that were funded under Esther funding that would be useful thank you thank you for asking for more details guidance counselors 10 positions are funded through uh funding through Kobe funded social work is 11 positions are funded through coven money Elementary academic supportive structures 39 positions supported by covet funding kindergarten paraprofessionals we all remember many of us in this room remember losing the kindergarten Professionals of a blow that we children still have not recovered from undercoat thanks to covid which is a blessing for some some things that brought back a lot of positions we brought back 45 Parish able to have one power in every two classrooms funding for that will be drying up as well and nine assistant principles are funded undercover we're not even
026talking about the operating budget at this point this is just the Esser funds from covid this is not even hitting operating budget which is running at a structural deficit basically being covered by some asset funding and some internal service funds so once all that money runs out we're in deep trouble thank you and and just just a quick note everything that Mr sokolovic is talking about is also covered in the financial meeting as well so I don't want to spend most of our time covering those items but please go to finance meeting hear the outline of the budget the cuts are you know the previous positions that were there and when are no longer there all right Miss Pepsi's Perez uh Mr sakolovic when I was chair of Finance I left a detailed and it
027should have been completed by Miss Siegel outline of inquiries regarding Lighthouse including costs per School Staffing so that should have been prepared and miss papa was prepared to present so following up on that should be easy and just a coordination for her to show up to the meeting and show what Lighthouse um is actually providing and payments to the school and the timings yeah we did have some sort of breakdown but Mr pinahan is referring to is the actual course I mean we do get 75 000 per year but we don't have a breakdown we don't know how much cost that if we're going to run it through we got a new program that was brought through I believe it was facilities where they measure All the Monies and we'll be measuring it against that
028to see how much actual they would be paying if they were a separate entity from I still like my agenda items to be addressed in finance could you refer your exact agenda item again oh and I could pull it from the record and it's already been completed it's probably the January minutes well email it please because I'm not going to look back through a dozens of times from the One Finance meeting you had okay the next committee or any are there any other referrals because we were in question so hearing no referrals the next item is uh governance Mr sokolovic yes the governance committee met on base I don't know not based on 2016 meeting on April 19th and the following was discussed we uh talked about the mess with the big mess with Harding
029and having to create a new policy and it seems to be being a monster of a policy that can't really be created on the spot in a meeting so the committee decided to be best handled it uh it's a little work group and then presented to the committee at the next committee meeting a framework of what to go forward and build on it from there and we also discussed the remote meeting policy which when formed was not in compliance with state statute it says we've been restricted members rights to attend remotely because they could they could just ask their 10 remotely and we don't have to put any restrictions on them so if the important is asked we cannot deny them the ability to attend a meeting remotely that is now the law of the
030land so this policy must be brought into compliance with State Statute and it was one question asked of the legal department so the legal department got back to us and said we could include the part with uh boardshare must be in person if we so choose and we'll discuss that further committee and the next meeting will be on April on May 17th at 6 PM everybody who's interested in the policies please show up and give you input then um I'd advise everybody to read board member policy that's in the packet from the last meeting so they could catch up so we don't have to have another two-hour meeting just discussing one policy are there any referrals for governance yes Miss parent oh I wanted to refer um looking at cyber bullying as a policy um
031that we need for a Bridgeport Public Schools as well as looking at the existing discipline policy and you guys have a related numbers on them or just didn't this we don't have a cyber bullying policy also that would be a creation creation and I don't know the policy number for discipline off the top of my head but I will send it to you via email thank you any other referrals for governance right the next one is health safety health safety and Facilities committee I'll say these facilities have not met an interim and I'm hoping to get a meeting uh sometime first week of May are there any referrals for health safety and Facilities and could we look at getting like a firm schedule for this community because it's been created from like four like quite
032a few months right now and our building is really need to be addressed and there's a lot of issues that need to be addressed in the facilities and I know Mr Been ahead has like three or four referrals going on from the last year didn't have readings at a facilities committee so we need to move forward with our business on our committee Mr binahan thank you madam chat yeah um I never email me about this all the information we just went into date and we have all say as soon as possible we have I know we're going to have a good meeting any other referrals for health safeties and Facilities all right the next one is personnel and contracts personnel and contracts has not met in the interim we'll meet on tomorrow um at 6
03330 pm at Central High School um are there any referrals for personnel and contracts here and none I would also like to say that um in personnel and contracts we are covering um our leadership positions and what their roles intake so that's also been provided so anyone that's interested in knowing how the district operates through its leadership this is an opportunity for you to join that meeting to hear the presentations from the different teams the next committee is students and Families thank you very much here um we have a last meeting we have it was April 20 um in Central High School we have amazing very good meeting we it was very important I have to say Thank you Mr flanner Dr Melton for the information you know we update it was very good and
034special Miss Russia miss Lynn when it was going to be the it was the first time I talked and we talked about LGBT and it was very programmed um it's pairing it was there thank you for being there and it's a good information that I know from that day I have received a call from parents and students they're very proud that we get this information out to help you know the community and our students our next meeting is going to be um May 18 uh six o'clock at Central High School are there any referrals for students and Families yes we're just gonna do an update in regards to the parent handbook um so that we can release it up for next school year um so I have asked on Lynn Stevens and Miss Carly Reyes
035Roca to present at that meeting yeah thank you also means um melanchery my I want to add that I have to say thank you for the high schools and they came to uh to speak guide Harding High School and they don't show up and I said medicine they're an amazing report from the pack how the packages work together you know it was very it was very good thank you um the next one is teaching and learning Miss Baptist Perez teaching and learning will meet on April 26th at watersville school at 6 pm are there any referrals for teaching and learning all right that is all of our committee reports just a reminder all the Committees are their meeting schedules are on the board of ed website the public can participate so we encourage you to
036participate so you know what's happening um and then anything that's brought out of committee will come to a regular board meeting um if it's voted on amongst the committee and you'll be able to hear those items here at the regular board meeting um the next item is the superintendent's report first item that I have on my report is basic BMA update um just to address Miss Kennedy and her concern in regards to a letter I know that it was communicated at The Forum that there was a letter sent and as I explained to the students I've never received a letter from them so I can't respond to something that I've never received I've never received a letter from students in regards to their concerns from um basic and BMA I have not received that not
037to date foreign BMA Ms Brown and I met with uh City officials um in regards to getting more information regarding CT deep um and we have not received a response um from them from the city in regards to that the purpose really was to try to provide a presentation about what was the different things that ctd did in preparation for the building of the new basic on this UB site however we did not receive that we did send follow-up Communications as well with no response at the building committee that was held on for 2023 it was shared that the additional contractual approvals which were pending per Connecticut deep approval had been received and the approvals are as follows from The Office of the State traffic Administration approval from Deep with regard to the flood management
038approval of the zoning board with regard to stipulated conditions a submission of a copy of the building permit so as of we stand right now that all of the approvals that were necessary have been received um and the city is waiting on hearing about a possible groundbreaking ceremony at the UB site um which will be forthcoming I spoke with Michelle or Terrell this morning she's working with the mayor's office to determine when that will be and that will be shared accordingly the RV Catherine Williams which is the new research vessel will be here by May 1st um there will be a welcoming ceremony for that as well crossed endorsement sessions for teachers interested in teaching math and science um for school year 23 24 have begun as well assessments Fifth and 8th grade ngss testing
