Regular Board Meeting January 9, 2023

001all right good evening everyone uh this is a console order for the Bridgeport Board of Education uh regular board meeting on Monday January 9 2023 at 6 30 pm and we are at agriculture uh Science and Technology Educational Center at this moment we're going to do a um we're going to have everyone stand as we do the pledge allegiance hi pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all a roll call Bobby Brown here Christine Baptiste Perez Sybil Allen here Albert bennahan president Akisha Kazmir Erica Castillo Michael macaron Joseph sakalovic president and Joseph Lombard present thank you Mr secretary at this moment we do I do not see any student Representatives at the

002table but we're I'm Sorry Miss Allen uh at this moment we do not see any student Representatives at the table but we'll acknowledge those that are online so if you are online please feel free to say your name in the school that you represent good evening I'll begin I'm Erica yeah good evening Board of Education members and thank you for the time to share an update my name is Erica pinto and I'm here to represent aquaculture as a Central High School student we are wrapping up our first semester at Aqua with some students starting their final examinations this week students will be starting new classes on Monday January 23rd Aqua will also be hosting the Bridgeport Public Schools science and engineering Exposition parents and community members as well as the Board of Education are invited

003to see the scientific thinking on display on Wednesday February 1st from 5 to 7 30 in the conference room at aqua judging will take place the on the following day and then winners will be sent on to the state science fair I will be representing Aqua myself and it would be a great it would be great to see some of you there on the behalf of Aqua we are very appreciative of the ongoing support of the Board of Education thank you so much for sharing is there another student representative that would like to present thank you good evening my name is Lindsay Muhammad and I'm representing the Aerospace and hydro Space Engineering and physical sciences high school so before going out for the holiday break our National Honor Society raised money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation

004by hosting a coin Drive in addition to this the National Honor Society also worked to create blankets for the southern Connecticut Binky Patrol as they donate these blankets to children in hospitals throughout the region we've also began our credit recovery program which is being offered at our campus and counselors have been meeting with students and contracts have been sent out on Thursday our steam night will be happening science fair and capsule and projects will be presented the school will be open to the public and for recruiting that same night our snowball Gala was also held before the break-in was a huge success with over 300 students attending from across the campus in addition to this I am sure you all know that there is currently a petition going on for the final schedule change there

005have been changes made to the final schedule however I was also asked to give a speech on behalf of the student representative that we'll be doing that has created this petition I don't know if you all are okay with it me giving it now or would you like me to wait when public speakers will be speaking if you would like if you could save it for that part of the agenda all right thank you that is all thank you is there any other students online yes hi I'm the representative for Bridgeport military academy uh BMA has says has successful had a successful knee acts visit last month and Cadets are preparing for a final exam on the 19th and 20th they're excited to begin their new courses for the new for semester two and the

006first ptso meeting of the new year is scheduled for Wednesday thank you and we'll check for one more time is there any other student Representatives that would like to share is Jaleel still online yes I am sorry um good night and I am Jalil Stewart from Hardin High School student representative at Harding High School students are preparing for their final semesters um for semester one of the school in school students are also presenting their science fair projects this week at the end of January there will be a class versus class competition sponsored by the students Council that's it thank you thank you very much and then one last call is there any other students online that will like to present all right here and none thank you students for providing us your reports um at

007this moment we're going to open up the floor for a public comment the first person we have on our list is Miss Dasha spell you just turned it off yeah you you turned it off yeah there you go can you hear me now it doesn't sound hi my name is Dasha spell I am a Bridgeport Board of Ed Alum and I'm also a current parent in the district I'm actually here tonight in regards to basic high school BMA I'm glad to see it on the agenda as I've been asking for months about updates previously I attended a meeting where we got some news about this construction which really bothered me because it impacts the Westin and just in general are kids I'm asking a board of ed because we were informed that um as parents

008Miss Perrin superintendent parents his predecessor didn't have any plans or real goals when it came to disfiguration tonight can we have a real discussion in regards to what this is going to look like how we're going to formulate this and the biggest thing is is that how we're going to make this so that it's fair across the board for not only basic high school but for Bridgeport Military Academy as well because that is the school it's in itself we do have schools in this District that actually have one side as one school other side is another school in addition I just want to throw this out here because originally when I sat in the meetings about this construction and this particular program it originally was supposed to be at Fairchild wheeler and so if we're

009talking about moving things around from my understanding this District a lot of schools including our high schools are under enrolled so with that in mind once again I'm just putting it out there if we're looking at doing anything I don't want to see BMA not be BMA at the end of the day so I'm asking y'all to please take in consideration and also think of ways that we can keep that particular School with the honor the history that they have developed because our kids enjoy it give our kids something that they're utilizing let them keep what they have we're losing too much as it is thank you and have a good night thank you Miss Bell at this moment I'm going to call Mr bennahan foreign and I'm here standing here as a parent now

010as a board member I'm here because I know a lot of parents cannot speak they're going to come and I'm here to support them I don't have problem with that being in VMA Ambassador High School have it you know worked together but not be together this happened for so many years I was a BTS performance for four years in basic high school and when I was first year I was a board member we find out that the former superintendent Day Council price board members especially me that being in um I say high school is going to be together he never put in the table he never bring it to the board members he never bring it to only two people know about the situation it was the former um chairperson John Wayne and the former

011superintendent of the school I hope this situation can be fit that can be you know done um they do a great job thank you Larry and Mr Taylor for you know all of you to do amazing stuff for basic high school it's not your fault guys because y'all know you're doing your job and I know what you guys are doing and thank you to being my committee bring this information this is the way we open so the parents community and students they know what's going on there there are two amazing School everybody know I love all my my schools my priority this is my baby and being me I love it from my bottom of my heart because in that being me um high school and we have the principal here that has a wall

012painted for my niece passed aways April is going to be five years that she painted something about big angel warrior about BMA how people how the students work together so it's not fair that they change in everything and not let them know the parents students Community what's going on we need to be more transparency we need to let them know everyone what's going on I hate to be high everybody know who's Mr bennahan that I don't hide for nothing I'm elected and we are elected because the community so let's give the answer let's answer the questions for all the um all the parents because I know together in regard to our communication it's a great successful so I hope from now on we can work together as a team and better education for us kids

