Regular Board Meeting Monday, February 27, 2023

001thank you good evening everyone this is a call to order for the regular board meeting of the Bridgeport Board of Education tonight is Monday February 27 2023 and it's 6 30 p.m um calling to meet into order can I have everyone to please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance thank you I know a lot of individuals uh are worried about the snow so we'll try to get through the agenda to make sure everyone gets home safe and sound at this moment we'll have the roll call by Mr secretary thank you Bobby Brown here Christine Baptiste Perez present Sybil Allen Albert bennahan Akisha Casmir here Erica Castillo Michael macaron Joseph sokolovic president and Joseph Lombard present thank you Mr secretary at this moment we'll open up the floor for student representative reports um please state your

002name and what school you represent hi my name is Lindsay Muhammad and I am representing the Fairchild wheeler Aerospace school so this past Friday we had Aerospace had various activities for students to do in honor of Black History Month and we also had 24 students visit Sikorski last week and attend an engineering presentation um in addition to this Aerospace has also received the magnet schools of America Merit award of Distinction and Fairchild has quite a few events up and coming on March 24th we'll have our Spring Fling dance from 5 30 to 9. our spirit week will be from March 27th to March 31st and there's a lot of interesting themes um our senior pep rally will be held on the last day of spirit week which would be the 31st and then on May

00311th from 6 to 11 pm Fairchild will be having their prom at the Waterview in Monroe Connecticut and that is all I have for you today thank you Lindsay the next student representative good evening Board of Education members and thank you for the time to share an update my name is Erica pinso and I'm here to represent aquaculture as a Central High School student the aqua staff are preparing for their upcoming compliance visit from the Connecticut State Department of Education in March aquaculture is also planning to host an aquaculture social on March 10th to bring together the aquaculture student body in a fun and interactive night and our Aqua Cup boat race will take place on June 6th at 2 30 with the rain date of June 7th on Captain's Cove as always I invite

004everyone to join us for this wonderful annual event we are thankful for ongoing support thank you next student good afternoon my name is Michael Hemmings I'm from I.T at Fairchild wheeler and um we celebrated we didn't read in plus superstars with 20 students who showed the most growth since September and we had a pizza party we had computer science uh professionals visit the school last week to meet with classes and talk about the career path we are hosting a volleyball tournament on March 7th in a basketball tournament on March 17th we had an I.T freshman win the district science fair and also uh recently we had a group of students from Bridgeport go on a track go to a track meet in Massachusetts that would be basic Central and um some Harding students and we

005actually scored 50 points as a group and our 4x2 team actually got first place at the meet in their race that is it thank you next student you missed anyone um hi good evening my name is Isabella and I'm here representing Fairchild wheeler biotech in the past month we had our black history month program on the 24th we started off today with a community members Roundtable discussion this had live student participants and also stream live to the whole campus via teams after we had student-run centers with arts and crafts poetry a student art gallery walk dance and trivia uh the biotech quarter to honors assembly is scheduled for tomorrow but obviously would be rescheduled uh we also had an attendance competition for the month of February where top top two period one classes with the

006best attendance earned a pizza party Miss Henner and Mr Bayer's classes were the winners for February and that's all I have for you today thank you is there anyone else would like to share a report I see no one else uh thank you students for sharing your report we always look forward to the information that you provide for the board um at this moment we will move to public comment I have uh four or five people listed for public comment um you will have two minutes once the timer stops I'm gonna ask that you wrap up your last statement the first person we have is Miss Joanne Kennedy thank you and good evening um I always like to leave with a scripture the scripture that says suffer the little children to come unto me and

007forget them not for such as the kingdom of heaven we have to learn how to take care of our students here here in the City of Bridgeport and treat them properly like they should be treated we need our students well taken care of that being said um it came to our attention came to my attention that a game that was at Harding and it was a Harding versus Central game there were several students about 50 students that was reported to me um by someone close to me that were left out um in the cold in 20 degree weather that there is some kind of um I can't even say it's a policy because it's not a policy um something was implemented without the board of education's knowledge without the superintendent's knowledge that the students had

008to have a legal guardian there at the um game to get in that is not in anyone's purview to do except for the Board of Education so since this is a board of education I am wanting to educate people um we look up words we look up definitions in school we learn words every single day they say you learn something new every single day so I want you guys to learn something new okay if you don't know and majority of the people you're adult so you do know okay and it's about oppression oppression is oppression is imposed domination over an individual or a group of people in order to control them mentally physically emotionally and the worst of all spiritually to stifle their aspirations and limit their potential I'm saying that all saying all that

009to say the police department does not have purview over our students okay the police department is short-handed we are down 160 police officers where do those police officers need to be they do not need to be in our schools this was voted on years ago before any of you guys were on this board um and it needs to be rescinded the police do not run the schools we need Educators and people that love our children that do not want to arrest them to run the schools where did those 50 yes I'm gonna where did those 50 students go that they left out in the cold in 20 degree weather did they know that how they got there do they know how they got home did they care so whoever it was in charge I'm putting

010in a complaint about this because it's not right and you're not going to treat our children like their criminals they're not in jail majority of them are minors you're not going to do this continually to our children thank you Miss Kennedy thank you our next speaker is Julie Mar Ortiz good evening ladies uh Joe and folks on Zoom I want to Echo the remarks of Joanne Kennedy regarding the incident at the basketball game where students allegedly were let out in the cold I myself have attended games at Harding and I know in the past students and parents have been left out due to capacity issues but I believe that that was maybe not the case I'm not sure I wasn't there but I really do ask this board to investigate and see what they can

011find out um and if the police department has taken some type of jurisdiction over our schools to try to control who can get in and out of games just say how problematic that is with regard to not just you know criminalizing our community but also these games are always a safe space most of the time for our community members alumni students to come and enjoy something that's really good about the community recently we had a graduate from basic high school School Kevin Crawford who played a role in securing albertus magnus's championship game I think it was just yesterday and so we know that a lot of these students become stars on the court in college and professionally and people just want to watch him play so if there's anything you can do to help with

012that I really appreciate it I want to bring another concern forth my nephew who attends Central High School keeps bugging me about that they the bathrooms remain closed and I know this is an issue that has been brought forth to this board previously there was supposed to be a meeting with principals under the last superintendent I'm not sure what happened with that but I'm here to ask you know what the policy is to keep these bathrooms open or closed because at this point it's a human rights issue students you know should have the right to use the bathroom uh people who have their periods should be able to you know go in and out and I remember last time that this issue came up there were students Representatives who said that they had to spend

013more time traveling further to go to the bathroom and it took away from their classroom time so it's not just impeding on their bodily rights but also on their education rights thank you thank you uh Mr Lyle Jones uh Mr John Weldon so I'm here to talk about policy 9010 board member um roles and responsibilities I just wanted to relay some incidents which happened uh get into a little more detail in 2017 former board member Maria Pereira regularly visited the nutrition center and interrogated staff about the operation because a political supporter of hers in the food service industry did not win a food service bid the resulting lawsuit cost the district over a hundred thousand dollars in legal fees and the settlement itself Mr sakalovic at one point visited the science director and told her

014that her job was considering to be cut and if she wanted for budgetary reasons and if she wanted his support to keep it she would have to explain why it should be kept she was mortified and she reported it to the superintendent who brought it to my attention and said what am I supposed to do board members are doing this they're harassing staff and I as superintendent don't have an ability to stop it and if I try to I myself may be brought up on charges of its subordination Mr Taylor was regularly inspecting buildings and harassing the facility staff and there was nothing that could be done and that is why the facility the policy as it stands today was established imagine how any of you would feel if a board member came into your

015place a board member of your employer came to where you worked and made you feel your job was threatened whether they intended to or not and Madam superintendent how would you feel if this was happening to your staff and you felt powerless to be able to do anything about it the policy as it is written is designed to give the superintendent the ability to make sure that staff interactions with board members remain appropriate and where they start to not be appropriate give the superintendent the ability to put up a wall or find some way to correct the issue at the very least I think you should give the superintendent the ability to decline interactions where she feels they are inappropriate as long as she gives a reason my time is drawing to a close so

016I'm going to say thank you for this time and this opportunity have a good evening and uh stay safe in the storm thank you the next speaker is Dasha spell good evening my name is Dasha spell I am not only a parent a graduate of the Bridgeport Public School System but I'm also one of the elected officials for the Democratic town Committee in the West End the 132nd district there are so many areas of concerns that I have that I don't know where to start so I'm going to start with the main one basic high school because that is my baby that is the particular program and information that I've been asking for for last two years at most so since we're closing up Black History Month let me tell you a quick story Little

017Liberia little Liberia is the community in which the new basic high school is being built this community this community was built off of the backs of slaves who came from the south and came to this community to build a better life from themselves and their families basic high school trust and believe I love the idea of it going into a community with that rich history but I have huge concerns when one is also going into Community where there's a flood zone we have yet to have a storm but when we have storms they make major damages if none of y'all have seen the pictures over the years when we get flooded you can actually roll a boat in Seaside Park you can roll a boat down at randstand Avenue you can roll a boat down