039will begin the week of April 24th s back for grades three and four will begin the week of April 24th as well specifically for ELA and the math assessment Avant stamp placement language exams for the Seal of biliteracy will begin this month this is awarded to graduating 12th graders who are proficient in the target language per the Connecticut State Department of Education approved assessments students must achieve an intermediate with mid-score level overall this includes speaking listening reading and writing Reading Plus us estimates for grades nine to twelve um are scheduled for great uh May 8th through May 12th and the student climate survey will begin for grades 9 to 12 May 15th through May 19th um student login information will be shared the week of May 1st currently we are um currently have out our
040students our family service excuse me um in for SEL um that are closing on Friday of this week so that information has been sent out the appearance Square currently right now we have approximately a little over a thousand responses from parents and families I have communicated to principals that they are to send out daily reminders so that way we can get more feedback from parents um upcoming events include our pack round table which is taking place on April 26th at Central High School the focus is immigration we have our public hearing that Mr sakalovic spoke about on the 27th um at 6 PM in City Hall Chambers Communications have been going out in regards to that we have a job fair happening on the 27th as well for anyone looking in for certified positions teaching
041positions for next school year 6 p.m at City Hall our quarterly celebration will be taking place on May 3rd at Harding High School at 6 p.m we have a technology showcase coming up on May 22nd at Fairchild wheeler our math meet for grade 7 and 8 will be taking place on June 1st from 9 to 1 p.m at Sacred Heart University of as well as our adult education um graduation will be taking place on the evening of June 1st as well in our high school graduation day is on June 12th Kudos we are recognizing um two Juniors from Aerospace Fairchild wheeler campus who will receive recognition for the 2024 National Merit Scholarship program in September um they will wind down the current list of 550 000 um students to 16 000 semi-finalists of those sixteen
042thousand um 72 I don't know what's wrong with this number I believe it's 7 200 will be offered scholarships and um two of those will be Zachary Allen and Eleanor lanon who both are part of our Fairchild wheeler Aerospace campus thank you Miss Perrin now open it up for for the board to ask questions the first one I see is Mr binahan it's not a question but I have to say I think he was praying to be a basic ptso event um you give it good information and people say well wow that you be there and let them know the parents and the uh the committee about our budget what's going on Thursday thank you Mr Traver uh John Stockton Avenue was there it was amazing and as I said my secretary did a great
043job great event and be born staff it was very happy to see you there in Sequel members there so I'll have you not have to say thank you I appreciate that anyone else Mr sokolovic oh yes um yeah just hear an update on the basic um schools bring some mind I think we got probably a bit of an oversight on our agenda because all the Committees are listed and but we don't have the school building committee giving out reports I think maybe it will be um appropriate for either you sit there as a chairperson and just every time we have a meeting just have that as part of the Chairman's report or the superintendent's report so we could all be up to date all the time yes and I don't I don't know I don't
044get the links to them anymore I know I'm not a member but so we can all sit in and just listen even though we won't have the right to speak thank you anyone else like any questions or comments from his parents I haven't called on Miss cashmere so I'm gonna turn around Miss Kashmir do you have any questions comments for Miss Perrin um no I I just wanted to say um thank you to miss parents for all of her hard work I um I just wish that we could put together like some kind of like schedule for what she is responsible for on a weekly basis just so people can get a really good picture of you know what she's responsible for it and how hard she works so I just want to say thank
045you for all her hard work that's all I have thank you um and now we're gonna move into if there's no other no other board members okay now we're going to move into Old business we have two items under oh business the first one is the second read and approval of 90 9210 official duties of the chairman um this is Mr sokolo's agenda item um this was also brought uh brought in committee um and also at the regular board meeting in the past so this is the second read of it so Mr sakolovic you have the floor thank you yes the first read of this was accepted at the unanimously in the as the board I'm not quite sure if we made any change suggested any changes but this is as it was supposed to
046be passed um would we like to read this whole or just the changes let's read it all officials point of personal privilege can it be posted online so that way the viewers can see Mr Jeff is that thank you just give us one second foreign there you go that that's the one you can just make it uh yeah yes go ahead okay oil changes and revisions are noted in red as usual for the last few readings um official duties chairperson you used to be two every two person used to be chairman this is the updated point of personal privilege is still not up and available to the public yet oh keep it there just scroll down just a little too far there we go it's right there thank you got it thank you okay official
047duties chairperson rather than chairman one the chairperson shall cause to be noticed or canceled all meetings of the board two the chairperson shall provide preside at all meetings of the board three the chairperson Shall Serve as the board spokesperson the chairperson shall appoint the chair and members of all regular special and ad hoc committees five the chairperson Shall Serve as ex-official member of all committees six the chairpersonal of authority to act as the board's representative for the purposes of consultation with board legal counsel and may authorize other board members to consult with the board Council when the chairperson needs it to be appropriate this is new language here the chairperson will distribute to all Board of Education members the written legal opinion of board Council seven the chairperson shall perform other such duties as may
048be delegated to him or her by the board eight the chairperson is responsible for the development of the board of agenda and has final Authority as to its content nine the chairperson shall sign the instrument's acts and orders necessary to carry out the state requirements and the will of the board 10. the chairperson shall confer with the superintendent enacted as the board level resource on crucial matters and decisions which may occur between board meetings 11 the chairperson shall have the right as other board members have to offer resolutions discuss questions and to vote 12 the chairperson shall have the authority to invite legal counsel to address the board at any board meeting regarding process procedures or substantial related substantive matters with prior notice to the board that's a new language when the chairperson thinks it
049would be in the best interest of the board to do so the chairperson of the board or new language the majority of the board May authorize legal counsel to serve as parliamentarian of any board readings this appears to be exactly as passed in uh first read with I think there was one slight Amendment but everything is pretty much the same are there any questions comments concerns with this document class again are there any questions comments or concerns with this document Miss Baptiste Perez I guess the only it's not necessarily the biggest comment but on item 13. I think because it deals with a financial cost to the board I would have preferred to see a super majority two-thirds but um seeing that it's been rarely used and hasn't been utilized in the two years I've
050served that's the only comment I have towards it thank you are there any further comments questions or concerns for this document oh legal and please please come to the mic I didn't even I'm sorry I didn't even notice she was sitting there but it sounded to me as though there's a requirement of Prior notice to the board in order to get advice from City attorneys and I hope that that was only modifying the substantive stuff and not the procedural stuff because if a procedural issue comes up during the course of the meeting and you happen to have your Council here I would not think you'd want to restrict the ability to tap that input whether it's outside counsel or someone from my office now maybe I didn't hear it correctly or maybe that qualification with
051prior notice was only intended to address substantive matters not procedural matters would you like to explain your reasoning behind that first first time this has been thrown at me like this I'll give you a second I believe I believe the language as is not address your concern so I think maybe would you have suggested language that we could input well maybe you could one way to deal with it would be to uh I can't read that far I'm sorry I apologize but but if uh let me if you don't mind let me come up says the chairperson shall have you fight you have to go to the mic yeah so you can be on record sorry thank you for that technical assistance number 12 currently says the chairperson shall have the authority to invite legal