013thank you thank you Mr bennahan and then the student that's online that wanted to share this is uh you could speak at this moment hi so I'll just reintroduce myself again quickly my name is Lindsay Muhammad and I'm representing Fairchild wheeler the Aerospace and hydro Space School so the student that is leading the petition that is currently happening among Bridgeport Public Schools is Thomas Donnelly and unfortunately he will not be able to attend tonight due to his work schedule but he asked the I relay speech that he has written it's short quick straight to the point just to get it out there on your radars so I'll begin hello ladies and gentlemen of the Bridgeport Board of Education I Thomas Donnelly the vice president of Fairchild Wheeler's Aerospace National Honor Society regret that I cannot

014be here in person to deliver this speech however I would hope that in no way infringes on the importance of the speech and its contents first before I begin let me State plainly that we the students are asking for one thing in particular that is to have one session days for the entirety of the four days final periods at the end of each semester and before it is pushed to the side again waved off in an email telling us to speak to our advisors or an insufficient attempt to meet our needs let me say that it is not that complicated at its foundation it is something we have done in the past something that mirrors the same scheduling that college is which we build our schedules off of do how can we be expected to

015have a system modeled after another when we do not take into consideration the importance of the initial system but all of that assigned this is something that is for the best of the teachers parents and most importantly the students in Bridgeport Public Schools it is something that we care for and it is something that affects each and every single one of us and I say this with confidence because I have evidence on my side evidence in the approximately 500 signatures acquired over the course of just two days from one school this is a petition written by the students distributed by the students and collected by the students and the only reason this flood scheduling has not gotten even more official backlash from the students themselves is because we have just not we have just gotten

016started the students know what they need and it's not two days it is all for I hope that I would not have to explain the unfairness of only having two one session days not only for the students who still need to take equally important finals on two of the four days but for teachers who still give finals on two of those four days meeting us halfway cannot work and feels insulting to the effort that we students have put into getting your attention I would hope that this is only due to miscommunication and obliviousness and not with the intent to not do what is best for the students of Bridgeport Public Schools that is the end of his speech that he has given me and I would just like to say that I have also emailed

017all of you digital copies of the signatures that we have received from students and thank you thank you so much for sharing at this moment we will uh introduce uh meet and minutes approval of me in minutes but let before I do that let the record reflect our vice chair Miss Christine Baptist Perez has entered um at this moment we'll start the approval of me in minutes um I would like to entertain a motion to approve November 28 2022 regular board meeting minutes second by Mr sakolovic all in favor any opposed any abstentions Karen none the inmates have been approved the next one would be December 13 2022 special board meeting is there anyone that would like to do that some move by Mr bennehan second by Miss Allen all in favor any abstentions Karen

018none the Eminence have been approved at this moment we'll move to the Chairman's chair person's report sorry share a person's report at this moment I would like to share with the board I mean with the community um the Board of Education uh board members will be preparing to actually go into conversation about reviewing the RFP process that meeting will take place on January 24th 2023 and as we begin to begin this process anything that we're able to accomplish and bring back to the public we will do that I just want to let the community know that we are in the process of reviewing these items and moving forward from there that is my report uh the next the next thing on our agenda is um committee reports at hot district-wide branding initiative committee meeting took

019place recently there are there are no referrals for this committee actually we have an item on tonight's agenda that we will be addressing so if there's any referrals from the board members for this committee all right here and then the next committee is education diversity equity and inclusion the committee did not meet in the interim the next meeting will be January 30th 2022 at 6 30 pm is there any referrals for this committee all right the next one is finance Mr sokolovic Finance also did not meet the intern the next meeting will be January 11 2022 at 6 30 p.m there will be a full agenda I noticed a couple of items backed up and they'll be heard in February because this is going to be an extensive agendas system has it in meetings thank

020you the next one is governance I have a referral Financial I'm sorry referral Mr behane thank you I know Eugene is going to be full but I just wanna be sure if you can if you're not maybe the next one to be sure you know I want to some report I know we talked about that last year about lighthouse thank you the next one is governance governance hasn't made in I don't know since 2021 I think a long time uh there's gonna be a full agenda as well I got a couple of Mr banan's items in mind especially with uh um by Lewis yes a couple of things a couple of Pisces left over from the list thank you chairperson we'll be meeting on January 18 2022 at 6 pm about 18 user yes thank

021you referrals for that committee the next one will be health safety and Facilities committee health safety and Facilities committee has not met in the interim but I plan on having an agenda and a meeting at the end of this month any referrals yes I know we talk about this and I just want to report it for a record um and so I shared that I need to talk about security I will send you all the information again and to see you know what we can have update and then you letting us know the date thank you yeah I would like to take a look at our covid-19 Pro recalls which we're currently experiencing a surge in Connecticut and I think we need to look at uh reopening plan because we did have uh consented season

022effect for maybe going back to mass I want to see if we met that threshold or not thank you the next one is personnel and contracts committee personnel and contrast committee is scheduled to meet at the ending the last Tuesday of this month which I believe is the 31st uh and um are there any referrals for contracts and personnel yes I have one um like uh I've referred this before an updated organizational chart responsibilities got it our next committee is students and families Mr Bennett so the family we're going to meet January 19 2023 she started in Central High School library thank you and then our last committee is teach oh referrals yes I got it I got a referral I would like to refer the students issue that just came up uh the half

023days I'd like to hear them out more fully it's a family's commission committee I will thank you and then our last committee is teaching and learning teaching and learning has not met an interim uh I will have a meeting and an agenda at the end of this month thank you and I apologize what any referrals for teaching and learning no okay I apologize I didn't mention uh these uh this particular organizational for committee chairs are on our website but also too I just want to read off the chairs of those committees for finance as you already heard but I'll read it for the record Finance is Mr sakolovic he's the chair uh governance is Mr sokolovic as well ad hoc District y Brandon initiative is myself health safety and Facilities is Miss Christine Baptiste Perez

024or personnel and contracts is myself for students and families is Mr bennahan for teaching and learning as Miss Christine Matthews Perez and then the last one is education diversity equity and inclusion is Mr sakola all of these committees were drafted on availability of those who are able to serve with the committee's assignments also to all of our committees are online you can feel free to go online and see what committee you would like to participate in or to and most of them do not have public comment but you are more than welcome to walk in and sit and listen to what the Committees are addressing everything will also be located on this uh the Board of Ed website and you're more than welcome to contact any of the board members about their committees or any