018Broad Street key phrase is that it floods it's a significant damage my concern is is that one this building that's going to be built was not brought to the table with the stakeholders meaning the people in the community within the community that the current School is located as well as students weren't informed of this until the fact sewing closing I'm asking this board there's no Foundation put up yet I'm asking you to reconsider and think about the long-term piece of this putting money into a money pit is it really worth it especially with all the other things going on in this District thank you thank you I'm going to call Mr uh Lyle's name again just to make sure Mr Jones okay uh without uh without having to have our last speaker that concludes public

019comment our next uh agenda item is approval of excuse me one of the student ambassadors or Representatives just texted in that they were having a difficult time logging on and they're on now and they're asking if they can give the report yes we we can do that um student the student representative that would like to share your on the floors you're to do your report thank you thank you so much and I sincerely apologize um for the delay I had trouble with the meeting but I will continue um yes so my name is Julie Australia I am the representative for Bridgeport Military Academy um just a few little pointers um BMA held its Black History Month celebration on Friday it was a great success with Cadets showcasing prominent figures in African-American history uh picture day

020went off smoothly we are excited to get our new school IDs printed for all Cadets and the senior class raised over a thousand dollars with Valentine's Day Sweetheart dance and lastly BMA student Shadow experience is scheduled from March 7th for all incoming students thank you so much thank you um at this moment we'll move to our next agenda item which is approval of meet in minutes is there uh approval for special meeting January 18 2023. it's almost moved by Mr psychology second second by Miss Baptiste Perez any discussion any changes Karen none seeing none all in favor any opposed any abstentions hearing none meeting minutes are approved the next one is the regular meeting for February 13 2023. is there a motion to approve D moved by Mr circle of it second second by Miss

021Baptiste Perez are there any corrections any updates any concerns Karen none motion carries meeting minutes have been approved all in favor aye aye any any opposed any absentions hair and none meet and minutes have been approved our next item is the Chairman's report I would like to report that we as the board decided to go with uh goals for the year and one of the goals was to make sure that board members were going through different Retreats we will have our first Retreat of 2023 on um Saturday April 22nd 2023 from 9 A.M to 12 p.m at Hardin High School at the Hardy High School library I'm excited to see that the board is moving forward with this and that we're going to aim for one more Retreat as we address the roles and responsibilities

022of board members and resources board members can use that is all for my report for the Chairman's the Chairman's report next is committee reports and referrals the first one is education diversity equity and inclusion Mr sokolovic yes we did not meet in the interim we will be meeting remotely tomorrow at 6 pm any referrals for this committee here and none thank you Mr sokolovic the next one is the finance committee that's Finance uh really didn't mean to interim but we did have a community Forum it was decent attendance size about 85 people watched today one mayoral candidate showed up which is a good sign would like to see all the rest of the mayoral candidates show up to the forums and find out about what they're going to be governing and not because the education

023is our foundation next Finance meeting is check my calendar one second our Chase okay are there any referrals for this committee here and none the next one is governance uh governance did meet in the into Roman we have three more policies in the pipeline uh we'll probably be on the next meeting agenda all right I got a referral for myself for governance because over and over through the years I keep hearing this bathroom bathroom I think we need a constructive policy that states bathrooms should not be closed on the any circumstances except the most diet is something that could be worked out even because it seems like we hear about this every few months to shut in the bathroom for some reason and it's not fair to our children thank you any referrals to governance

024all right here and none the next one is Health safeties and Facilities Miss Baptiste Perez health safety and Facilities did not meet in the interim however based on the content from public comment um gonna make a referral for myself regarding the facilities usage during basketball and all um high school high school Level Sports in particular what's the Paul uh what is our facilities usage and policy for that thank you are there any referrals to health safeties and Facilities uh yeah I'm not sure if it's gonna go there there's this same in line with uh Miss Baptiste Perez we need to look at the memorandum of agreement that we have with the police department and we need to really Shore that up and really really clearly join draw those lines of responsibility because they do seem

025to be overstepping I also think I have one for you as well on the same lines of um Sports this also may not go for I mean may just be for uh our high school basketball games but also those that are not high school basketball games I believe Caribe runs the the sports sports program as well so just making sure that whatever policy we have that reflects students attending um games and parents it's the same for that I'm not sure what that will look like but if you can look into that so that we're fairness across the board any other referrals for health safeties and Facilities all right here and none the next one is personnel and contracts we will be meeting tomorrow at 6 30 virtually um we have quite a few uh contracts

026and things to discuss so we'll make sure that those items make it to a regular board meeting but I'm excited to see that this committee is moving forward with agenda items any referrals for personnel and contracts all right here and none the next one is students and families Mr bennahan is not here so if anything will give him opportunity when he comes back when he gets here he doesn't hear me oh he's wrong I'm here okay all right Mr Bennigan would you like to give your report yes thank you madam chair and my um we did um we're gonna have the student family March 16th we changed today for some um personal issue but the next meeting is going to be March 16th at 6 o'clock at Central High School thank you are there any

027referrals for um students and Families um yes I forgot to ask that um just to let you know my report right away fast the Ambassador high school did the Black History Month on the ptso they did amazing friend I'm on a job I would like to say thank you to the board member Joe Circle to attend uh thank you to miss payment to attend to you know we appreciate that uh it was very it was good we had a lot of parents we got leaders we got community people we enjoy very good and everybody it also every category so I like to report that that classic video so did a good job thank you um the next committee is teaching and learning teaching and learning met on Thursday on Thursday February 23rd 2023 um four

028items are up uh two including field trips uh we did get a brief special education update uh regarding the district but more details would be provided at a later date and then we also um what's not listed on our agenda for today is that we had a presentation regarding the library media renewal project just for our students to have more access to um well it's implicit in the name but media resources related to libraries thank you are there any referrals for teaching and learning all right here and none we'll move forward with our agenda the next agenda item is the superintendent's report good evening everyone evening Ela assessments we have progress monitoring for Dibbles which will be happening the week of March the 15th um also um dibble's measures which will be happening the week

029of March the 27th um as well as the phonics inventory which is the quick phonics survey screener or letter sound inventory um we'll also have close reading surveys administered by social studies teachers for grades seven and eight February 27 27th through March 3rd nursing again we're reminding families in regards to grade six students about the deadline of the physical for April 1st this is mandated by the state um without having this done students will be excluded from school so it's important that we work to get that done accordingly our physical education assessment students at grades four six eight and at the high school level are assessed at the Connecticut Fitness physical fitness assessment that is ongoing through the end of May sat we are preparing for the PSAT eight and nine and PSAT 10 assessments

030which will be administered in March grade 8 on March 21st in grades 9 and 10 on March the 22nd Connecticut s.a.t school day update grade 11 will participate in the sat sat school day on March 22nd the SAT will be given digitally students need to reboot their devices for the updated app to upload this will be changing next school year in regards to that it will be um digital for almost all of our students starting next school year but this year they're still taking the paper and pencil aside from grade 11. for math for grade seven and eight our math meet will be held on June 1st from 9 to 1 pm at Sacred Heart University's West Campus Auditorium there's still weekly virtual SAT prep classes for sophomores and juniors 4 P.M every Tuesday until

031March the 21st upcoming events the next pack ptso Roundtable will be at Park City magnet school on March 7th from 6 to 7 pm we also have our seventh annual NAACP Douglas Garrison debate um tomorrow which is the 28th at the University of Bridgeport School of Chiropractic from 5 30 to 7 30. this is Central magnet versus Harding and Discovery magnet versus Park City prep that is still on as of now the director of Social Work in the homeless liaison will be attending the national Summit of Youth homelessness to learn new ways to serve students in the Bridgeport Public School community the Bridgeport High School uh Fair which will be taking place at Sacred Heart University on the oops I didn't put the date on the 9th of March from 5 30 to 7 30.

032this is for our younger students in grade seven eight so that they'll know what we're offering for high school options SEL day um is taking place across the city on March 10th this is for all students and staff to engage in social emotional learning activities on March 22nd 2023 is the quarter two recognition ceremony at 6 PM taking place in the PAC ptso Roundtable will be held on March 29th this is separate from the one that we're doing next week that one is a Makeup Session and then the lightning of thief production is taking place March 17th at 6 30 pm and March 18th at 2 pm I wanted to give a special kudos to all of our science fair winners as well thank you so much for your report I'll open up the floor

033for questions comments or concerns for the superintendent uh Mr sokolovic oh yes could you uh let us know that's the that reference he reports it's a reference to the basketball game says the police department so let your advice or any input or do they just make this unilateral decision to keep our children out so at the beginning of the Season there was a meeting hell with there's a separate meeting one for Caribe for the Middle School sports and there was one with high school principals in regards to um some parameters they wanted to put in place in regards to that um and what the high school principal spoke about was making sure that it was a safe environment for everyone so they asked would it be okay for students to be able to attend with

034parents I said we talked to them about allowing that to do so as long as it was publicized to parents so that they were aware so that they would have someone to be a part of that process so this is the first that I've heard that anybody was locked out to that so I have to look into that okay so you support the restriction but just with informing the parents of that restriction informing the parents of that restriction making sure that we that they're aware that they are there students want to attend right so going forward that would be your your decision on how to best run uh basketball not the police departments and they'll just be correct carrying out your business correct thank you anyone else Miss Baptiste Perez any boy members online yeah