052counsel to address the board at any meeting regarding process procedures and or substantive matters and then it says Karma with prior notice to the board when the chairman deems it would be in the best interest of the board to do so I can understand conceivably uh notifying the board about substantive matters ahead of time but if a procedural issue comes up whether it's an foi issue Robert's Rules issue or board uh policy issue or something you're not going to be able to give uh prior notice to the board before the meeting so um and I I understand that with prior notice to the board is new language I think you'd want to at least make it clear that uh or substance or with prior notice to the board regarding substantive matters something like that because
053otherwise you're depriving yourself of the ability for the chairperson to tap into some legal advice during the meeting thank you Mr Circle yeah I got you um yeah I think that could be resolved because the main intention of the policy is not to basically not to restrict our City attorney to from appearing is to restrict us from encouraging additional costs so maybe we could add a language having to do with um paid legal outside legal counsel well again uh listen that's that's fine I I mean I notice outside council is not here today so you're saving money right um obviously my staff would be available including myself to come whenever you feel the need for that it's comforting to know that you don't feel you need a an attorney here at every meeting and that's
054a testament to I guess the effectiveness of how the board works but I just don't think that if an attorney happens to be in the room on another matter or something in a procedural issue comes up or if the chair gives a call to outside counsel out of my office uh at the last minute and says we got a procedural question coming up tonight um you know I'm just trying to not have you deny yourself the ability to tap into available input doesn't mean you have to necessarily follow the advice but at least you'd be able to hear it so you know you can think about that amended if you want limit the with prior notice to substantive issues so nobody's surprised by by it but I I defer to what you want to do
055I just wanted to point that out Miss Baptist Perez I think that's an excellent point to distinguish between substance and procedure especially um when there may be procedural questions or Robert's rules to take advantage of the city and educational lawyers that are paid and actually study in our in our parliamentarians um so uh I mean there's no main motion at this time going forward but I would uh whatever goes forward I am going to probably make that Amendment because it does make a difference and the substantive is more of the concern is to incurring costs are there any further discussion on this item would somebody be able to offer amended language so we can move forward today or should we kick it back to committee to discuss further I mean Baptist for us we've been
056counseled by the City attorney um regarding the ramifications of it and a distinguishment between the substance and procedure and while he's here even if we have a procedural question we can capitalize on him being here um so I don't think it's necessary uh given legal advice to the board at this time that it goes back to committee it's a distinguishing factor that should be considered all right would anybody like to make a motion yeah motion to approve the second read of policy 9210 chairperson and approved for immediate implementation put someone like second moved by Mr Binion second by Mr socola Nick would anyone like to amend yeah yes can you I'm going to ask the parliamentarian question and utilize you while you're here it's the role of the secretary to write down all motions going
057forward or being amended so that way we have it clear for the record um I either the stenographer or the secretary somebody should definitely be recording thank you I'm gonna make a motion to amend what was previously stated because I didn't write it down but to include and I don't have it in front of me would you like me to read it again if I could just see it I'll read it out loud it's going to be emotion to immense uh chairperson 92 10 subsection 12. uh line two through three which says with prior notice to to the board and it's going to be amended to stay with prior notice regarding substantive matters to the board second second by Mr sokolovic all in favor uh yes Mr Draper I have a question on that yes
058um Mr Anastasia are you saying that that would be sufficient from your point of view I think so I I think it makes it clear that the board chair only is obligated to send to issue prior notice on substantive matters now there is the there is the possibility and and this I think you can I think you could address this further Amendment let's assume we're at a meeting tonight and it's not a procedural question but a substantive issue comes up and I happen to be here or your outside counsel happens to be here and nobody could prior notice that I was going to address a collective bargaining issue or a settled legal settlement issue or a contract issue and it's substantive I think you might want to add language at the end that says notwithstanding
059uh notwithstanding Karma the board can by majority vote solicit legal advice on any matter at any time that way it's not the chairperson making a unilateral decision but a majority of the board and that may go without saying but I want to be clear that you know you can tap into any of your staff on a majority vote so maybe that's covered elsewhere maybe that's not necessary but I'm pretty confident that would be the rule anyway does that clarify your question yeah yeah definitely agree with that Amendment because I was basically in there before at the board and also request I believe the I'm sorry but I pointed the procedural point it's your emotion so it'll be a friendly amendment to your emotion you accept that as a friendly Amendment an amendment to the amendment
060sure that's procedurally correct okay uh I think we got it this we can kind of handle one motion at a time we can make another amendment we can we can ask the City attorney uh can we make an amendment to the amendment you can but it's just equally clear and possible to just do successive amendments so it doesn't get confusing got it all right so the amendment has been seconded all in favor I any opposed any abstentions parent none the amendment carries now we're going to vote back on the main motion no no no we got another motion to amend ment um there's an emotion to amend the amendment the original motion though scenario Second Amendment uh notwithstanding uh the board upon upon majority vote of those present they at any time vote to solicit
061and accept legal advice on procedural and substantive matters and I probably should have said it slower because I probably can't repeat it either but you'll get the general idea right let's add to the end of number 12 strike the period at a comma notwithstanding at the board okay I missed something the majority of those present on the board May solicit legal advice on substantiative Madness from legal I get it obviously yes um is this the Second Amendment you're reading yes all right uh why don't you read that again if you would I apologize okay we're replacing the period with a comma and inserting notwithstanding that the board the majority of the board present May solicit legal advice on substantive Matters from the attorney president uh I would say on on any board matters I wouldn't
062limit it to substantive just saying on any board matters because at your right as a body yes Mr draber um let me recommend that you use the same language as earlier in this in the section regarding the process procedures and or substantive matters that works yeah that's fine absolutely could you read that out as Amendment it hasn't been seconded yes so it's still up near what I said was you know with regard to you had regarding substantive matters Council suggested that you broaden that by limited substantive matters and so I'm recommending you simply use the language that appears earlier in this subsection regarding process procedures comma procedures and or sub that matters so at the end you're adding a comma notwithstanding a majority of the board may vote to seek advice from Council on matters
063regarding process procedures and or substantive um I had said all matters but that's equally clear and spells it out and so it's no foul yes Miss Baptist also I think it's redundant to have the majority of the board present it's uh you just say the majority of the board I would say a majority of the Void present in voting okay somebody declares a conflict or something I agree because right now we would like to ask a question a question majority of the board would be five and we would not have five if two people disagree so okay take a shot at this is reading the same yeah I'm just trying to yeah all right like to make a motion to admit second amendments number 12 strike the period at a Karma I think you missed
064it I mean I apologize if it if it makes it easier because it we're now creating one humongous sentence you might want to put the period back in and say notwithstanding anything here and before comma and then get into the rest of it and make it two sentences so it's not a run-on full paragraph if the parent I make a motion to amend by adding a new sentence notwithstanding that the board members majority of the board members present a solicit legal advice on any process procedure or substantiative matter before sounds great thank you great is there a second second by Mr Traver all in favor okay all right any opposed any abstentions haranon motion carries now to the main motion uh yes I like to make an amendment to the main motion subsection 13 should
065be to the majority of the board present um for the same reasons President voting for the same reasons discussed in subsection 12. I'll second that second by Mr sokolovic any discussion here and none all in favor uh hi any opposed any abstentions Aaron and motion carries now to the main motion are we losing you miss Baptist Perez no we're not so main motion would anyone like to make the main motion it's already made it's already second is it was made it was seconded it was amended three times and now the main motion on floor the voting on the main motion as amended yes all right all in favor aye any opposed any abstentions hair and none motion carries all right thank you all right the next item is um discussion and possible approval of the