025items that you would like them to address for their committees so I just want to make sure I read that into the record yes sir um now you say about uh the name of the who's the chair with the committee I spoke with Miss otista the other day and we're going to be working together you know as a team to work on all the safety healthy security stuff like that so we're going to be way on top you know I know she's here to share it and like she told me we can explain you know the agenda and we can work you know trying to be sure our students and parents and and staff they can know we want the best for our buildings you know so we we agreed to working you know as

026a team to see how we can work in an agenda and have everything done though we're supposed to be us we know we're strong so we we know we're going to have things done that we're supposed to do it at this moment we're going to turn it over to our um interim superintendent Miss Perrin for her report good evening everyone in the division of nursing um Vision screenings have begun and will continue through February the Lions Club is assisting to School nurses at specific sites um to test students in grades K one three four and five Pre-K students who have not received their flu vaccines by December the 31st are being excluded from school according to the state mandate we're currently working on getting all grades six students um having their physical by April 1st

027so they will not be excluded from school which is also a state mandate the its department is currently in the process of remediating the defective docking stations at all schools in The District in a progressive fashion currently we are addressing the largest schools first so that we can complete as many as possible in a timely fashion um as of December 5th 2022 all schools have assigned speech and language Pathologists or speech and language pathologist assistant to provide comprehensive services to students with schools based speech needs this have been a major shortage area that we were lacking in as a district but we have come to par in making sure that all of our schools are being serviced at this time we have assessments currently happening um in January at the elementary level which includes last

028links Dibbles for K to eight um acadians for our kn1 and hmh which is our math assessment for students in grade two to eight we have our math quarterly assessments for grades seven and eight um as well as doubles progress monitoring um ngss iabs will be taking a place for students in grades five eight and eleven as well students in grades 9 to 12 participating in the middle of the Year Reading Plus Benchmark with assessments beginning on the 23rd of January and being completed by the 27th s.a.t school day for grade 11 we'll participate on March 22nd and this will be given digitally hmh math focus our math math talks to encourage um discourse among students using academic vocabulary and language associated with our curriculum we also have an update from our kanatha land which

029is our math competition that we are engaging in here in District so right now we um it's open to all schools but right now for those students who are placed in categories one to five one being the highest which is high horizons with the average skill level up of 44 Multicultural comes in second with average skill level up of 42 Columbus and third with an average skill level up of 40. tall and fourth with the average skill level up of 36 and then Edison and beersley are tied for fifth place with the average skill level up of 30. high school for our grades 9 to 12. um they are ranked as well first place right now is Fairchild wheeler I'm Aerospace with the average skill level up of 12 Fairchild wheeler I.T is next with

030the average skill level up of five central comes in third with the average skill level up of four Harding fourth with the average skill level up of three empathic High School by what the average skill level up of two this is a national context so we are placing a ranking um in the Nationwide category right now uh we have Multicultural Magnet I'm coming in up at two with the 41 skills level definition wide High Horizons coming in at three with 39 skills leveled up Across the Nation Columbus School fourth with the average skill level up of 36 and Hall School um comes in fifth Nationwide with 35 skills leveled up foreign we're talking about the average learning minutes call school from Bridgeport comes in with an average of 647 minutes um as well as Edison

031comes in fourth with 457 minutes in Columbus school 380. so we are ranking Nationwide as well it's a nice job currently we have 23 Pre-K slots available at various schools I'm the Early Childhood department has sent letters to pre-k families from various waiting lists yard signs are being Place targeting the areas with the most opening we wanted to also recognize um that there was a student I was notified not a student school today was notified that they have grown in percentages with UConn ECE classes so basic is ranking amongst um number nine in the high schools in the state with 168 increase in the total number of students enrolled in UConn courses through the Yukon ECE so we were notified of that today so congratulations tobacic on that accomplishment foreign ER biotech scholar Moes who

032is a Sim still a semi-finalist for the Pepsi scholarship uh we just received that he received notice of a full ride which includes tuition board and meal plan to UConn as one of the recipients of their day of Pride scholarship so congratulations to you Fairchild wheeler Margaret Carlson and Thomas Donnelly and Discovery magnet Trey kierens and Mary sather on winning the Native American Heritage debate so congratulations to them as well as of today our Lottery is open for all Elementary magnet schools so make sure that we are participating in that as of January 10th student ambassadors from all high schools which is approximately 80 students will participate in a full day in-person experience with a Dr Gay to engage in leadership training to foster a more inclusive school system students will engage in interactive exercises

033to deepen understanding of Self in connection with others and brainstorm solutions to inclusion challenges in their respective schools on January 12th we have our quarterly recognition ceremony at 6 pm at Harding High School to recognize our Scholars as well as staff quarter three and semester two begins January 23rd 2023 and on January 25th 2023 we'll be having our community Forum right here at aquaculture um discussing the basic BMA collaboration so please join us thank you thank you Miss Perrin for your report we're going to open it up for board members to ask any questions at this moment are there any questions from his parents oh no questions for Miss Perrin uh thank you for the report at this moment we're gonna go into our new business there's no old business to transact the first item

034on our agenda is discussion and presentation update on the new basic slash PMA high school project there is leadership that will be presenting on this item s okay is is there a PowerPoint there is okay yes let me introduce first Joe Costa he's a principal Perkins Eastman Associates and Anthony Stark senior associate at Perkins Eastman and they'll present to you thank you good evening members of the board appreciate it good to speak to you tonight um as as Mr Schilling mentioned my name is Joseph Costa I am the principal uh in charge of the basic high school I work for Perkins Eastman out of our Stanford office and Anthony Stark is our project manager and also a senior associate with the firm um we were asked last week to provide a update a brief update

035to the board on the progress of the basic high school we've been very very busy over the last few months uh completing the documents and and securing approvals both from local officials as well as from State officials on the project and we're also getting ready to actually uh do the exciting part of the building that is to actually realize the construction and start the work there as some of you may know um we actually completed the demolition work last year removing uh the old University of Bridgeport buildings and getting the building uh ready for the new concrete and the new work that's going to be happening very shortly so that that was actually very very excited um tonight what we're going to do is really present information that you've seen already so there's really not

036new information the drawings are going to look like they're more detailed but it's pretty much consistent with the documents and the designs that we had the last time we were here several months ago so there's it's really not new information it's a little bit more detailed um and but what we'll do is we'll walk through it fairly quickly and then we'll give you an opportunity to ask any questions about the plans or the or the site um at this point I'm just going to ask Anthony to make the presentation and then we can pause at any moment and give you a chance to ask some questions okay thank you Anthony if you want to start good evening everyone um I'm just going to walk uh next slide then I'll walk everybody through the the building