035I have a question for Miss Prairie but Mr bennahan he's walking in Miss Henry though we have any um explain or anything about fishing something yes machining.gov application Mr Bennett do you have a microphone no you hear me now yes thank you um my question was if do we have any um complaint or especially that guy they're trying to sue ball occasions something in there because that's what I heard so I don't know if you know something about this I want to solidify with you well what I will say um there's a lot of things that are happening in special education I mean there are some concerns in special education but do we have any pending lawsuits that I am aware of as of right now no okay all right yes I just want to

036let you know so you can maybe just in case somebody comes to to you so you can you know be ready because we never know the other thing I want to say and this is going to be very um how I can say very seriously everything is seriously but I see today in Hartford that the governor mayor and make the role was doing uh a meeting with them but unlike what they say a number of defended with anything and I want to create and send that message out very strong Richmond Public School we have people to translate any language that's the reason we have a bilingual Department that's the reason one of the committed that we have in the school people Translate I don't like when they say Bridgeport School they don't care Response Code

037they don't like to translate our our you know or any any kind of um language Spanish or something like that a mom from Italian was complaining they don't give information they don't help her nothing like that that's not true I'm going to send that message out that's not true you know me as a Hispanic I will help any parents until God told me to stop translate if we don't have another language we need I know we're gonna find out but I want to send this message out because I don't like people from you know Hartford or the mayor or the state rep they talk like they support and they say oh it's true make the rules telling the truth when it's not his parenting what is not born but whether it is not public that

038information and that make me very upset because I know we here we're not perfect we're trying the best we can to help everyone but say something is not true I'm not agree with that means Prairie and everyone now I know we have bilingual Department in Central High School and this is the reason we have this uh Center there that we help all these parents to you know Spanish you know in any language if it's Chinese there can be another country I don't care I know we're going to help them but send a message out that Bridgeport School is not helping to translate our parents his parenting board member that made me very upset and I really um write something in that Facebook live you know and I can share with you because that's not true

039so I call all parents Panic or any kind of language they need help to translate anything documents or anything a meeting something like that they can call me I'm always 24 7. everybody know or they can call to your office or they can call the bambalingo department on the social market and I know she's very professional and she's saying they be clearing one on the committee that we have people certify professional translate anything for our parents yeah I'm gonna share that video I'm going to show you that um committee meeting we have because we Susan said very quickly because I asked her the question so that maybe upset me that's when I bring it to the table for the record because it's not fair and whoever want me to translate whatever I say they can

040call me and I will tell me in Spanish I just wanted to do a report not answer thank you thank you Miss Mary yeah that's Baptist Paris I have I have a question I may have just had a little bit of a brain fog um for the high school basketball game facility usage uh did you say you're on board with the parental chaperones to the games yes well what about when it had like at Hardin it was their senior night so if I was a senior at Hardin and I had a friend one of my friends from Trumbull or Fairfield come and they're not 18 years old they would just get turned away so if they were coming with a parent everybody what we're looking for is for children to be accompanied by an adult

041so if it's not a parent it should be somebody who's 18 or above to be able to be there just in case there's some interest with some accidents in regards to aggression fighting we want to make sure that kids are with adults but have we had aside from the recent issue at bassic high school or the recent incident there have there been any reasons or concerns because it hasn't it just hasn't been brought to the board's attention at the other high schools there would be reasons for that um that kind of policy just because a lot of our students may not have a Guardian they may not have a guardian that's available to go with them a parent may be incarcerated or they may be in a group home setting or are they maybe in

042a foster care system uh where that may be a roadblock for for them to attend somewhere safe and watch a game just to kill time so what one of the things um that I have shared with both the Bridgeport Police Department as well as Mr Torres from Caribe um in the high school principals because I had a meeting with them actually today in regards to security overall because one of the things that was happening is they keep talking to me about what's happening but they're not reporting what those incidents are so very similar to what you're saying I said I need to be well informed as to what's going on they told me about issues that prior took place previously and this is why they wanted to work within these Realms to have students accompanied

043by an adult but as far as do I know of specific incidents I don't have those in front of me yet and that's what I talked about protocol getting so I can make sure that I know what's going on so I can make it the best decisions so that's the best way I can answer that as of right now okay thank you Miss Cashmere thank you um just one question uh uh Miss Perrin about the nurses um and the uh mandatory physicals are you um having success with like everybody turning their physicals in or I mean are there children who um you know have not turned their physicals in and then you know kind of what happens what's the protocol for that when they're not turned in so there are there are several students who

044still have not turned physicals in so what happens we do a big push starting in December sending out reminders so the nurses in the individual schools contact the parents um they send um phone calls they send letters um principals or acts to do that as well to try to make sure that students are getting those physicals um so that they are prepared on one of the things that we also do is we accept appointment cards even if it's after that April first deadline that states that students when they will be getting the physical so that they will not be omitted from school but it is an ongoing process so everyone does not currently have the physical and grade six as of yet um it's just something that we're still working towards do you usually get

045100 of them by the deadline well this is my first year sitting in this seat but if I speak from my past experience no okay thank you um just to the IT team I'm going to reboot my computer right my camera is there's an issue with my camera that's all I wanted to say thank you he said okay um and before I go back again for Mr uh Mr bennehan uh Mr uh Mr lumbar do you have a question concern for the report Miss uh prayer and presented no I do not thank you okay so I'm going to share mine and then I'll go back to you so I I don't mean to beat the devil horse but um I was at the game on Friday and I was with it was if it wasn't

046for me students wouldn't have gotten into the game um and I think uh quite a few of them pulled me to the side and brought to the concern that their thing is parents they don't have parents that can bring them so could we look into something where we could support the students who I don't know 18 is one thing because one of the young ladies that was with me was 18 but she didn't have her student ID but she was obviously a Bridgeport Public School student um and they weren't allowing her into the game at all um but I I definitely think there should be some type of fairness uh with the decision that's being made on how we can look into something that includes them because there are students that rely on the games

047but also to do not have parental you know support in that way um they may have relationship with coaches and things like that but the coaches are obviously not going to go against whatever you set into play for them to be able to come because a young man that and his friends were actually the students that were outside the door that couldn't even see him get his uh senior recognition so my hopes is that whatever as you continue the conversation and begin to get the information about whatever um the program uh Caribe and the student directors or help athletic directors are providing that we have something that we could provide for the students and it all made possibly an alternative so they don't feel like they can't attend their own home games um because they

048don't have you know a parent to be there and just for clarity we want an adult oh yes so an adult with them so if it's a teacher so you're an adult if you're taking responsibility to bring those children that's fine and that's acceptable we want to make sure that there's somebody there who's with them no you brought up a good point when you talk about if they're already 18. yeah um so that's something that we do have to discuss as well thank you and then just another thing too um I know that student IDs is a huge thing so maybe that can also too because I remember when I was in high school you had to show your student ID in order to go into a game but some students don't even carry their

049IDs and you know I don't want if if this is going to be something that you um that you're implementing that students are aware that they need to bring their student ID to verify that they're a student or a regular ID that says that they're 18 and above um so they can actually participate that would just be my only point Mr binahan that Miss Baptiste Perez Miss Baptist Perez is there a limit to how many people an 18 year old can chaperone because if I'm 18 and I'm thinking outside the box yeah all 30 are with me um so it's like never had that conversation yeah so we need to kind of get that uh clarify Mr bennion thank you my name is Perry I would like to have to get information about I know

050me Susan Martin they say in the committee but I would like to get information about the and the school it was for we have people translate you know certified because I normally Susan Martin she say we have but I would like to know what school we have found people who translate second is that I was I will send the information but I'm going to head for the record the pts on pack money is for the primary educated parents now for your staff using first thing from the school and you know I've been sending information you know I email you so please use I know you would accept them but they need to stop because I don't like when you don't get me upset when they pack will be there so our leaders they call me

051or the email me they show me the proof because when they told me that I said show me the fact and they do and then I'm going to send it to you why the schools that means donators that using the money from the paragraph idea so hey that is for healthy parents to educate the parents and whatever we need to buy for the parents we need they need they need to stop that know so please you know I would appreciate that you let them know again in a lot of the information I'll tell you about the translate I would like to get information where you can please so for translators I'm going to answer that question for you now so at any given point in time if someone needs translation services we have a contract

052with linguistica so what we do is we contact linguistica and we set that up and they do the translation and it comes in any languages so it's not a body that's in a building it's a company that we reach out to um they do it usually takes about 10 minutes for them to get someone um to be able to translate so it's not a body in the building it's through the company so that's that's across the district and we have it you know for all schools yes it's across the district is that your record because I don't want to look like a baseball School us we're not doing the job that we're supposed to be we want to help other parents and I'm not agree with that I like to help everyone but we both

053did the same thing is not true now go with me so thank you Mr I'm sure no more question number comments um with that thank you Miss parent for your report um we're gonna move to Old business we have three items to transact under old business tonight um all of the information is in your portal also to Mr sokolovic I mean Miss Perrin provided you printed out um outlines of the document as well the first agenda item is the second second read discussion and possible approval of the field trip policy 6201 and 6201a I'm going to turn this to Mr uh Mississippi sorry everyone's name is reporter place tonight to further discuss the changes that were made to this document also um yes just go right ahead yeah before I begin I'm gonna have two