066Bridgeport Board of Education library media refresher Miss Jenkins this was also in our last meeting as well so if you want to just do a quick recap um good evening again I presented revised information based on the inquiries regarding the use of The Language American Indian with the Capstone publishing pebble goal product I'm within the PowerPoint presentation I shared with you I provided language from the company that the tile and titled American Indian history will be updated I'm starting July 2023 um to indigenous people's history um they stated that they've been doing some research with the lead Authority that led them to that change but stated that the Smithsonian museum in Washington DC is still under the name American Indian however to be appropriate with the changes that are occurring with diversity Equity inclusion and
067belonging um the company will be making that revision and can remove the tile from the dashboard until the revision is made will hide the information so it wouldn't be available to us if approved um or you know leave it open and wait for the change I believe that was the answer to one of the inquiries presented by the board and the second inquiry that was presented by the board was the funding of 1.2 million dollars in is there funding being taken from say Staffing operations and based on Mrs Siegel's feedback which I included in the PowerPoint as well Mrs Siegel stated that that money was allocated as a part of the initial Esser funding for library media renewal and will not impact the reduction of Staffing and that based on the plan submitted to the
068state of Connecticut we need to spend the money on library media renewal materials thank you are there any questions I'll ask again are there any questions Miss Baptiste Perez I just have a comment I think the library media renewable project is going to be a great thing not only does it give our students access to electronic resources but it also does bring actual physical books into the classrooms uh or in into our libraries um and just being observant that a few of our meetings have been in the media centers are in the libraries of high schools some the more books the mirrors in my opinion so I'm all for this thank you any further comments Mr banan um Dr jenke why is not just a question and you can tell me yes and no it's
069not running out why this money in this budget can I be using to help the library we have in Bristol schools could you clarify the money the amount the money of this program is not the way and they cannot use it let's say you have to spend the money it's not the way we can help and update all the library we have in the school in the school like you give example you know based on my high school ambassy high school you know there's any update they cannot be using the money for that or they have to use the money exactly for this program so this is phase one so the funding was allocated for the K-8 schools and we purchased digital products first we will be receiving a grant from the federal government designated
070for additional library media resources so we will be using those resources to support upgrades in our high schools in particular and close gaps that we may have within the K-8 original plan so additional money designated from the library media centers will be coming in from the federal government for next year so we'll go into part two so but basic high school wants their construction project is finished to my knowledge media resources are built into the new construction as well okay thank you no more questions Madam chair all right would someone like to make a motion motion to approve the Bridgeport Public Schools Library meet media refresher is there second by Mr Benny Hinn are there any further discussion hearing none all in favor uh any opposed any abstentions hair and none motion carries thank you
071Miss Jenkins thank you Now we move to new business the first item is discussion and appointment of candidates to fill the vacant Board of Education seat left by Joseph Lombard board members this information is in your packet the candidate is here tonight um and we will do the same process that we have done in the past each board member is asked to provide one question that one question will be answered by the candidate um are there any further questions before we bring the candidate forward okay ready you can join us at the mic if you would like yeah she joins us at the mic good evening everybody evening if you can just take a moment and just give us a brief synopsis or introduction of who you are and then we'll start the questions sure
072um again good evening and thank you again for allowing me the opportunity um to present and apply for this position my name is David Gillen um I am I recently moved to Bridgeport in 2020. uh my from Haitian descent I live for a bit in Brooklyn and then I grew up in Long Island um where I from degrade from grade four to high school and I attended Malloy College in Rockville Center for my Master's Degree and also my undergrad degree I am a nurse I currently I currently work as a senior nurse manager at Lenox Hill Hospital I've been a nurse now for 13 years my anniversary was April 12th um and I also um before cover I used to also work as a nurse practitioner I took a break from that um because I
073wanted to focus on Administration um I have a knack for leadership I work on you know a half a ton of projects in my current role where I'm a work with staff I help new processes I hope develop programs um about two years ago I helped you know open the Neuroscience unit um and that it was a lot of work but it's something that I really love to do I'm really engaged um and I think um this applying for this school board position something that I do want to do because I do have two young children I'm a father um I have a 12 year old her birthday isn't on Wednesday she's turning 13 and I have an eight-year-old they both attend John Winthrop high school and I do have a passion for education and
074I think that um you know I want to do more and I want to be a person backhand um be a part of the process I know that there may be some gas but there are a lot of great things that are happening in the Bridgeport School System and I want to be a part of the process I want to be a part of the solution I want to be a part of the great things that are happening thank you so much let the record reflect Miss Kashmir has joined us this evening I mean if you grab the mic right there for yourself all right so at this moment thank you it's good to see you back um we're going to start the introduction of questions so I'm going to start with uh I'll start
075with Mr traber we'll start on this end Mr traber no you it's any question you would like to ask to Kennedy yep Mr Gallon let me ask whether you have any uh conflicts with uh within the Bridgeport political structure and the Bridgeport City I do not Miss Baptist Perez I'll pass and go later all right Mr sokolovic yeah what made you move to Bridgeport what made you to move to Bridgeport that's a very good question as you know during on the pandemic there was a mass Exodus of New Yorkers moving to different parts of the country especially Connecticut um I looked I was looking at different areas in Connecticut to move towards like that Trumbull I'm also looked at um West Haven um you know I looked at new here for a bit it wasn't
076too fun but I landed in Bridgeport because of the diverse Community um I think you know I really wanted to raise my children in the area that you know that gave them that where they actually saw you know they could see potential and they see great things that are occurring and Bridgeport to me you know encompasses that um I can go right down the block and it's the farmer's market where I could find the good old Haitian spices to make meals for them but I could also go you know to Trumbull um mall and get you know um with Panera Bread or um you know targets right there so the convenience of Bridgeport as well really attracted me to it thank you madam chair welcome thank you for applying and the question for you is
077um we have almost 20 000 students we got almost um 3400 staff in amazing parents what is your goal over here as a board member and communicate with current students staff senior community for public school oh sorry can you repeat that question I'm sorry we have almost 20 000 students 3 400 staff and amazing parents what is your goal as a real one member to communicate with parents students staff seniors in our community school and thank you that's a phenomenal question I think first and foremost I think it's really important to lead on the expertise of um the chair of the board members um I think um really leaning on the board members to find out which Avenues work best in communicating with the different um groups whether it be the students the amazing parents
078and the teachers um I during the meeting today I know there are different committees so really a lot of myself in the community that I find that'll help you know really strengthen my um really help me shine with the abilities that I do have I know that um health and Health Community Health and Facilities committee um governance committee Personnel committees those are things I really lean towards and that can help me have that form to then to communicate to the um um to the community amazing families um also going to the schools and you know looking for ways to um maybe have board meetings you know see who guide is maybe having World meetings in different locations um very different high schools different you know maybe elementary schools to help help bring the communities closer
079uh bring the community we go to the community as opposed to having some of the different communities come to us yes my question is um what do you do for self-care how do you take care of yourself what do you do to relax all right that's a question that's a very good question you may find this odd um what I really what I do to relax I do Jiu Jitsu I I'm a blue belt um I do compete I've competed in Newtown um and I've competed um in Florida last year but um I really do love Jiu Jitsu I think it's an opportunity for me to really focus when I'm under pressure uh when you have somebody's knee on your face and you could really stay calm and find a way to get out of