037plans and then we'll look at how the building sits on the site um so this is the main floor it's about 000 square feet um on the right side of the project is Broad Street there's the Broad Street side and then the bottom of the drawing is where University Avenue is um so down in the lower uh right corner is the main entry into the building um at that location all students uh will be dismissed and enter the building and any visitors there's a secure passage that takes you into the security office right off the vestibule and then all students enter the building directly north of that is the admin Wing which also has the nurse's office and dentist's office um to the side of that I'm sure everybody can pick out the detail of

038the gymnasium for um uh 1500 uh people and then north of that is a Auditorium with State uh platform for 500 seats and just to the right of that is the music and um singing classrooms the right side of the left side of the plan is primarily the cafeteria at the bottom um and then at the top half of the plan is all the trade classrooms the auto shop the wood shop Advanced manufacturing lab and then all the way to the to the left side of the plan is mechanical space the janitors there's also the loading dock at the very back in the top left um there's a loading dock there where any of the deliveries for the cafeteria another cafeteria other low uh other deliveries will be made and there's intercom to contact the

039security office and stuff at that location next slide at the second floor um there's a few classrooms again on the the Broad Street side uh the the rest of the building is more shaped like an L so this is the one wing of classrooms um to the bottom right corner is the media center uh and then along that South Side is the overhang to the lobby in the cafeteria and then the north of that left wing is the engineering classroom architectural drafting classroom and art classrooms next slide please uh and then the third and fourth floor are fairly similar again on the right side there's several classrooms some of the special education classrooms are on this floor to the South again is part of the media center and additional classrooms on the left side of

040this plan there is the Bridgeport Military Academy office and eight classrooms and then also the first floor of the science classrooms in the middle next slide please and the fourth floor is fairly similar classrooms on both wings uh grade leader offices um at different points and additional science classrooms the chemistry classrooms on this level with the with a few mode uh next slide oh well [Laughter] um sorry about that uh so on the right side of the plan is um Broad Street and cutting through the middle there is University Avenue that'll be closed down that's a new Promenade the bulk of the high school sets up on the North side and then to the South is the parking lot in the athletic field um buses will come come in on Lafayette Street and pull in

041front of the school along Broad Street and drop off and then turn back onto Broad Street parents would be encouraged to come down Broad Street and turn into the parking lot and drop students off at the north end of the parking lot and this is uh the current design rendered um graphically so you can see the Bus Loop and off of Broad Street there on the right and then near The Promenade that will be on University Avenue going off to the left large canopy for students to gather under um waiting for school to open uh and great views of the park and the athletic field from the cafeteria in the media center and um looking out into the space Seaside Park um and we'll open it up to questions thank you I I believe in

042past meetings it may have been addressed regarding the potential flood and Hazard with it I think on the photo on the screen it shows to the right hand corner the upper left where the school buses are that that's the 18-foot barrier to prevent flooding uh so the the there's the resiliency project for Bridgeport that will be raising um a berm uh all along University well on the site at University Avenue that'll be raised up to like uh 16 feet um which is the 500 year flood plain the school building itself is at 18. which is two feet above the 500 year flood plain um has anyone from this city uh taken into account that if the high school is secured from flooding would that water run off into local properties so I own a house

043right next to school because there are Property Owners there if the school's not flooding the water has to run somewhere so it has an analysis or anything like that been presented to the community to ensure their properties or their flood insurances yeah we've gone through several rounds of reviews with deep and the city Engineers um reviewing all of our drainage systems and calculations um everything's to be tied into the various catch basins that we tied into the City sewers we also have retention um infiltration systems on the North side and the South Side the resiliency project was going to take most of that water drainage and create a retainage bond you say it wasn't a large retainage pond on inside Park to um it will collect any of the runoff and it will also slowly

044let it infiltrate back into the groundwater will that impact the Quark or shrink the size of the beach in any way no yeah it'll improve it'll improve the water quality on the area by allowing it to filter back naturally instead of um overflowing the system dumping all that water back into the seat because the city had any public comment or knowledge so local property owners in that area is aware of that I can address that uh yes we we went through a uh an extensive Planning and Zoning process and where all of the neighbors were notified of public hearings and the details of the system were described at those particular meetings um just to just to finish that question about the quality of the water the quality will actually be improved because we actually have

045sedimentation control on the property where the solids are actually removed before the water is is discharged back into the ground so there are some there are some substantial uh improvements to the overall water quality to the to the project I have more questions no more questions anyone else any other questions Mr sakolovic I got a couple questions about uh the integration of BMA into the building you mentioned the BMA office with eight classrooms next to it are those a classrooms for BMA or BMA going to have their space and yeah they're currently assigned to the BMA and I mean it's really up to the school how they administer the schedule in the classrooms but we've find the plan right now they're set aside eight classrooms in the offices on the third floor how many classrooms

046does BMA currently have is that sufficient for their needs 25. um and also being that sounds like um also BMA got a lot of push structure an ambulance uh I'm trying to go from memory uh yeah like a mock airplane yeah we have those spaces also on the ground flooring kind of those aeronautical space in a um for them to do those are going to be able to move all this whole in in place and put everything back in place in the new building yes there's been spaces allocated for all those areas and I said uh it's 25 classrooms in the current building and eight in the new building um is it possible to get them all that they need to sufficiently operate because if they got eight classrooms and they need 25 but these

047students be dispersed throughout the building for instance what we have say 20 students on the third floor in military uniform with 300 kids without military uniforms going about and because the structure of BMA is very particular to the uniform and the discipline not that the children of basic are not disciplined but it's a different kind of discipline from BMA to makes BMA what it is so I'm concerned that they may not have sufficient space for their program and if they don't have enough space for the program is it too late for a change order to look at these buildings and I'm going to be prohibitively expensive to put in this change if necessary so Mr kolovic just to speak to that as far as changing the design or the way it was presented to the

048state at this point it is definitely too late our funding is dependent on the enrollment of the school so to get it to the 1250 kids it was because we were incorporating the two schools aside from that they were only willing to fund I don't know if you recall it was a thousand and six kids um so now they're looking at 129 million dollars for 1 250 kids so I don't see how we could go back to the state and say scratch it we're not going to do that that's yeah let me clarify um I talk about changing the state because we get 1250 students if BMA is not holy and for Holy in place I'm just talking about out reallocating the classrooms and not having them dispersed and having of all in one central