054motions I'll take them I'll make them separately first motion is to wave reading in its entirety policy 6201 it and 6201a both by Mr bennion second by Mr psychology is there any discussion on the first read second I mean second read sorry all right CNN all in favor aye aye any opposed any abstentions parent none the second read has been waived continue um next motion I'd like to make a motion to approve policy number 6201 and six feet regulation 6201 a as amended and it appears all the amendment second person second okay it appears all it appears all the Amendments discussed were included everybody would like to take a moment to look up look at look through the changes to see if anything's missing but I see nothing I say everything that we asked for

055included any any questions concerns to the changes it's been properly second all in favor any opposed any abstentions here enough motion carries I'll go with Mr sakovic oh sorry um the next item is second read discussion and possible approval of public comment policy bylaw 9160 that's also on your in your packet and also on the table as well actually uh it's meeting conduct um I would like to make a motion to wave reading wave the second read in its entirety and just focus on the changes in the document is there a second I'll give it to him as Baptiste Perez second by Ms Baptiste Perez any discussion please take a moment to look through it for discussion or second read all right all in favor uh aye any opposed any abstentions parent on second week

056read has been waived continue that's just a couple of it like to make a motion to approve meeting conduct 9160 as amended in the previous first read their second second by Mr bennahan everyone please read uh for discussion if there's any changes these are reflected from last meeting but please look over them quickly I don't mean to rush you guys but it appears everything is there that's where we have the Committees all right is there any discussion Aaron on CNN all in favor aye aye the opposed extensions Karen none motion carries the next the next one is a second read and discussion and possible approval of bylaw policy 90 10 role of board members once again I'd like to make a motion to wave a second read reading it in its entirety and just focus

057on the changes is there a second my second by Mr Bennigan any questions on what's being waived all right hair and none all in favor aye aye any opposed any abstentions hearing on the way for the second read has been waived continue Mr sakolovic I would like to make a motion to approve roller board members 90 10. as amended at the rest meeting result all changes were captured again it's been second by Mr bennahan are there any discussion questions for this particular agenda item I just have a comment yep but I think to the extent in which our staff whether it's in facilities or in a building bill that they're being harassed or threatened by a board member um that they go through the appropriate legal channels to get that person out and it should

058be reported to the superintendent as well as the full board because the board can take action against an appropriate board conduct and that can include um privileges as serving on committees and so if you're not on a committee but want to go look at the facilities that doesn't seem to make very much sense um and that should address uh the comments that came through from public comment uh yeah to the extent that board members do act Rogue or act inappropriate and schools are empowered to protect our students and take the appropriate measures so if you want to get arrested in escorted off the building as a board member because you've acted out superpower then I think that should be very clear that that will happen if you want to lose your privileges as a board

059member with uh your rights then that is also a possible consequence um I I don't agree to the asking of consent it should be coordinated with like a logical reason as to why are board members visiting a building and it shouldn't be for kicks and Giggles so that's just my one comment all right Mr sokolovic yeah I do have a comment um one of the public speakers brought up a very important point at first I was like wait that's not true but then um further thought it's true in 2017 I did contact the science director because I was asked to cut the position and being allowed to do so and contact the science director along with I believe the mathematics director and a couple other directors I was able to successfully Advocate to keep their

060jobs in the district and it's so very important to be able to do that to have the information to make your decisions because if that's I if I wasn't able to talk to the science and math director the superintendent and uh Finance person's decisions would have stuck we would have no way to counter that and the board would be usurped by uh I guess by the superintendent and the finance person so they were able to successfully explain their jobs to me as such where I was able to successfully Advocate to keep those positions and I believe that was a good thing okay are there any other okay Mr benningham I agree with this I said but I wanted to be sure for the record and I always say they said I don't get tired to

061say that um our staff are amazing staff they have to understand that when you ask the board member we want to the best for them and we respect everything they do and we're not here to to get scared you don't want that we are not monster you know we are not monster we are not monster let me repeat it three times we're here to work together as a team listen to them you know help them these parenting no I myself when I visit the school paragraph So I email her and let her know and that's what we're here for I wanted you know they can understand and break that connection before pass they have that situation bad negative stuff but that's why they call the word path done finito adios let's work together as a

062team now we fresh we're trying to help we are not perfect you know and I'll always repeat that and I'm going to keep it repeating we are not perfect we're trying to work together as a team because we're working as as a team together it's better to set for for our children's you know if that's what we're here for we're not here to go back and forth argument you'll be your day your day now okay get credit or stuff like that the board member didn't want to work together you know uh it's very simple I can say resign and leave another one okay and work together as I think but I know as far we here and we here now present we want to work together with the staff not one drama we don't want

063the situation and I know me and us as a board members we know how far we can go we know the protocol we know the policy we respect that but I want to get that message out and for the record no more comments Madam chair thank you um Mr lumbar Miss Cashmere um yeah I think you know surrounding this discussion is a big four-letter word that begins with F and ends in r it has e a in the middle there's a lot of fear around this conversation and from my perspective you know that term which is appropriate here Rogue board member if you have a rogue board member they're going to go to the school regardless if they have permission from a superintendent um if they're breaking the law they're breaking the law that's one

064thing but it's it's really it's really making it's trying to to put restraints in place because of anomalies but taking away those Rogue board members in general it just makes sense that a board member should not be blocked by their superintendent to make a logical visit maybe it may seem sensitive maybe legally speaking it shouldn't happen that's that may be so if it's a if it's an ongoing case and the visit is clear that it's going to infringe upon certain legal mores that's then that would be coordinated and said we can't do it not because not because the superintendent isn't giving permission to the board member but the law is not giving permission to the board member so that's still having the superintendent make those coordinations um so I I think we we're moving past

065the um the trauma that was felt because of certain board members the public engineering public comment their names were mentioned well not Mr sakovic as much but the names that some of them were mentioned and um I I just think I just think logically this new read the second read makes so much more sense the other just Walks Like A Duck talks like a duck it's a duck it just stands out that it's inappropriate that that board members need to get the approval of the superintendent so to me this makes sense and I do appreciate the sensitive concerns around it but I feel like we can't we should not make policy based on fear so thank you thank you Miss Cashmere thank you I I just want to say I just um I just don't

066know I don't understand why someone wouldn't have something better to do with their lives than to harass teachers and administrators I mean these are these people have enough to deal with on a daily basis with from the kids to the parents to DCF to everything that our staff have to deal with I just feel like with this board with this particular board it won't be a problem but at the same time it is important to set certain policies and boundaries in place but I just want to make that comment I just think that it's just sad you know for somebody to just harass the people who are in charge of the most important or our most invaluable assets our kids that's that's just a comment I wanted to make that's it thanks um thank you

067um and I also too would like to Echo um Miss Baptiste Perez Point as well as the other board members um I do believe that as we are trying to gain momentum for respect across the board but also to those that we work with within the district that if a board member is doing that then proper you know proper uh proper restrictions should be made toward that towards that board member from the protocol that Miss Perrin has set into place and then also if that board member cannot properly act right um then their their committees can be taken away from them and they will have to endure not being able to to do whatever is needed on the board level because they can't respect the schools and the leadership of Miss Perrin but I do

068agree with Mr Lombard's statement that we can't continue to stay stagnant in what was happening in the past we're trying to move forward and we have a job to do and anyone that is sitting on this particular side of the meeting who can't do that job then they need to decide what's best for them and realize that their own agenda is affecting our district um so I'll just say that and uh Mr Benny Hinn yeah I agree with you Miss Brown thank you um I feel that whoever born member doesn't respect one of the staff and they go like you know with that drama now take care of the way it's supposed to be they don't have a role model you know we could represent baseball School let's make a new policy you know you

069resign you're done you're out because even we're gonna have somebody don't respect I'll stop when they work so hard you don't need to be here you don't need to sit do sitting down here I'll stop you know go through a lot of things about baseball School in the district plus they have his personal life because we don't know how how that stuff going through in your personal life you know it's not easy what our staff they're doing and we respect that you know I take it on my ad for them but if they don't respect our style one of the bomb members going through the world attitude I would you know we can't trying to do you resign you out automatic you know why he she went oh no you don't respect I'll stop bye-bye

070I don't I I I would love to go have that and Miss Perry um it's not the way we can try to do um I'm not talking now but trying to plan how we can do as a board member because I know years back they do board members visit to school same time whatever the principal home with few steps we listen to them you know I'm not saying right away in it tomorrow but how we can do something that I want little by little are administrator and stuff they understand that we base in the school you know with the permission you know the way it's about to be the world or the policy the step-by-step we can listen to them I would love to listen you know stuff like that so I don't know maybe

071we can try to do something like that because I don't use why they did it but you know about the situation they remove it because drama but I'm one I don't want that like you saying like Mr Lombard said let's pass this fast let's go press in the future actually miss Castamere acts about that as well and I told her that I was going to be speaking to Miss Brown about what that would possibly look like and then we would open it up to all board members if that's the case fine good thank you no more questions thank you all right so if there's no other discussion it's been properly second uh so all in favor any opposed any abstentions hair and none motion carries just one more manner of housekeeping because uh we haven't