080that I think it really would help it really helps me in whether the work that I do parenting you know dealing with two children um I am a single dad so I do really heavily on my community to help me out um as well so um but the Jiu Jitsu helps me relax I know it's odd but it does help me relax thank you tell me what is the role of the Board of Education in Bridgeport and walk me in the community as to how your qualifications match the role for the Board of Education all right I think the role of the board education is to be uh a community advocate um and also to help um to help ensure that the fundings um are allocated to the school and it's ensure that our students
081are given the opportunity um to excel um to ensure that we're prepared our professors our teachers rather are prepared to um you know to care and you know um teach our students and to ensure that the buildings are supported and maintained and I think my role and my experience as a nurse manager um as a father um as a son really helped me in this role so I could walk you through this so as a nurse manager you know I really I deal you know part of their day-to-day is you know hearing the needs of that patients um whether it would be you know getting a home today whether it will be educating on their medication you may not know exactly why they're taking it so I could correlate that so I'll um to all
082students correlate that to you know maybe how can we help and help them achieve you know High math scores better reading um higher um Ela scores and what have you um parents I could relate that to family members the parents are extremely anxious especially with the me and myself I'm you know always concerned with The Gap that uh our students had my my kids had during the during the time during covet you know my son was in third grade now he needed that extra ability to you know the extra instruction to get him up to the reading level he is currently so how am I with the role that I do currently how I so help support family members I'm here to support parents as well um as a board member I think that I
083am you know willing and able in the experience that I have to achieve that is there um to help support teachers um I have staff currently I manage eight units um for critical care units and also the step Downs um I you know manage a total of um four managers and 16 assistant nurse managers at four for each unit um you know everybody wants to do the best everybody wants to give their best work but they need the resources so how are we supporting our teachers to ensuring that they have the best resources the best libraries the best facilities um and the funding that they need um and ultimately working together I think I'm I'm a true partner um I'm a team player I find a yes in every situation it's never a no for
084me so working along the school board my colleagues here would um I I don't think it's nothing that we wouldn't be able to achieve um I've worked in my current role my work with not only directors I work with my medical director I work with other senior managers and um and you know interdisciplinary team whether it be our providers um EV internet departmental team members you know I'm a person that's willing to bridge to bridge the gap and work with folks so I'm well prepared and willing and able to do the job uh Miss Baptist um just looking over your resume and cover letter to sit on this board you are giving yourself a commitment to not only just attend board meetings regular meetings special meetings emergency meetings uh they may happen pop up some
085of them are scheduled some of them will immediately pop up depending on the issues within the district do you have the time the capacity and the ability to attend meetings that are called by the board the short answer is yes remember that had any we could just vote we got one camera yeah we only have one candidate I would like to make um nominate yeah Mr David jelen but a boy to take over the fourth seat I'm vacated by Mr Joe Joseph Lombard is your second second any questions discussion all right all in favor all right we have a rule call vote yeah uh Mr secretary thank you I don't know what was the paper say silver Allen Christine Baptist Paris pass yes Bobby Brown yes yes I cannot go on Joseph so call him
086yes Robert Trevor yes going back to miss matters oh abstain all right so the you wanna hold one second we have five yes one abstained and two absence ocean packs welcome to the board at this moment I'm looking for a brief recess uh is there a second sorry second all in favor all right all right can you pose any abstentions here and none Take This Moment The City attorney will uh read you right thank you so much for the opportunity foreign yes okay all right the next agenda item is discussion and possible approval of memorandum of an understanding with rise staff for the delivery of Home visiting Services as subcontracted on District State funding arpa dollars to expand support for Learning and engagement attendance program I believe there's a representation here Mr Mark and Miss
087Clark is also here too yes Stevens is also here on behalf of it okay so this is just a continuation of the this program and then change their funding source and gave us these bunnies directly which is why we had to create a separate contract and that it looked like this was a little bit delayed but it's actually a continuation of work under a prior source and that's why the word expanded that just as a bridge because they were giving us the money Mr McDonald yes yeah we we're getting um bits and pieces of what you're saying oh oh yeah can you hear me you're still going in and out oh okay would you this this item was also brought up in committee as well um would you like Mr uh Mark to to proceed
088on further with this yeah God Miss Stevens a good evening everyone um I'm not sure if Mark Donald's on the pill but I can speak a little bit towards the leap Grant so as Miss Clark indicated um this is a continuation of a grant um in which we've supplied 60 home visitors from Bridgeport Public Schools to perform relational home visits um we've actually had approximately 6 000 family contacts and addressed multiple barriers that have been identified as barriers to attendance we have now included we originally started with Rios app Home visitors and because of the direct funding and the decrease in state funding we have transitioned to the 60 home visitors within Bridgeport Public Schools thank you so much I know that um Mark if you want to join us normally the board just wants
089a little bit of how the this grant works on your side of the house so if you can just explain a little good evening folks Mark Donald executive director of Rios app as part of our relationship with the district what we did is we provided um home visitors who were able to go out into the community um during the school day when a lot of the uh Bridgeport Public Schools Employees were unable to because they were already engaged in school so we would in partnership with Miss Stevens and Carly worker race would work alongside and try and go out to the homes during the school day knock on doors do various Outreach texts phone calls Word of Mouth we also worked in partnership with our the five schools that were currently in through other contract
090School Improvement Grants as well as private funding that rice that brings to the table Moran Barnum basic battalia and Bridgeport Military Academy to try and help reduce chronic absenteeism thank you and I'll open it up for the board for any questions does anyone have any questions for Rice app uh Mr binahan thank you thank you sir to be here good to see you again I sound great but when I say the school busy you know visiting those um to home I'm a little worried about that uh I know everybody asked to talk about this before and ask the question in the committee it's gonna be uh something that you guys gonna be um I'm asking let's put it this way I don't want people attacked attack the staff attack you you know sometimes something's happen
091not people get preparing upset while you come they'll come here you know you guys will be okay are you covered you're gonna have a police officer are you guys going to be uh uh something protect you they can throw you something they can you know some people that will say thank you I appreciate that thank you for coming you know you care because that's why we're here because we care but sometimes people acting different so I just worry about that all of you that's why yeah and that's I mean certainly it's something top of mind you don't ever want to send your employee or anybody into a dangerous area particularly when it might be uh start off on a negative footing because a young person hasn't been in school um but we we take a
092lot of pride in it you know my I'm a you know a former principal teacher in South Bronx New Haven Stanford so part of our own Outreach at the time was to do home visits so I was supremely conscious about that supremely conscious about how that reflects on the district we don't feel that a police officer is the best person to to do attendance Outreach because they have Public Safety officers right we want to go out on a neutral footing work with a family work with the parent to get them in an appropriate education setting and then support them with staying in it so certainly something that we we take very seriously and we train our staff members ensure that they know exit strategies you know we work with the district on restorative justice and
093social emotional learning so we train all of our people and those uh Concepts as well that's great um you can come with me how you have my support as a bilingual or BHS student family I would like to support you walk with you get busy you can you can contact me thank you thank you any further questions comments or concerns Miss cashmere yeah I just want to piggyback off of what Mr bennahan said so I remember when I was a home visitor for Bridgeport Hospital we had a police officer come in and talk to us about just basic safety like if it's a neighborhood that's called a hot spot is it smart to go in there after five o'clock in the winter time when it gets dark for a visit um you know just you