049location I I don't think I followed your question it is this currently eight questions for BMA correct the current BMA has 25 clusters that's sure my path 17 sure so I think the intention going in is that we have some classrooms that are called off specifically for BMA because they need specialty classrooms in their program and I believe the idea of the concept previously was to utilize other classrooms so they can share the science classrooms they can share other General classrooms so they would still have the spaces for the same learning experience but then they have specific spaces for things like their ambulance and simulation rooms things like that and I'm not sure this is a question for you or not um the students are in the shared classrooms this BMA students will be moving

050together complexion with the classroom or will they be intermingling with yeah that would definitely be Beyond me I think that's more of a programming internal with the administration I think that's all I got for that Miss Allen can speak loud enough to hear for you to hear me I want to know that Main Street whenever there's a flood or some heavy rainfall we get an A large backup right there on South Main Street and you will be able to handle this and not have that to create the water flow that currently comes into that area do you want to speak to that all the time whenever we have a what's the name you've taken care of the engineering part of that yeah what we what we've done man is we've taken care of the water

051on the basic property itself the project is not solving the neighborhood issues outside the property line I want to make that totally clear and so as a requirement of the state we're we're required to not make the situation worse than it is in other words we're required to hold the water that falls on the property for a certain period of time so that the flood issues in the neighborhood are not made worse by the building construction so I want to make that totally clear as you know there is a very extensive flood resiliency plan that the state is is in the process of completing the documents there's like not it I'm not aware aware of that yeah there's a there's a very very large project called the resiliency plan that is going to be addressing

052some of the concerns that you have by actually building berms and and flood protection for the neighborhoods in this part of the city that's a very expensive and very extensive plan and so that's going to help some of the things that you mentioned but the project itself is not designed to solve the flooding issues in the South End of the of the city but it would solve the problems of the school or the building that's going to break down yes so we've designed our building such that if if there is a major major flood event this building will not be adversely affected by that flood event so all of the the systems all of the um critical systems are raised above that you mean you mean the underground systems no no I'm talking about every

053you know the the building itself right so you know uh the finishes the mechanical systems the boilers all that kind of stuff is actually raised above that flood zone okay I I don't understand how they're going to raise the flood zone when it floods we're raising the building itself not the flood zone the building yeah the building is actually up above that flood waters okay yep we'll see thank you thank you let the record reflect Miss uh Castillo has joined us are you going to get a chance to say it before um I'm going to bring it to miss uh ladies uh the Brazil the resiliency project is a state project can we get the most updated report from it um just to see how it would coincide with the design and plan I understand

054the school won't flood but the adjacent Property Owners whether it's actually going to we haven't actually seen an update from the resiliency project yeah unfortunately we can only speak to the basic high school project resiliency Bridgeport has their own meetings I can give you a contact for them if you'd like so we're just taking resilience word on everything's going to be good for the high school in the Navy we can't speak on the behalf of the resiliency project it's not ours we can only do what we need to do for our school we have a school that's serving the community that could cause devastating I hear you but I'm not okay with I I can't give you their plan as far as a whole for resiliency you would need to talk to the resiliency team

055I just wonder why there's so much resistance just bringing up we want to see the plan uh you can provide us with the contact our plan is one thing we can definitely give you but I can't speak on the behalf of another group uh if you can provide us with the contact so that way absolutely actually review it that would be extremely helpful I do have another question regarding the health and safety impact of the new basic high school so we did have a presentation last year regarding new energy I believe with the geothermal units has there been any analysis as to whether the geothermal units with the proximity to Sikorsky and the former power plants would that increase any kind of health hazards carcinogens or risk of cancers to the community has that been

056looked into because that would directly impact basic high school and our teachers and our students we're tight we're tying the high school into the plant over there by new power and they're going to provide the heat for the school yes but there's also I mean with uh the layout and the proximity to wpca is not too far away Sikorsky the power of plant has there been any kind of research analysis to ensure that it's actually going to be a safe site in the next 50 years for our teachers you're talking to geothermal are you doing well way down on the ground and you do heat exchange no I understand the new energy concept I'm asking whether there's been a health and safety analysis to ensure that there's any risk potential health risks like cancers like

057if you live right in front of gas station you're exposed to carcinogens all the time whether the fact that we have this potential energy source our traditional energy source and the layout of the South Side Bridgeport will that increase any potential health and safety risks has an analysis been performed is my question and if not then that's something I would highly suggest before moving forward yeah thank you for clarifying that question I can answer it um to the best of our knowledge there isn't any source of of contaminants or um sources of of wind-borne um carcinogenics I think that's what you're talking about the site is actually a an amazingly beautiful site because it's right next to a very very large Park and the prevailing winds actually come from that direction they don't come from

058the other side where you know some of the some of the power plants and things like that are so to the best of our knowledge and belief when we did the analysis we did not discover any sources of contaminants that would adversely affect the site in fact the site is clean and ready for the new school as part of the demolition so prior to getting here it was a lot less clean than it is now so but is there a study where I could actually look at it in the report well we don't we don't know of any of sources of that particular product um I don't know if there's actually a study done we can take a look at our files and send you whatever we have on that if that's all right but

059I think actually having a study to ensure or the new energy source we're going to continue to have generators running in our facilities and a proximity I would assume for from a safety standpoint just to make sure I'm not a science expert but we're not a gay a Melting Pot of a disaster in the future and that's the kind of assurance I would like to look into because that would directly impact basic high school yeah I I don't believe there are any I'm certainly um convinced that the former location was probably more exposed than this current location just by the nature of where it is that's that's our opinion but what we can do is we can look and file and give you some advice and what we've found okay thank you then I just

060have another uh question is this being funded by Anyway by the emergency funds from the state of Connecticut what's the source of the funding for construction okay any other questions Mr wait I just want to make sure she's all set up to any other board member that may have it's just a bit of him thanks everybody I'm sure I have a few questions and like always the basket always something new about it be part of the building committee and you guys know that I was asked questions and I really taught them I want basic to be done I hate when something new always coming when something used to come coming I after that it's a lot of questions a lot of things but I have a few questions for you guys and how you can

061answer but you said flood and I'm going with Miss um civil set how big is going to be the school how many feet up so the the street elevation currently at Broad Street is about six and a half seven feet and the school is going to be at 18 feet the ground floor exactly and you think from 18 you know 18 feet the school is going to be safe it's something on a flood coming because when God say I'm gonna stay in your rain anyone got my decision you know it's not in the human that can do that's my question because we don't we never know the weather's changed everything our best our best analysis is that the 500 year floodplain is at the elevation of 16. we did a whole study in calculations and