072done this in a while so I just want to make sure everybody's aware that uh policies that don't affect children the hour bylaws take effect immediately and the field trip policy unless somebody wants to make a motion takes an effect next school year if anybody wants to make that take effect now did you make a motion to do so hi second no no no yeah the motion hasn't been made I just don't know sorry I don't want this don't take us is anyone in what um it's we have quite a few field trips coming up so I don't know what that's going to look like so we can leave it as is that's no one okay no worries and this also got to be updated on the portal and especially the field truth policy needs

073to be decimated to all the schools and everybody who um is affected by the policy needs to know that it has changed okay all right I just want to clarify your gauging whether to entertain and make the field trip policy immediate effective immediately versus the start of the 23-24 school year correct that's only that's only for the um field trip that's only for the overnight yeah I'll make a motion to um lost a sheet of paper um I'll make a motion to one second motion to make policy 6201 and regulation 6201 a effective immediately one second any questions concerns yes I just want to have discussion around this yep go ahead just to understand the reason why it was in place that they would not take effect until the next year first of all and

074then why we think we should waive that so I don't have the history so I don't know if anyone does right the reason most of it is because if we make a policy that's going to have significant change and take work to be done and like have an adjustment period or something like that but this doesn't look like that I think it's like this is something about kids if it affects the kids it's different right yeah if it affects the children it's different because they may have to be things that staff and the superintendent have to do to prepare for the implementation of the new policy but I I don't think that any really preparation that needs to do because most of it's just around um the approval process so I think this was streamlined

075and it makes staff's life a little easier and that's unless the superintendent sees something that should stop stop daughter maybe she should raise that down no um really the the changes were being made to the approval process which was hindering some of the students to be able to go and be exposed to different things so I think that it would be um a good idea to be able to move forward to make this effective immediately to be able to to stop that process from happening in the future and then if if we vote to waive that or whatever the term is that we're doing um this would be for requests starting tomorrow or would be any that are in place already so these would be for future requests future requests so some that are in

076that were already didn't meet the deadline and the trip was supposed to be in a couple weeks or whatever it is they wouldn't be considered it would be for for future ones okay is that correct well they they could be considered if they moved forward so what I'm saying is that um if they were trips that say for instance the principal or teacher decided not to move forward on based upon the timeline now they have the availability to be able to do so uh so keep moving forward we won't be going back to look at old trips that are in the past of course but anything that have future dates it will be applicable towards that makes sense all right thank you all right any other items I mean any any other discussion for this

077a lot of our schools have already put thought into it uh are they presenting today uh I felt during my last teaching and learning committee meeting uh there's I forgot which school it's not BMA but one of the schools that did attend in person they had put a lot of thought up they've gone to Boston uh to the trip not only tied into an educational purpose but also to a social emotional aspect to it and that's also just another component to this change is like not only for our students to grow academically but as a social and conscious human being and individual and Society so I think it I'm looking at a different particular part of the section but I think it's good to have that applied as well all right I hear no other

078discussion um now we're going to move it to a vote all in favor aye any abstentions parent none motion carries all right so this will make the trips moving forward um a part of the new policy all right so moving to new business um the first agenda item is review and possible approval on entering to a contract with for social work Services provided by gbap this is also in your packets um and this was discussed at our contracts meeting so I believe we may have staff online to just talk briefly about it but it's also in your agendas as well so Miss Clark yes good evening everyone um we have two items on the agenda tonight uh the gbap is actually called Greater Bridgeport area prevention program Inc we have two grants from the state

079they happen to be from ARP Esser monies uh the state uh reissued uh the supports for parenting um pregnant and parenting teens we got a four hundred thousand dollar award and in that program we pledge to work with gbap so that they can help us deliver the mandatory uh portion of the grant that had to work with teen fathers our social work department does a wonderful job as parent mentioned that they're going um to a conference to get some more information about treating um not just the homeless but um you know our parenting and pregnant teens as well and so this is an important part of that Grant and we are proposing to give gbap thirty thousand dollars uh to support that initiative thank you Miss Clark I will open up the floor for any

080comments questions from the board Mr Bennigan thank you madam chair um Miss Clark um that's going to be on for all the high schools uh yes this program is open for all of the high schools it's for all on pregnant or parenting teens okay thank you one more question Perez I just have a question I was going to look it up online but might as well just ask who's the executive director for gbap and where are you located Nancy Kingwood I believe yep you're correct I can give you their address if you give me two moments I know they're on Barnum Avenue but I don't know I believe they're downtown but it is Miss Kingwood they are at 1470 Barnum Avenue Suite 301. thank you Miss cashmere Mr Lombard any questions uh yes one question

081um while you're performing social work does any of that social work include Child Development information about the growth of the children yes under the district's portion of the grant yes this is going to be working on expansion of all of the services to uh the pregnant and parenting teens and this what we're asking for tonight is specifically related to the work that gbap will provide to the teen fathers so providing them specifically um with additional information about how to work with you know the the mothers and with the the children providing additional services to them um gbap is offering a 12-week scheduling program where they're going to be on site at the high schools so they're really working hard on delivering those Services just specifically to the males involved in the situation okay and for

082those fathers what model are you using for the child development information is it parents is Teachers something else um I believe that they I'm looking through and please I'm just the contracts person it's not my subject matter expertise I know that we traditionally do pay for a parent um parenting program but I'm not seeing it in this statement of work from gbap we could certainly follow up and ask if they're going to be using that model yeah if you would just follow up and send me just a brief email letting me know what the model is I'm very interested in knowing thank you yes yes I will Mr Lombard no comments thank you no questions Mr binahan thank you madam chair Miss Clark um I know you say it's a glory for the high schools

083who's going to be in charge from the United States given you know each high school and who's gonna whoever's in charge in that high school with that program who's going to report everything what's going on in the high school it's going to be you or you're going to have somebody well no so yes this program is being managed by the social work department so Mr Young will work with getting the information from the assigned social worker um to get all of the information that's required for the program and to report out as necessary okay and I and I did answer your question and said high school but of course we do have situations where there are kids in um some of our other schools so that the program is open district-wide to any of the

084uh students that might find themselves in these situations all right would anybody like to make that motion I have a question oh sorry I mean you could bring up go ahead Miss Baptist Brad I was just curious do you know how much has been spent on this program already I'm going to just refer to as a program because it says it's retroactive pretty much as of February 1st 2023 so um go ahead so but you can if no we don't know how much has been spent so far uh has gbap been active in our schools and in our I'm going to say schools at large because it like mentioned earlier it could apply to middle school students um yes so no monies have been spent on this program to gbap we've been waiting approval uh

085we did go through contracts committee I believe was end of uh January but we're waiting for this contract to be approved if you do so tonight and then we will extend uh the fully executed contract to gbap so they could start executing those services on the district side yes we have been spending our funds because they were received foreign thank you all right if there are no further questions would someone like to make this motion um make a motion to prove and turn into a contract for social work services provide I don't like the way this is phrased I'm going to make a motion to approve the gbap contract as presented um for social work services and this is supposed I'm gonna pause I'm gonna stop with my motion this is supposed to help teenage

086fathers correct uh the subcontract specifically is to help teenage fathers the program is actually called supports for pregnant and parenting teens and it's our best or funded I don't know if you have to read that into your motion as well yes because it was just given in the abbreviated form so I'll make a motion for the contract with social work Services provided by the sppt part of gbath afos any abstentions Karen none motion carries the next item is a review and possible approval on entering to a contract for social work Services provided by gpat for homeless population students Ms Clark uh thank you and so this program also happens to be our best or funded uh it's for the homeless children and youth program which the district received uh three hundred and two thousand nine

087hundred and fourteen dollars uh it was mandatory that we have a CBO which is a community-based organization work with us and that happened to be gbap based on the services that they could provide when we were putting together our proposal in this case uh gbap happens to have a van that would be able to transport homeless students they will be able to help them with getting any of those ancillary services that the district you know does Endeavor to provide but this is you know keeping with that you know wraparound services for them so if they for some reason need access to food they need access to Transportation they need access to you know specific items that uh Bob really already has in their program and that the district will you know during the day be

088able to help those students but after hours gpap will be able to provide those additional services to them I believe that when we applied for this this day was really happy to see you know the model that we were putting together and um we're asking for you tonight to approve this hundred thousand dollar award for gbap to provide these services right um open up the floor for discussion Miss Baptiste Perez on the committee level did you receive a gpap flyer that goes through all the services that they provide because we only get the contract no I didn't get a Plainfield of it so the statement will work for the um for both programs should be in the contract my pull out says it's page 25 for the homeless program I can try to pull that

089up now if you would like me to but if you would like us to um to get a flyer from gbap we could certainly do that we again um have been waiting for the approval of this contract so they have not been advertising or anything like that yet of course gbap does provide these Services uh generally but we don't have something specific to Bridgeport Public Schools quote-unquote these are your services until we have a fully executed contract I understand did you say you were referring to their statement of work yes oh you like yield my time in case any other board member has a question or comment anyone else Miss cashmere Mr lumbar um yeah oh I'm sorry go ahead go ahead Joe no no questions no comments okay Miss Cashmere yeah so um it's