094know what kind of safety measures are you guys having in place that's just an example of what we did sure well I mean we start with people who are from Bridgeport grew up in Bridgeport have the personal relationships in Bridgeport um that's number one uh we we adopt the credible messenger throughout our agency so that when our folks are in the community they're recognized as you know safe members themselves so they're not antagonistic they're not um you know coming at it the main way and I think uh part of it is is one it's rise Up's reputation in the community as a problem solver and working in all sides of the community um you know I think the other thing is and uh you know quite frankly the um you know the police ask us
095to train them in in the escalation especially like school security guards so it kind of goes up and down uh you know ultimately um you have to have good people you have to train good people and you have to get them to trust their kind of internal radar to when to remove themselves from a situation uh you know the most important thing is to respect the agency of the parent respect the agency of the young person and get them re-engaged in the school these are these visits that you're doing in the home are for children who are having attendance issues or any any other reason for the visits besides that after this particular Grant not for this grant okay thank you for the clarity that's it any further questions um if I can just expand
096on my the important quality security um because I think it is it is extremely important um home visitors do not go into the home unless they have approval from parents prior to the visit through a phone call sometimes this phone call there's multiple phone calls that take place um to establish that relationship if a parent does not want a home visit they do not go to the home um and the reason being that these home visits really are about creating a relationship with the parents and not putting them on the defense we want parents to know that we want to learn how we can support them so it's very important that home visitors have that relationship established before they go to the home they always go in pairs as well um we use our home
097visitors from this specific school to go into the neighborhoods of the school so they know the neighborhoods in advance they also know the families in advance because they're again they're working in that school where that child attends school um so I think it's really important to have that piece of it to understand that this is not something that home visitors go into without knowing the situ the circumstances around the family um and then the last piece I would just share is that in all in the in these 6 000 family contacts that we've made I've only had one situation where a home visitor felt that it was not a comfortable situation and they actually did not enter the home and they left so I think you know well we don't want that to happen at
098all that's those are pretty good odds to date that was helpful thank you you're welcome Miss Baptist Perez I believe that answered part of my questions let's say for basic BMA uh battalia Marin and Barnum school this is limited to these five particular schools um that was the question I believe it was answered as yes no I I think I I misspoke so we currently have programs and ambassad that program ended in um June of 22. um but we have our what we call social emotional Learning Community Schools in those um three of those are School Improvement Grant contracts so it's separate from the one we're talking about here um and then we have uh two staff members at Marin which is privately funded by riosop and then we have two uh staff members at
099Battalion which are um with arpa dollars so it was just illustrating our the Rios app leave sap lead staff members would connect with those Rios app staff members and school as an extra layer of connection or schools with high absenteeism in general yeah and so it's district-wide it can be to one and you have to 30 we have 38 buildings but schools I think because so any of the 37 schools okay yeah we worked with Miss Stevens on that list and the referrals were made back and forth okay and then this is a question for uh the administration uh what particular schools do we have I guess maybe the top three schools with absenteeism issues only because I know we've done an excellent job as a district getting that number down so um we are
100I guess the areas we are at a particular facilities I guess schools that we have to work on still well I'm sorry for asking that really off the cuff I know so that's okay um but I think about the the data we have a lot of work to do still across the district we have made quite a few strides when we look at comparisons with our dergs um that we are definitely holding our own and we're doing very well however we look at Chronic absenteeism across the district we still have high percentages so at the high school level um probably are the outliers when I think about that but then we do have some close ones in elementary too um High School overall pretty much they're about 36 37 percent of all of our high
101schools so it's not just one particular which is pretty high but we also have some elementaries um that are equally as concerning um let's see which ones it's about probably about five or six um cleaners High Dunbar is high Tisdale is High um there there are a few more that are high as well but you're just asking me for three but I can't give you three but I gave you more than three um but you know just looking at the landscape using it we were talking about this earlier today miss Lynn and I what we can do to be able to work on that so we're talking about the leap home visitors and what other ways we can utilize that program um and even talking about we're talking about implementing a pilot program of the
102walking School Bus as well at one of the schools to see how we can help you know Target um that neighborhood to be able to address it specifically on one session days and so forth so we're just looking at other ways to do it but it isn't just three so I don't wanna I don't want to give that interpretation no thank you I appreciate it um that answers a lot and that's something once that pilot is launched um the walking school bus I'll be interested because I did see on News 12 another District implemented the walk-in school bus to address chronic absenteeism and for a second I thought it was our school district but it wasn't if I may as well um this is not related to the lead contract we're uh we're discussing today
103but uh the sample size of the schools I mentioned uh I neglected to mention Harding we have a Federal grant the Harding for the rest of the year but through a sample size of our K-8 schools um the young people that were directly working within the school were showing about a 20 attendance Improvement thank you are there any further questions yes thank you again for coming um question with the six thousand encounters that you've had are you seeing a trend up or a trend down with the need for the encounters you're not wasting any time huh well congratulations and welcome but uh I think that's a question for Miss Stevens who have that data I believe the the we're referring to the 6 000 contacts that were made um with our 60 home visitors who
104represent 27 of the Bridgeport Public Schools um we have seen a decrease um in chronic absenteeism which is their main focus is to decrease chronic absenteeism for students that are identified as being on The Chronic absenteeism list or the extreme chronic absenteeism list so in individual cases we've seen student attendance improve as a result of home visits and additionally we've seen a decrease in chronic absenteeism across the district and in comparison to like districts Bridgeport Public Schools chronic absenteeism rate is much I shouldn't say much lower it is lower than like districts in The Chronic absenteeism area thank you um follow-up another question um when the calls are made to the parents is there a majority yes um that you're that you get from the parents who you know do the home visit or as
105a majority know I would again defer to Ms Stevens on that one yeah absolutely and the majority is yes sometimes it takes a couple of times but for the most part the majority is yes and the response when the home visitors go into the home is typically extreme gratefulness for the home visitor coming into the home and listening to the family and offering either Community Support or support back at the school by making that connection to individuals within the school whether it be support staff Administration or teachers who can help that family because thank you thank you if there are no further questions would someone like to make a motion put your mic on sorry I make a motion that we approve the mou with tricep for the delivery of Home visiting Services as subcontractor
106on the district state-funded arpa expanded support for learning engagement and attendance program leap Grant second second okay I'm gonna give it to miss Baptiste Perez who's first yes any further questions any further comments care and none all in favor all right any opposed any abstentions here and none motion carries thank you Mr Mark thank you miss Lynn thank you to all the staff that presented on this item thank you the next agenda item is um discussion and possible approval of this discovery magnet fills field trip to Washington DC and Nature's Classroom good evening ah thank you we are here to just present to you an overview of our two field trip package that we had submitted to the board for our full approval and my Thule teachers one for nature classroom and one for DC
107trip it's just going to give you an overview curriculum alignment and safety protocols for DC DC hi my name is Kareem Darice I'm the seventh grade seventh and eighth grade social studies teacher at Discovery magnet school and we've been going to DC since 2015 except for the pandemic this is our first year going back and um I just want to give you a little overview we're going to be going to DC May 22nd to the 25th um we're first going to be going to Washington DC meeting with our course leaders um hopefully getting into the Holocaust Museum um and then afterwards we're going to be going to Jamestown um and then going to Williamsburg coming back to DC visiting all the um most of the museums and monuments visiting the capitol we do have a