062with tidal waves and everything else um and then by code we have to raise it two feet above the 500 year floodplain okay all right thank you um if they decide and I hope not that me it may be an Ambassador High School what floor is Big gonna be in VMA So currently located on the third floor of the eight classrooms in the office all right BMA is going to be down in basic high school um they have all have Academy classes like a Math Science History Spanish biology you know the OA classroom specifically for BMA have basic student are they going to use the student the student ambassy are we going to use that classroom or it's going to be separate also the gym has to be going to be used for formation in

063the gym you know in the morning in the first period onto the a period so what's going on with that it's that's uh administrative operational question I don't have any delegate sorry it's a operational question how many uh input on how they run the school in the schedules because I know BMA in the morning first thing in the morning they have they know the presentation on the kids in the morning at the gym until the pay Perry something like that so what's awesome how's the gym is going to be working and not just wondering if the class is from the BMA that device is going to be using it I know it's going to be in like you're saying on third floor but what's going to happen there so because it's going to be back

064and forth when I say it's like a a big you know mess the way I see it because I don't want the staff and the principal go back and forth no you have to be you know you lose you have to wait therefore no you go to this chick that had to be something prepared you know I'm I know I'm not saying it's your fault guys and you're doing the plan and everything but off of the record I hold something big done because it's always something new for basic high school also I don't know if I'm sure or not they need to be updated from the city and the state regarding the residences program uh they are update you know because I just want to know because we always call you guys but we never

065call somebody from the from the city on one of the city councils or somebody come here to give it update too now can be all of you all the time so okay so just to speak and the resiliency project they do have two representatives from the city yeah one of them is Donna quity who also sits on the school building committee the city engineer and the other one is Lynn Hague from allpad so those will be your contacts directly with the city that might be able to give you guys like a thorough update of what's going on because they're supposed to be part of not really the team but overseeing as well as like I said I would share the contact person for the resiliency project so they can give you an accurate update of

066what's going on what is the big issue that BMA cannot stay exactly where they are why can't I be basically the way it's supposed to be like at the beginning we talk and I said you guys made that decision it was not you guys yeah I know you're doing your job the way it's supposed to be but as a former beat there so president high school we always decide that basic is going to be basic now they come from nowhere you know that's my first year as a board member they can boom BMA is going to be from like you know like I said in my comments probably comment do not make sense I feel that some staff and teachers and parents they're not happy for this they're not happy they're not they're not happy

067I'm not happy either I want to be a main State the way it is Ambassador but you stay the words you know for the new ambassy and let's support BMA more because being Main High School is amazing it's amazing school they have a few things they have a lot of things that kids they can get out from here you know my niece get out from VMA he graduated when she went to Texas and she graduated very loud she said but yeah it made me a bridge for military school and she was one of the first um Latina Spanish she said what it was so owner so you know so very proud and I know a lot of kids here we have one here you know he said he's not here with us he was very

068proud too we got the principal BMA is something amazing they got so many results for our kids and then simple investing High School I feel that Bassey mbma is going to become it's going to be a mess you know I support the two school but I I just for the record it's much better to have support each one and what it is because sometimes the seating sometimes we have money for so many things they are not important for me and I be in the jersey for almost 20 years so let's have to be sure our school they support the way that it is and leave BMA and leave and like Health classical story you know and not know I know the process and it's a protocol I don't know like this you're gonna do things

069you're gonna be done but let's let's think about our kids sometimes we think about us the adult now we're not thinking the future about kids but for now I actually want to say that thank you no more thank you I'm just going to go around the table for those who haven't spoken and give you guys an opportunity to share your thoughts uh Miss Castillo I think it looks incredible you know I I have a close relative that worked at the old basic building for 12 years and I spent a great deal of my childhood in that old building and I have to say and it's definitely time for a new building so I support the project I think it looks awesome thank you Miss Cashmere thank you um I'm still new here so I'm learning

070but um I don't mean to sound ignorant but what would be the first step to keep the schools separate like who would be the person to you know approve and say okay let's leave BMA where it is go ahead and build your basic like so I would think how would that process and to be honest with you I would be new to a process like that too because I don't think we've ever come across a situation where we go maybe that's not the way we want to go um I think that would be a conversation with the superintendent um City of Bridgeport and the state of Connecticut since they're funding most of this and I don't even know where to start that but you know if that is the case then we do what we

071got to do at our end as well thank you thank you Mr Lombard no I have no comments thank you and then I'll just add my comment before I bring it back to everyone else um one of the concerns that uh quite a few parents have brought up and students and families and a few other meetings as well is the the fact that um there isn't a big separation from BMA Ambassador within the building and I think you know some of the parents that are here and some of the leaders are here want to want to keep that um keep that system that they've already had in motion and I know that you know to Mrs cullivan's point you know we're probably too late in the process to even find um Monies to move things

072around but it would be interesting you know for the parents and the students so that they could be able to this side is basic this side is BMA so that even in the midst of the school there's two schools operating in one building but you know that there's a difference between the two schools operating in that one building I understand I think that is kind of just a concern of the parents as and more so the students because there's a you know like mrokolovic mentioned there's a structure that one school has and there's a structure that another school has and they want to keep the Integrity of that if that makes sense yeah so that that will be my only um my only concern and just listening to some of the parents and students that's

073their concern as well um getting lost kind of in the in the basic yeah but I just want to say a further record I'm gonna go back to Mrs sakolovic and then I'll go back to you Mr Bennett thank you yes the refer from students we've heard from teachers we've heard from different people in the community one person we haven't heard from through you miss Perrin is uh Miss Source yeah I want I would like to hear her views on how things are going and what she needs to make BMA successful going forward if you could Grant her like this well miss source is here tonight I asked her to come here so she could hear what was going on we met this morning actually with Michelle um George Garcia as well as Dr ayola

074just to have some conversations about and address her concerns as the leader of the building because she said she was excluded from that conversation as well as Dr Baldwin um and really talk about what it is that she needed um she brought forth um concerns in regards to the fact that there's lots of questions that she has about how the integration will be um and she shared her concerns with us at the table as well as with Dr raiola about what that looks like um so she did provide a list of classrooms that are needed to be able to to house BMA but one of the things that Miss swords and Dr rayola were definitely talking about is possibly creating some integration of it for Pathways that could be shared amongst BMA and basic moving