090just a hypothetical question so if there is a homeless child that is going through some type of uh mental meltdown does gvap go out even if it's three o'clock in the morning or would that be kind of like more like a mobile crisis two-on-one type of situation just curious I am definitely not the subject matter expert to answer that question I could certainly refer to the social work department um I I don't know if that's what they would do I would imagine that you should call 9-1-1 and get immediate Services um and then there would be a triage process but uh Social Work definitely should be able to give you a more solid answer and I could certainly um provide that in the follow-up that I do owe you already miss cashmere yeah just asking

091if that if you guys are involved in that triage process so not necessarily so then right I believe there is a triage I just don't know if in the middle of the night what it looks like but we'll get that information okay thank you um Miss Baptiste Perez I have a question it was a statement of work uh only provided for the sppt program or did you provide it for the oh no there was a um statement for of work for both items so on my copy 25 on their copy it says 25. yes let me keep scrolling yes and the homeless contract it's on page 25. it's on page 110 of the whole entire package oh excuse me I'm looking at my version that I provided um beaming this is a statement of work

092within that contract I have two separate documents I was not aware of how your packet came over and sppt I believe that was page 26 in my separate copy as well Miss Batiste Perez would you like me to send you a copy of this document scroll down to the program description yes uh move this out of the way thank you you're welcome any further items for discussion anyone else questions concerns yes mister banahan oh thank you madam chair um I'm going back with um um it's like you should say um about you say if it's not emergency they could call 911 but they let's see in the middle of the night they can go to one one they go through the program I will have to get more information I I don't know what the

093triage process this is um this is not my bailiwink I will certainly get the information to provide being able to go to your place if you can get us the information because and then the parent they can know some parents sometimes they are afraid to call 911 because you know when you call 9-1-1 it feels like the whole city is coming to the house right here a little bit so when you go maybe you had two one one maybe we had somebody that can help right away the parents you know like maybe 21-1 they can say listen we had to code 911 you know I just I just want to curious if you can get information with that we appreciate that please yes I will certainly laze with the social art Department thank you thank

094you so here an unseeing none would someone like to make this motion oh miss Akisha is she does she have a question yeah I actually I'm sorry just it's going to be very quick so uh I want to read over that it says provides case management housing navigation Services through our vehicle for change van okay just give me a little bit more information about what that looks like I could certainly get that information from the social work department gotcha okay thanks I I am the contract person the the special the subject matter experts really are social um Social Work team yeah maybe it would have been a good idea to have somebody here that could yes into it but okay thank you yes yes thank you uh Mr sokolovic yeah I'd like to make a

095motion to enter into a contract with gpap support Social Work Services provided for the homeless some more Mr Lombard all in favor moved by Mr sakolovic oh Lord I'm sorry guys all in favor I'm gonna do it again all in favor all right any opposed any abstentions oh miss cashmere stains yes all right uh motion carries um the next agenda item is discussion of possible action on on the final selection of superintendent search firm I believe uh Mr pyrus is online I don't see him yeah huh so we're gonna we're gonna see I mean everyone has information but I didn't know if you want to um okay if we want go ahead Mr Lumber yeah I mean can can we just share that you know the results of our scoring pointed to one firm and

096yes and with further uh inquiry into that firm uh basically negotiation of pricing was brought down by about 25 and so that's where we were and so I think if we share that we could talk about deciding on which one we want correct um uh so what what we can do is he's here okay okay Mr Pirates you have the floor to talk about the superintendent search firm um and if you could just give a little uh idea of what the process looked like so that the public is aware of how it went up okay so we issued an RFP for a search firm and um we had four respondents we had the committee review all of their respondents and they scored them and we came up with a score final score of materials and

097Jacobson as being the winner of the of the selection and now it's before you to um approve it the next steps will be we will notify the The Firm and once the firm is notified we will seek approval from the purchasing Board of the city's purchasing department once that's gathered or while that's being gathered we will uh enter into a negotiation of an agreement operating agreement with the firm and the the board will determine and explain to the to the search form the the process that they want to undertake I believe that uh Miss Brown has had some conversations with the affirming regards to the process that they prefer to have the um the search firm conduct the search correct is there anything else Mr pyrus no that's basically it and then uh once that's

098it that's in place it'll come before the contracts committee one more time to approve the contract and the full board will uh well the search committee the search committee is the full board so it'll just be executed and um the search will begin all right at this moment we're going to open up the floor for discussion on this agenda item starting with I'll just go down the line uh Mr Bennigan thank you Miss um Brown um Mr Paris um how long they will take the the company to answer you back I do it you you know you they have a limit though something like that or they will tell you right away when you send the documents no they will they will they will respond right away uh we're just waiting for the for the

099vote tonight once the the vote takes place tonight I will issue a letter of acceptance to to the firm and then the negotiations will begin immediately with the with the attorneys to get the the contract drawn up and then it'll be before you to review it so it should it should move rather quickly okay thank you Miss Perry one more question thank you Mr sokolovic yeah just one question when we get to it um how should the motion be phrased um should be discussion and approval of this of the selection of the name of the firm okay that's it all right thank you Miss Baptiste Perez I don't have any questions hey Miss Cashmere no questions I'm anxious to uh see how this all plays out no questions all right Mr Lombard no I would

100just like to share that this was a very orderly process we were fortunate to receive multiple as Mr Pirates said four uh proposals four responses um and you know we independently scored them you know without even communicating with one another and the firm that we're leaning toward tonight is one that outshined uh clearly our our uh had the highest scores and I will share that you know as I mentioned earlier maybe maybe prematurely pricing was taken into consideration as well and um it all it all seemed to come together very very well so that's like to share that with the public thank you and I guess I'll just add my little two cents I wanted to thank uh um our executive team especially uh you know Mr Lombard for actually you know as we gather

101the questions from the board talking to the firm so that we'd be able to properly communicate um the questions that the board brought up but other than that I have no other concerns or comments um so I will open it up for someone to make the motion I'm gonna make a motion to enter into a contract with the search firm McPherson and Jake Jacobson to find our next superintendent it's almost second he made the motion so it should have been second by Mr bennahan all right motion a second by Mr benningham all in favor aye any abstentions hair and none motion carries we have us we've selected a search firm very good I'll send I'll send a letter out tomorrow all right thank you Mr pyrus you're very welcome have a good night good night

102the next agenda item is discussion and possible approval of Bridgeport Military Academy field trip to Pacific high school and New Jersey for March 25th 2023 this actually came out of uh Miss Baptiste Perez committee so I don't know if you want to say anything about this trip um quick overview it's in compliance with our policy before what was approved today going into effect do we have a representative for me to here um yeah I mean I will share tidbit is last year our students went and won so they're going back to reclaim their crowns so I will say that's one bit of Bridgeport Pride but I won't I won't take too much of your thunder you can present okay so uh this is the lieutenant commander Brewster I'm the senior Naval science instructor I also

103helped coach the color guard and we are going to take our Color Guard drill team athletic team and our academic team to Passaic New Jersey uh pending approval and we won first place with our freshman Color Guard last year so we'd like to have that same team go back and try and win the senior one we have a brand new crop of freshmen who are really good and our drill team is much bigger than it was last year so I anticipate uh being close competition so um it is the only uh before the board because it is out of state it is not that far it's only uh about two hours away so it's a up and back in the same day and we had already got approval from the deputy superintendent uh so it's

104just it has to go to the board because of the previous role that you changed today bending any question that's all I have board members are there any questions concerning this field trip I just want to comment that I I think that this is awesome and I wish that I can go with you that's all you are welcome to come ma'am foreign okay all right with that being said would someone like to make this motion motion to approve Bridgeport Military Academy field trip to Passaic High School in Passaic New Jersey on March 25th 2018. 3 I just finished it is there a second second second by Mr bennahan I need this questions discussion hearing on all in favor aye any opposed any abstentions hair and none we hope you guys have a safe trip I

105know we got a little while before it comes but I'm excited that you guys get to go um the next that's the next agenda item is discussion and possible action to approve uh John Winthrop School field trip in Marin's School field trip to Nature's Classroom April 2023. is there a representative and I know this came out of your committee but I don't know if you want to say anything um just quickly it's going to be presented uh together um because it's during the same time it's from April 3rd to April 5th 2023 and the schools will be sharing a bus okay a representative hi yes um Laura durian I'm speaking on behalf of Pam lucente and myself uh I'm from Marin so we are taking this trip with our uh group of fourth and fifth

106grade tag students um and the purpose of the trip is for students to learn about different bodies of water um within the Nature's Classroom as well as natural habitats and Wildlife that are native to the state of Connecticut this is going to help students uh gather a better understanding of um our natural I'm sorry our native animals plants and uh resources and um this will help them they will use this information excuse me to um help them in the pollinating Garden that is going to be created at both Winthrop and Marin um um Pam did you have anything that you wanted to add that I might have missed um no just that we have the safety protocols that the students must test for covid prior to getting on to the the day before getting um