108Capital Tour on Thursday and then we're going to be going to Gettysburg before we return home as far as the alignment with the curriculum we are as part of the eighth grade curriculum we do study American history and we think that just by having them going into Washington DC and the surrounding areas they'll be able to make a connection to all the different key major events and locations that relate to American history because our curriculum we study the American Colonial history up until World War One World War II with special projects towards the end so I think it would be a great connection to our curriculum we hope to be able to witness during the capital tour at least to see Congress in session which they should be in session during that time between May
10922nd and the 26th of that week so we hope to be able to see a debate we'll be visiting different places and hopefully they'll be able to make a connection to everything that we have been learning um and So within our curriculum we do study American history we do study International Affairs so being being able to see the monuments of World War One World War II Korean War um Vietnam War they'll be able to make a connection as to how the United States um uh participate in diplomacy um and to be able to see how the United States got involved by going to the Holocaust Museum um during World War II um to be able to witness um the traditions of the United States during colonial America and even the Revolutionary War when we visit
110a colonial Virginia or Williamsburg Virginia and we're actually going to be going to Mount Vernon as well to see the historical home of a former President George Washington and so I think that these different visits it really does give them a sense of understanding what we have been learning through books and discussions and things like that as far as our safety plan is concerned um we are our trip is planned by myself and WorldStrides which is a company very well known they've been planning trips for various schools around the country for at least 30 years 30 to 50 years and they do have great experience and our safety plan is that we do meet with our course leader we do have two hotels that we're going to be staying at because we're going to spend
111one night in Virginia and uh the first night and then the remaining two nights we're going to be in Washington DC or the outskirts we do have two night Auditors that are going or monitors I'm sorry night monitors are going to be monitoring us um during the evening they are there from 10 P.M to 6 a.m and they do Monitor and I've had experience with them they go in they sit in the opposite ends of our halls and they monitor throughout the night and they'll probably knock on my door if there are any issues and lately we haven't had anything like that but they will give me a report every single night while we're there in the morning we have breakfast at the hotel and then after we meet with our tour guide when we
112drive out and we'll go to the various monuments and and different places that we're supposed to be we have um appointments there um our meals are included so we do have breakfast lunch and dinner and food as part of our trip um in addition as far as our safety plan we do have a list of all of our medications that we need and we are going to ensure that our students bring medication with them so they won't be able to board unless they have their medications with them um we do have two teacher chaperones it will be myself and another teacher a team a teacher as well as four parent chaperones as well so we have six chaperones 35 students attending our trip so it'll be a number of 41 students attending in addition to
113our tour guide as well as two night monitors in the evening so that is the gist of my safety pant plan um if we have any medical issues we do have a hotline that we are supposed to call as well as I do have all the numbers of all the pairs that are of our children are going to be participating and we do have the numbers the cell phone numbers of all of our students so um if there are any issues we're able to text each other just to be able to to do that I already made up our group plans so we have our six chaperones with a group of at least five or six students um per chaperone so they have their groups that they're monitoring so every time we make a stop
114the chaperones will just take attendance and everywhere that we go um but we usually stay um close with our tour guide um and if we're not walking we're on the bus getting to wherever we need to be so we'll be coming back in the evening of the 25th thank you are there any questions concerning this trip Mr binahan I I see you um your your chair is the one that said that they have two night monitor yes right um their staff for World strides yeah Mr traber I I looked through the trip earlier and it looks like a heck of a trip um I'm trying to figure out how I could go along I tried to pack it up thank you anyone else Mr sokolovic yeah did this trip go through the two-channel learning committee
115did it I don't I don't think so this is the first time we were presenting it did not due to time with the staff who are attending with the medical pieces there are staff who are trained to administer medication that are attending as well correct um I'm not trained to give medication however based on the list that we have most of them making medication for allergies so that's that's all that we have okay so there's no epipens okay asthma no no no okay thank you just allergies to shrimp that's it perfect thank you all right anyone else how many kids just how many I'm sorry 35 students in six chaperones yes Miss there's police carry me from Ron I say they say four chapters here excuse me six it's four parent chaperones two teachers myself
116and another yes sorry you're welcome all right so this this agenda item is all in one so we're gonna let the next person come up and give the rest of her a report I'm gonna have her presentation hi good evening thanks for listening um my name is Alicia romancic I teach Science fifth and sixth grade at Discovery magnet I'm here to talk about Nature's Classroom we have been participating in this amazing overnight program for the past 12 years um with covid taking a couple years out but we returned last year and we would love to go again this year um Nature's Classroom is a overnight outdoor in nature learning experience has a really lasting impact on the students it's focused on not only the outdoors and learning but they're social emotional building Community um collaborative
117the day is filled with special interest classes such as dissecting sharks and sheep's eyeballs too um so cool it really is um that was very specific to uh building water rockets and and shooting them up and the kids building uh um habitats and shelter it's just an amazing experience they learn all through building challenges and put putting themselves in the shoes of others so they live together they serve meals together they clean up together um the it's just really also great for their Mental Health in our science curriculum we focus a lot in sixth grade on ecosystems in land forms and populations and what happens how they increase how they decrease and this you know very specifically constructing explanations based on environmental factors and making sense from natural resources and that impact on society so
118this program does meet those standards in their daily field groups and special interest classes it also does a lot of cross-curricular there's math there's history it's just overall a great day our safety plan specifies in the case of an emergency you know a chaperone and I'll go over that in a minute chaperone is notified um the we have our program director Nora Hill who is at the Incarnation Camp which is where Nature's Classroom is we know our local hospitals Middlesex hospitals so we're aware of all that information before we go um we have there is a full-time medic on staff it is in either a nurse or a medic the medication the morning of departure goes right to me I hand it right to the medic she administers all medication in the AM or if
119there's medication in the afternoon and the PM before bed um um what else oh uh safety for the girls and the boys in the dorms so the girls stay in one dorm close doors the chaperones have their own you know facilities and dorm room there are two female teachers attending and there are three male fathers that attend the trip so the fathers stay with the boys and the two female teachers accompany the girls oh coveted protocols so that's we what we do is we provide each student and The Chaperone with a covid test there to test 72 hours before we leave and then they will test again the morning of in Nature's Classroom would like us to report positive tests only and they just ask the students and all this paperwork goes home that you
120know they're not putting themselves at risk before we attend the trip so and they have their safety protocols as well for that thank you so much are there any questions concerned in this trip Mr binahan yes I forgot to Auto Body held with different issue about healthy yeah that's what I have so far I can look through but I don't think we have any um somebody have something different you know don't worry about yourself well she's looking that up we have a student with Celiac who has a specified diet plan it's already been communicated we have a couple peanut allergies epipens will be so how the medication works is there's a field group leader that's a staff of Nature's Classroom every morning that they Embark upon their Adventure they are given the medication of the