075forward and looking at what scheduling would be because a lot of the questions that Mr bennahan shared some of the things I'm hearing from the community is you know maintaining that Integrity for their own classes there however being that the space is limited but we've shared is that the building is smaller than the current basket um that currently houses basket itself so how are we going to integrate another school in that piece so really looking at how we can do some cross collaborations um through some of the grants that we have to create new Pathways that are unique to the collaboration while still allowing them to have the things that make them individual schools you're welcome Mr bennahan thank you Mr Brown I'm going back with Mr Keisha said who will decide you know the

076situation I know it's a product on everything but for me who decides to stay in how the school's running how they're going to be is the parents or the students because without students there's no parents we're not parents there's no more education there's nothing you know and it's very important that uh we have to listen our parents it's very important I'm a parent right now we got another member that's six for your parents you know we here at first our parents and then we go leaders you know so that's one of the things that I prefer that lesson of parents our listing of students because they know they they're The Voice they're the future um um I was going to ask you about the field the fields I know we have for soccer and we

077have an amazing great team and I'm very proud that that's a high school soccer thing is going to the top um it's going to be using as a football too it's going to be only for soccer or it's going to be for both um it's going to be used for both both yeah and I'm very surprised that um Miss pairing that royola was not here they was invited you know he's the principal of us in high school so just in case for the next one please I'd like to see Dr riola and bimbo and this because he's still and he want to be the artist High School please Dr ayola did have intentions of coming but he had an issue with his child okay no that's priority to understand thank you no more questions all

078right I hear no other questions first I got a question sorry well it's more of a comment I think moving forward we need from the city and the state an entire presentation um I understand the cultural concerns for basic and BMA um I'm thinking of students and teachers health and safety with the area in general and you know just because something shiny doesn't necessarily mean that it's good and so I want to make sure that that's presented the project resilience is presented to the board and everything should be presented in full so there's no ambiguity uh to us as board members because we're going to be look to for what's the answers um uh so I think those are three critical components the health and safety with the way power is going to be generated

079and the impact to the immediate area um an entire presentation that's up to date as to how it's going to work timeline and then I don't think one Community forum is going to touch on all these issues especially if we want to get people out to know how it's going to impact over a thousand students so potentially a thousand families thank you uh we did make note of that and we will make sure that um moving forward these are some of the things that we can address uh via forum and also updates at our Board of Education meetings yes Mr binan um for the last I forgot to ask out the ptso I know it's going to be one for basic high school and I was being close to the security but what's going to

080be working I've noticed two people BMA have one in basket one so there's going to be two rooms they're going to be using one room how's it going to you know separate we only have one room we have one also the two pts of unfortunate that will be shared in the same room correct okay do you know that both have different grant money they use for all the stuff for parents stuff like that I wasn't aware okay so yes because I don't want that later give you issue and I'll be emailing Mr Irving or the chair that listen this is what's going on they use the stuff so it's something they took different you know they there's the same a gram but they different funny so I just want to let you know that for

081the record okay all right thank you no more questions as well and I think that's a space question uh how how large enough the room will be to house both um you know no off the top of your head yeah I could get you the information as far as square footage goes but um what I would like to say before moving on to our next agenda item is that there is a form that is going to be taking place Miss Perrin and the staff has put together a flyer that will be out she did mention it in her report as well but I just want to bring it to your attention again for anyone that's interested on uh furthering this conversation uh please please please attend the meeting it will be Wednesday January 25th 2003

082um six o'clock P.M to 8 o'clock P.M and it will be at this location so I encourage you to tell families I encourage you to tell students from both BMA and basic and homeowners to come and attend this meeting um and this is this is not directed to you but just the overall uh to attend this meeting to voice the concerns um there will be an opportunity for us to write them all down and be able to categorize what where we can you know put our energies towards some of the very same questions uh Miss Baptiste Perez has mentioned as well um so anyone that's listening online anyone that's here in the room please go out to your respective communities respective organizations and invite them to attend this meeting I think the room should be

083packed with parents and students voicing their concerns or voicing their praises either way I think um the floor is open and hopefully we'll be able to have some more representation that could be able to speak on those particular issues and answer what they can answer and then we come together and you know talk to those that we need to get those other answers from but thank you all for presenting tonight thank you um at this moment and I've I failed to do this uh to uh say Happy New Year to everyone um the Board of Education um we were talking and trying to create um outlying goals for the district this year so I tasked the Board of Education members to think of a goal or goals that they would like to see us as

084a board accomplished this year um so each board member is going to have an opportunity to share what they think their goal is and any type of strategic items ideas that we as a board can accomplish um and then you know further one will outline them and see what are the ones that we can do in the very beginning and and those that may be long on long-term goals so this is discussion and possible action concern in Board of Education board goals for 2023 um a lot of our Community Partners has asked what is the board's goals so this was our task our homework and we're going to keep it open and you know honest to dialogue amongst each other for this particular item um so if there's any board member that would like to

085go first I know one has asked to go last but I will open up the floor for that opportunity if not I can just call off people Miss Baptiste Perez uh I'll start off very short and sweet I think as a goal for the district we should have no school no grade level with 100 failure I've seen that in teaching and learning we have grades where not even one child in that classroom has passed a test and um I've had distinguished members of the community laugh at me for that goal but I think it is a realistic goal I think we can use the data in the district to Target and see if there's a consistent teacher that may be struggling that may need assistance if there's a rotation of substitute teachers in that particular

086grade it can have a domino effect if you have a hundred percent of your fourth graders not able to pass the state exam but then going into middle school so that's an educational goal that I have for the district is that there should be no class or grade with 100 though you're in the state exam and and I just want to add and we can comment on her goal as well um is there any uh actionable item or actionable strategic process that you think that we can help um either address or assist uh staff members as we try to maintain or go go for this goal uh when addressing this particular goal I think the data is going to be key we have schools uh that are not necessarily performing and we need to look

087into how many of our teachers may actually be certified and in the case where we do have long-term Subs where they're not obligated to take professional development maybe we can find ways to incentivize that it happens so we can ensure that they're going to be efficient for our students for the time being when they don't have their certification um I think that being able to identify that's why like if we know Mr Smith has been teaching fourth grade at I'm going to just make up a school because I don't want to insinuate any particular school but at Apple School and for the last four years Mr Smith has been failing or 100 of his students has been failing is what can we do to help him as a teacher and is there something where 100