107on the field trip and that they all have to fill out a health packet also from Nature's Classroom which discusses any medications or anything they have a nurse on staff um so it's quite safe and that's all thank you both um is there does someone would like to make a motion for this agenda item yes sorry open up for discussion and then we'll move forward very quickly I just um I am happy about Nature's Classroom I think that this is a really great trip mainly because Nature's Classroom works on all four stages of the child's development language social emotional cognitive and motor so I just wanted to say I think it's great and um and good luck and be safe thank you any other board members Mr Binion uh question Miss Pamela you are a

108teacher from a marine school or verbal cross um from John Winthrop John okay yep anyone else right would someone like to make this motion yes a big motion to approve Winthrop School field trip and Marine School field trip to Nature's Classroom April 2023. is there a second goodbye miss Baptiste Perez all in favor aye any opposed any abstentions Karen none you guys have a trip approved please be safe and we look forward to hearing all the great things about it thank you thank you so much no problem the next one is discussion and possible action regarding a memory memorandum of agreement for math endorsement to increase Bridgeport Public School certified teaching pool is a representative for this agenda item and this also came out of your committee Miss Baptist Perez so I don't know if

109you want to say anything about it um this contradiction should be online behind you I am online go ahead okay so I'm sorry are we doing math or science yeah okay so um as you all know math and science are some of our shortage areas and as part of our plan to fill these vacancies we have created a Opera an opportunity for veteran teachers to get cross-endorsed uh we sent out a feeler email and we have approximately 10 uh senior or veteran teachers interested in obtaining this cross endorsement uh part of this the part of the uh process would be that they will engage in some type of training and program that will help them prepare to take the Praxis exam in order for someone who currently holds a certification to get cross-endorsed from math

110or science one option is to get uh take the Praxis exam sorry Praxis exam and pass it so I know that Mr planus executive director herminioplanus has met with a group of the student teachers who are interested in this in addition as part of the incentive to get obtained the cross endorsement we have offered um monetary incentives in that one uh we will for those who are successful and pass in the Praxis they will have a two-step increase in their salary as long as they maintain um employment in the math sector thank you are there any questions or discussion on this item yes I would just like to to add on to what Miss objects was saying as far as the employment it's a three-year three-year minimum uh is that correct correct and um any

111costs incurred by the district will be offset for each year that they abide by that they maintain employment in that area thank you anyone else Miss Baptiste Perez question uh entertainment hypothetical we have a map we have a teacher that goes through this for um for the math certification and therein a school for one school year teaching math but for whatever reason the following school year they're not teaching math in that building and and maybe this would be a good problem to think of right don't look at me like that because we should have good problems if for some reason in a particular school year there is no math vacancy will they keep their step up in that pay like if that was not an issue in the district if they are not teaching math

112at no fault of their own then yes they will maintain their pay increase however if they opt or take action themselves to no longer teach in that area then they will not maintain that step increase thank you further questions all right I'm sorry go ahead follow-up on uh from the committee when the committee chair asked about what would be a situation if another teacher who was not part of the original 10 remember that we were talking about if something came along with this opportunity to be available to them was that is there any follow-up on that no more than me thinking about it if um math and science is one of our they're two of our major shortage areas I am not going to turn away someone unless they are in another shortage area such

113as the Arts or special ed if um we have a need I will we will figure it out okay thank you one more time are there any further questions all right hearing none would someone like to make this motion motion to approve the memorandum of agreement for a math endorsement to increase Bridgeport Public Schools certified teaching pool second by Mr sokolovic all in favor any further questions or questions any further questions or comments caring on all in favor aye any opposed any abstentions Karen none motion carries the next agenda item is discussion and possible action regarding the memorandum of agreement for science endorsement to increase the certified teaching pool this is also YouTube Ms Dixon yes so along the same lines again we sent out emails to our veteran staff inquiring of anyone who would

114be interested in obtaining an endorsement in science once again we have at least we had at least 10 teachers who are interested in obtaining the cross endorsement for science so it is the same basic process and procedure the science department has created a program to help assist the teachers in getting ready to teach science and pass the practice Praxis exam thank you are there any questions discussions on this item Yeah question yep go ahead Miss Cashmere okay so just so I understand this when a teacher is doing a cross endorsement for science let's say does that mean that they don't have any experience teaching science at all and you're like giving them an opportunity to learn to teach science I mean just so you can break it down for me yes yes and no uh

115preferably or a lot of people who uh are seeking the cross endorsement either have a passion or have had experience in teaching these topic areas uh we are working not only to help them prepare for the Praxis exam itself but also to help uh maybe uh catch them up with uh current uh techniques or topics in that area so I don't off the top of my head I don't recall if each person seeking for the cross endorsement had prior experience or course experience in these specific areas but I know that they were specifically interested in either science or math thank you Miss Casimir also on most of the applicants who are looking to be cross endorsed are our Arcadia six Elementary so they may not have taught it in a 7 to um realm which

116is what we're seeking out but they might have had some experience teaching science at the elementary level no some of them are already perhaps Ela or we actually have one teacher who is already certified in science but wants to be cross-certified in physics so we we had actually called um them unicorns in that they're rare but he was more of a Pegasus and that someone who wants to actually teach physics is even more rare than someone who wants to teach science so it depends um it's not just our elementary teachers who are interested in this cross endorsement s let me ask this question um so that means that we're creating other gaps in science that he was an exception so when we consider the applicants we are not going to rob from the rich to

117give to the poor we wanted to focus on areas that are easier to fill so we focused a lot and when we advertised for this we wanted people who currently hold certifications in the areas that are most popular Elementary Ela um I think those are the major main ones that were the more popular ones uh this person happened to be interested specifically in physics which is not an easy uh area to find someone I have a question uh out of the 10 candidate candidates for the science program that's including Pegasus I think so I I averaged it to be about 10. there might be like 12 or so but yes uh Pegasus is included in my 10 person head count and are there any other um candidates within the 10 or of the nine remaining

118that are already science teachers that want to teach a more specify so someone wants to teach chemistry I do not believe so we actually toyed with the idea of not allowing the science certificate certification holder to be considered but when I we spoke to him he had indicated that yes he's interested in science uh he already holds the signed certification but he wants to teach physics thank you so I mean that's fine but if we had another unicorn that uh well unicorn was teaching science so if we had another horse that wanted to teach science I'm going to try and steal all the analogy right we had another teacher that was interested in teaching science we can increase the number from 10 to 11. again yes I would I would because we have I believe

119we have more than 10 current vacancies as I indicated in in your committee meeting we have approximately at least 10 vacancies right now for both science definitely science and math is probably between seven to ten as we go through the year and more people are contemplating retirement or going to a different District I pursue that increa that never increasing thank you Madam chair Mr Lombard for clarification for a lay person here um what is the difference between science and physics you know what there's is there a different certification to teach High School science and high school physics so when we talk about science we have General Science physical science then we have biology chemistry physics um physics is probably the mo is probably the least popular field um let me I have to think for

120a moment physical science if you have certain uh certifications I believe if you have chemistry you can teach physical science and general science if you have biology you could teach General Science but not physical science so there are different science degree uh certifications so not only do we have the general certification the physical certification but then you have those who teach specif specifically biology chemistry and physics so there was a a short a need for a physics teacher is that one of the vacancies I don't know if it's necessarily a vacancy but I do know that it's hard to offer physics because there are not as many teachers willing or able to teach physics this thank you thank you Miss Perry so Mr Dixon just for clarity you start stated that you were looking to

121um have teachers from the ELA realm or Elementary just um for my knowledge where are these teachers coming from if they're not coming from elementary to be cross endorsed for science I built off the top of my head I believe most of them were Elementary we might have the occasional um social studies or Ela for the middle school grades I don't know the specific details to each candidate I unfortunately I reviewed the list about a month or so ago and when we were deciding or weeding out possible candidates we did again we looked at what they were currently teaching what school they were currently teaching at and we tried to focus on those who were in The more popular areas such as Elementary and Ela again is another area or subject that is easier to

122fill than other subjects okay I just want to clear it because I know when I had said that before you had said no so I just wanted to make sure that I understood you correctly Madam chair yes Mr Lombard the other thing I want to bring up again that that came up in committee and this kind of I think is where Miss kashmir's question was coming from um you know this is something that the state's allowing because of the need because the shortage and one of the ways as you mentioned is by passing the Praxis subject area exam so this is all above board and it's worth taking advantage taking the opportunity to use this but I asked you during the committee meeting especially for science but also for math absolutely what if any additional

123supports will be made available to these teachers who may not have had experience teaching may not have had experienced teaching especially at the middle school level science or math is anything additional to what's already being offered to the Science and Math teachers for these people or is that not thought about yet I know you did it answer that a little bit I'd like to have that be brought up to the table again tonight right so I did bring up your question um while I was at a Dei training today uh Portia Scott who's the assistant director of science as well as Michael Preston Steve Stephen Correa who are my um who work with HR training the new attorneys and deal with a lot of the Partnerships we briefly discussed what you mentioned about ongoing PD