121people in that group that medication follows the student who whatever adult is with them when they're on break the adult gets the meds when we're back to or I mean The Chaperone when we're back in field group or special class whoever the instructor is gets the meds and then it comes back to us at night and it follows the student everywhere they go um I do have one student that has an EpiPen but her mother is actually attending in this Chapel with her so that's all right excellent from my question thank you any further questions Mr sakolovic I'm presently surprised to hear about the cover Protocols are those um instituted by the provider or patience this is Nature's Classroom yeah they they put out a coveted memorandum that just lets us know we had the
122same protocols last year so they've just reinstated them again I don't know how many errors they'll do it but it's kind of nice big DNA all right any further questions one last time all right here and then would someone like to make this motion I move that we approve the field trip Discovery magnet field trips to Washington DC and to Nature's Classroom second by Mr bennahan any further questions any discussion Sharon none all in favor in your pose any abstentions I abstain I didn't finish going through all the documents so I'm just abstain all right one abstention Miss Baptiste Perez all right the eyes have it we look forward to hearing more on your trip and pictures and all the good stuff thank you um the next agenda item is discussion and possible approval of
123the district's yearly request for the USA c e rate submission for 2023-24 school year Mr pascalowski foreign this is our normal yearly request that we uh provide to USAC uh USAC is the federal government's funding entity that provides us with the funds that pay for our internet connectivity and the networking equipment and all the different stuff that we do so essentially every year we prepare the um proposal and then that just goes through the standard process and then the board you know provides approval for our normal yearly and then they fund us so um this year is like every other year uh for category one uh they're funding and in case you don't know we are um an 85 and 95 District so um they fund basically the mass majority of our entire uh stuff
124for e-rate so this are there any questions any questions this was also brought through committee contracts committee as well uh this typically doesn't this is a formality that's done correct basically they give us money every year that's how that works so this is just our Declaration of what our intent is so okay comments questions Mr binahan how much money are you talking about did they give us about 2 million yeah it's uh it's in the packet but it's roughly about two million questions would someone like to make this motion and then the language is uh in the board packet it's uh two resolutions oh so I'll read it no problem uh I make motion uh to approve you simply want the approval uh yeah what we do is we read into the records so that
125what happens is they want the identical language like this they do yeah yeah all right I make a motion uh that we vote to approve or disapprove resolution for schools and libraries Universal Services parentheses e Dash rate for 20 23 24. this resolution authorizes filing of the form 471 applications for funding year 23 2023-24 and the payment of the applicants share upon approval of funding and the receipt of services is there a second second by Mr binahan any further questions or comments a quick clarification is the form of motion you read the move he wrote that he wrote A Move slash approve slash disapprove that's what's in the yeah I think I think we need to Splash it it is my understanding I asked yeah you may have been out um the if this is
126literally the way they want it read yeah they want it red in the approval fast record to approve it we're going to vote to approve as I understand the motion that we're about to make um we're going to vote as opposed to yes or no we're going to vote to approve or disapprove correct yeah got it all right all in favor I oh photo approved we're going to vote to approve or disapprove so can we move have a roll call vote please you know our names approve abstain approved all right so it's been improved now do we do it on them if it's been it's been approved yeah that's it thank you so much and then the last item is discussion possible approval of approval update on the school calendar school year calendar for 23
12724 this is Miss parents yes I brought forward this um agenda item because as we're looking at transitions for our kindergarten students as well as our grade nine students we wanted to allow a day where they'd be able to come into the school environment um meet with staff um get familiar with schedules um different things as they acclimate as we know kindergarten students a lot of times especially coming out of the pandemic this is their first educational experience so give them some time where they're the only ones in the building to be able to do tours and acclimate also with the grade nine looking at our trending data regarding those students who are off track for graduation a large percentage of those are our grade nine students and one of the things that we're discovering
128as we look at the data is that they need more support within the transition so part of the work that we're doing at the district level is creating some transition programs for them so there are high school administrators as well as um the director for counseling is going to be going to Connecticut rise which is a program specifically um targeted at providing transition plans for high schools and then we're going to go on beyond that and do work to be able to create these plans at the high school level so we wanted to be able to allot time to create a high school experience for those Scholars where it's just them in the buildings so looking at August 28th being the first day for our kindergarten and our grade 9 students and all Scholars coming
129back on August the 29th right are there any discussion comments concerns yeah just just a quick question question um this doesn't interfere with any staff contracts or any sorted no because when you look at certified staff they have to have the total of the 186 days so it will be absorbed in that okay welcome Mr Draper if you're not one emotion on the floor first we're just discussing it the question that I had was up on that first day the remaining staff will be in the classroom the remaining staff will be in the classroom so we're looking at really for the high school level is really putting together plans where people will be pitching in to help with trans um with uh transitioning those Scholars so it might be some type of school pride type
130of activity it might be something there for parents to be invited to um to do tours of the buildings just the overall but they will all be in the building correct so then again they're going to be in the building and their time will be determined later by the administrator what they will be doing will be determined later by the administrator so they'll be working on professional responsibility so that of course will probably some time in the classroom but there will be sometimes that's allocated to help support these students specifically at the high school level actually I do have a fall and that's you've discussed that with the with the Union I did communicate that with the Union as well they haven't come up with any questions it was at our last meeting that I
131did bring it forward so I'm sure that they will have more questions because it was towards the very end thank you Mr jello so for the first date of 28th um is that a full day for kindergarten students that are 9th grade students so that very first day of school according to our calendar will be will be a full day of school okay Barbara's cafeteria food are we going to adjust maybe the amount of food that is made since it will be a portion of the students that we have that discussion with the cafeteria staff it would be going through the nutrition center not the cafeteria staff and they will be made well aware once it's approved any further questions further comments with someone like oh miss cashmere you know I just wanted to make
132a comment I remember like you know when I was going to high school if there were snow days we would like stay oh my God like oh we're gonna be here till the end of June if it was like a snowy winter so I I you know I see that the um snow days are going to be made up um you know like starting February 15th in the April vacation so I just wanted to make that comment like I think that's just awesome I know the students would be happy to be able to get out on time and you know maybe give up some of their April vacation anyway that's all I wanted to say thank you and I I also would like to add um I think uh this kind of probably was inspired
133I don't know probably was on your agenda for a while but we talked about this in teaching and learning um the not teaching learning students and families the transition for the ninth graders in the kindergarten students you know some of them are coming into new buildings and it feels like a major rush they didn't even know the school so I I do appreciate something like this for them so if there are no yeah Miss baptiste's press um because our schools offer Pre-K for pre no just Pre-K for work um the first day of schools that opened a Pre-K as well or is it just kindergarten I was looking just at kindergarten because one of the things that we will encounter with Pre-K because we do have some Pre-K threes as well is that with that
134we have to have our non-certified staff to be able to come in and be able to support that piece um and it's all about numbers with Pre-K um so we may not have all the staff to be able to return back to that it's something that it is on my mind but I haven't engaged in the conversation with um our providers to be able to know whether we can open up to pre-k so I just was looking at specifically kindergarten and grade nine thank you all right and no further questions um would someone like to make the motion motion to revise this 23-24 school calendar is presented by superintendent parent is there a second second by Mr traber any questions comments here and none all in favor all right any opposed any abstentions hair and
135on motion carries thank you everyone have a good night oh I'm lying motion to adjournemouth perfect column second all in favor any opposed any abstentions hair and none have a good night