124and we recognized that it is essential to the success of these candidates and then in Return of our students so we were talking about ongoing PD we want to ensure that there is some type of support in ongoing PD for any of the Cross endorsements or that we are pursuing uh this year we learned we recently did the last year we did a cross endorsement for special education that was our first real attempt or project at Cross endorsements where we took the veteran teachers and they were work towards getting cross-endorsed in special ed and we're learning from that we're learning that we do we need to make sure that there's ongoing PD so the short answer is yes we are definitely trying to develop ongoing PD and support for these teachers who are making the

125jump into a new area uh just real quick I see Mr Scott is online he did ask if he wanted to share his screen to show what the outline looked like for those that are going through PD so I'm I'm going to give you the opportunity to do that and I believe Miss uh Perrin has more to say on this item as well hi it's actually Portia Scott charm sorry it's okay it's okay all right can can you see this yes hello everyone can I chime in as well sorry I just wanna uh again thank portion for the work she's done with this um we've got um I know the first date on the top is tomorrow so we're not going to do that pending uh the approval that hasn't happened yet uh and the

126notification and the snow so uh but I'll turn it over to her we put a lot of thought into this and how the best way to onboard uh our current teachers just to really uh widen the breadth of teachers that we have in Bridgeport Public Schools to help with science uh the other piece I wanted to mention regarding the endorsements uh the state does have an o34 which is a general science endorsement for 712 and a 234 it's a general science for middle school for four to eight so we're hoping to uh you know prepare teachers for those Praxis exams uh and then get them generally certified in science for the possibility of their use uh for year to year as a building administrator it can be very useful to have those two teachers in

127various certification areas but again don't mean to cut you off Porsche I'll turn it back to you to share some of the details of our program and again appreciate the support of everyone thank you thank you Mr Henry I just wanted to make sure that you uh see what it is that we actually outline for each session so you can see where the location is two of these will be done virtually and again we're going to have to change the date but you can see that like for the first session you know it Mrs um Alto Dixon made reference to it they vetted a lot of the candidates so you know we want to make sure that those candidates who want to be a part of this cost endorsement are really clear about what they're

128walking into because you Middle School is not Elementary and it is not high school it is it's like a totally different arena in terms of where our kids are cognitively where they are physically and where they are and understanding themselves so our first introduction uh with the the candidates would be to what would they expect to see within the science classroom for middle school and to touch upon uh what they need to focus on for the practice uh preparation the second practice prep session would be done virtually so we would focus on like I have a suggestion here that study.com they have a 92 percent success rate with the Praxis so that would be something that we would encourage them to look at on their own but also looking at the curriculum that the science

129department has and provide them some concrete examples of what it is that they're going to be asked when they take that test and then each session goes into the curriculum and pedagogy which is directly aligned to what they will expect to be able to do in the classroom with these middle school students specifically like the Next Generation science standards what are those practices that they're expected uh to do with the with the students and understanding that they're at a tactile level so you would be expected to be doing a lot of Hands-On experiments with the kids and uh what are the key ideas that they want to make sure that their students walk away with so as you can see and we have um you know Daria Collins who is one of our science teachers

130so we're trying to also get veteran teachers to we're trying to build capacity that exists within the district because you have a lot of really good middle school science teachers that we're trying to help to actually perform the professional development but as you can see here each session has a theme and we unpack that for those two hours but we all also are looking at for next year so we don't just give them these six sessions and then okay you're out on your own next year they will also be provided with support and we start a new curriculum like in another year so they'll be learning beside their peers and we always try to encourage um collaboration are there any questions any further questions uh Miss Perrin has statements so go ahead and start um

131Mr Lombard who asked about support and I think Miss um Scott shop did a great job of explaining about professional development but aside from professional development one of the things that we need to focus on as a district is providing a space for teachers new and old to be able to just discuss the things that are at the Forefront of their minds so we will be engaging in the process of creating Affinity groups for different groups in the city to be able to sit down and just talk and share with each other their experiences which will help build community around common like problems um so I think that's extremely important as well PD is phenomenal it helps you know inform our decisions but just having a place in a person to be able to talk

132to about some commonalities what helps support our staff as well thank you um so just to finish up my questions on this area I know we've already been voted and approved for the math endorsement across endorsement but I just have to ask is there anything like this well thought out planned to PD or whatever what have you for the math side as well oh there's Crystal Palace so I mean I just I know we already voted on it but I just I'm wondering if it exists is the same so you're all mute Mr planus it's not mute but we can't hear him oh there's no sound no sound nope Madam chair yes seeing as these have a technical difficulties would it be possible for him to get that information to Mr Lombard and hello oh

133yeah look at that you can just answer in the chat and then just send it an email okay or it could we just have an update in teaching and learning so yeah I'll I'll include as an agenda item it's just an update of the actual professional supports can you hear me yes oh dude go ahead Mr Mr um playlist yes good evening uh the the plan of learning science uh was done in Paris with the one in math so both plans are exactly the same uh we were planning for the two first sessions to be uh a practice one uh program just like the one in science the next two sessions were around the common core and examining the curriculum uh looking into that and then the final two sessions was more about building uh

134the the the the the planning in a classroom and the last obviously the last session is similar to the one that Ms Scott champ presented which is having actual teachers uh sitting down and and planning uh an actual lesson that they will do during the first week of of teaching so you know we we actually sat down together um or spoke about it uh in this regards one thing that might be different in math is that we are planning to separate the um we have a fourth through a certificate and then we have a 712 certificate so we were planning to have two tracks in order for both groups to um you know to practice for the practice one because they're different assessments and also for the curriculum because they're different uh common core standards

135for high school as well as Middle School thank you Mr Lumber does that answer your question yes it does thank you all right so at this moment um will someone like to make the motion app one more question oh go right ahead it's it's study.com free for our teachers to use to prepare for the exam oh no not free well I actually I signed up just to see what the format was and uh prepare so I'm kind of taking some things out just to look at how they're formatting it but um it's like sixty dollars a month and I I know I access on the committee level but Mr lumbar brought up a great point just because I remember from committee doesn't mean uh everybody else does um uh wait I thought we were covering

136the costs for we're not covering preparation for the test so it's suggested to take to go to study.com but it's not going to be covered by the district no the the what what what they're paying for I'm sorry is for the two-step increase they're being paid for attending the training but they are not being paid for you know that background information that's where you know there this is another thing you're asking a really good question and you know they're going to have to do a little bit of homework because you are talking about you know teaching middle school so you're you are going to have to kind of front load a little bit so no they're not um the uh HR department we and and in collaboration with the team facilitator Mr Brosnan and Mr

137Korea um there was uh I guess not really enough resources to provide for us to be able to also pay for them to use study.com when is the next upcoming exam the next upcoming well they have that standardized I know that it's like every six weeks so if you don't pass you have to wait the following six weeks to be able to take it again it's ongoing so we're trying to encourage people to take the test even for them to get an idea of what kind of questions that they're going to be asked but I mean I think it's you know we're trying to get those people after if this is approved obviously to get them in the classroom or get them in a session so they'll know exactly what to expect when they take

138that test and the district is paying for the test at least the first time to take it right that was not to my understanding what Mrs Alto Dixon no they're not take they're not paying for the initial test the candidate who wants to do the cross endorsement is responsible for paying for the test they're paying for the two they're being bumped up two grades and you're being paid for the PD sessions that they attend but they still have to pass the test in order to get the cross endorsement uh perhaps missile prediction can chime in if that's incorrect thank you we are going to pay the cost for the first test attempt I stand corrected I apologize oh don't apologize it's okay Miss Perry um just one quick question in regards to test setting I

139know was like test like the cat um there are different test settings where people are allowed to test at home individually there's rules that are around that is that the same for practice now as well I'm sorry superintendent can you repeat that yes I was just asking about the actual test setting um I know with like a cat people are allowed to take the tests at home individually there's specific rules that are given to them but they're allowed to take at home is that the same thing for the practice exams now as well or do are they still at select sites I am not sure I am actually texting Michael Brosnan as we speak uh I think that the setup for the test is based on the taste The Taste I'm sorry the test taker

140it's up to the candidate if they want to take the test from home or not okay thank you any further questions would someone like to make the motion motion to approve the memorandum of agreement for a science endorsement to increase the certified teaching pool second by Mr sokolovic any further questions Karen none all in favor any opposed any abstentions hair and none motion carries we are down to our last say it again sorry I just want to say thank you much appreciated oh no problem thank you we are at our last agenda item discussion and approval of performance evaluation criteria for interim superintendent Alicia and Perrin this qualifies for executive session with someone like Tamika motion motion for executive session second by Mr bennahan discussion here and then all in favor aye any opposed no

141no Mr sokolovic opposes I mean Upstate oppose any abstentions Karen none the eyes have it I'll let the record reflect that all those that are present now will go into executive session both members online and in present I mean we'll be back shortly foreign okay all right so all of the board members are present that were in this in the executive session they're now here with us now um just to give an update uh the board has agreed to the criteria for which we will evaluate um superintendent Miss Perrin um and we will have updates at Future meetings without further Ado I would entertain a motion to adjourn all right second all right any discussion all right all in favor any abstentions everyone have a good night drive home safe be safe everyone be careful

142guys it's snowing