088of the third grade before the year before we need to actually look into the data and be able to support our teachers um it and being able to come up with a goal like that because I think that is actually a reasonable and attainable goal is that we don't have 100 failure thank you is there anyone like to comment on that particular goal all right hearing none I'll turn over to miss Castile um I would like to so recently uh Miss Brown Mr sakolovic myself I'm not sure if there's anyone else of that State Rep meeting say it again oh miss Perrin was there at the state um at the meeting that we met with state legislators Mr Bennett Mr bennahan that's right he was virtual um so some of us attended a meeting recently

089with um state legislators and um you know we were able to have a conversation about more creative ways of um advocating for um um more money in the budget I think it's clear that our local government the city could be and should be doing a lot more to contribute to our funding I think this state is doing a lot um but I think that a lot more can be done at the local level so I would like to make it a personal goal and I'd like to also implore my colleagues here to make it a personal goal to really become present in the advocacy advocacy space so that when the opportunities throughout the year sort of present themselves to come forward and to advocate for more dollars that we all commit to to doing so

090so um I and I do think that there are other ways that we can um be creative about um about funding so I'll I'll make it a personal goal to connect with some of the the people that were in that room and see if there's um if they have some suggestions they had some suggestions at the table but to further the conversation about um things that we can do as board members to open up doors for increased funding especially at the local level thank you is there anyone like to comment on that goal Mr President I'll take it a step further every single board members sit here should be in every space advocating for more money it is our responsibility if you're not there speaking at public you're speaking for the city council or groups

091or in front of the state when we come up to the state testimony believe you me you will be sitting there while you tell people they cannot have their jobs anymore and you will be voting to cut those jobs you will be voting to close a school if you do not speak up now and get there we were elected to fight for our children fight for money and we need 100 attendance 100 focus of every single board member on the budget and we need to Advocate strongly and fiercely and sometimes you gotta break a few eggs and make an omelette so don't be afraid to speak up and make noise thank you anyone else would like to comment on that particular goal I I what I will say and I've spoken to miss Perrin and

092I've spoken to some of our leaders for this special education department um I'm looking and looking to refer this to finance in any of the finance team of actually tackling that goal that he mentioned about creating um a new funding source that could be three to four three to four years that can support a specific issue or goal that our students can respond to and right now we know that special education is huge in Bridgeport um so I'll be working you know my goal this year is to work with Miss Perrin Mr sokolovic and those teachers that are on board to really see see something like that uh actually you know go from paper to Pro to actual building or progress or student um so that's one of the things that we've been talking about

093and the support from the staff has been you know just hearing their ideas was really breathtaking so you know the the legislation those that were in office basically said give us something to give you money too so now we we gonna give you something to put money to so that's one of our one of our projects that I thought I took out of that meeting so I look forward to working with finance and Miss Pan and the rest of the staff to create a project that the that the state can't say no to because you came to our meeting and said you need something you know you need evidence of something to put money towards so um to your point um the next person I'll call is Miss Akeisha I mean Miss Kashmir I apologize

094that's okay um it's interesting because what everybody has said so far what I agree to be a goal but I I kind of took a step back and I went on um the center for public education website um and what I found interesting on here is I kind of took a step back and I said let me read this it was the eight characteristics of an effective School Board eight characteristics go really quickly effective school boards commit to a vision of high expectations for student achievement and quality instruction and Define clear goals toward that vision effective school boards have strong shared beliefs and values about what is possible for students and their ability to learn and of the system and its ability to teach all children at high levels number three an effective School Board

095effective school boards are accountability driven spending less time on operational issues and more time on focusing on policies to improve student achievement number four effective school boards have a collaborative relationship with staff in the community and establish a strong communication structure to inform and engage both internal and external stakeholders in setting and achieving District goals effective boards are data Savvy affected boards align and sustain resources such as professional development which I know we're doing to meet District goals number seven effective school boards lead as a United team with a superintendent each from their respective roles with strong collaboration and mutual trust and the last one is effective school boards take part in team development and training sometimes with their superintendents to build shared knowledge values and commitments for their Improvement efforts and so um I

096I know that there are other school boards around the state that like do a retreat the Board of Education will do a retreat we'll go somewhere together and do team building activities which I think is just fabulous it's dynamite so I think I just said all that to just say I I it was interesting to look at the research and see what other school boards are doing um in order for me to like come here and say okay I think you know this is what we should do I definitely want to honor what's already in place and what's already been done but um just a more um High not more but but a high functioning board team individually and collectively um and that's uh that's pretty much all I have for now thank you thank

097you is there anyone would like to share any thoughts on that specific goal Mr sokolovic absolutely thank you for bringing that that one of the things I was thinking about as well is I got a few myself but um to your point to Be an Effective board we got to see where we are now I think this Board needs to do a self-evaluation of each other and ourselves constructive criticism not destructive criticism of course and see where we could do better where we're doing well what we could do better and California I think maybe we should schedule a self-evaluation process anyone else would like to add to that goal the next uh I'm just going to add to that goalsar Madam chair um I agree I think it's part of my field with as an

098attorney I have to take continuing legal education courses every year so I'm on top of my field we're funded through the district to take care courses so maybe aligned with that is requiring that board members actually take a cape course or do a cape have different policies advocacy I mean we're also part of great greater City Schools so it's a small bias towards Kate because I get more emails from them but um the fact is that there are a plethora of learning opportunities as well as even a course where they teach about legislative advocacy and how to interpret that protect particular legislative act that I think would be beneficial and maybe we should just hold it to the board that maybe we set a goal and have I don't know maybe a luncheon learned I

099attended this meeting this is what I got I think it's valuable and even if it's not a lunch maybe just an email so we can share knowledge amongst ourselves as to how we're going to move and improve this District absolutely and I and and I know everyone is volunteers on here no one is paid but also to a lot of the information that we receive is new to some of us um and I know that one thing that and you know one thing that board members have to learn sometimes Straight Out The Gate is how do you even conduct a meeting Robert Rules of Order and most the public automatically assumes that you come in as elected official and you should automatically know but everyone's coming from different backgrounds different places so I think even

100adding that as a part of you know maybe we do get together and we do some type of you know Retreat maybe it's not because everybody has crazy job schedules but um do something where we can go over these things as a unified unit so when we come into meetings it's more communication it's more it flows and no one feels you know because they are not in this level of or this career that they're not familiar with it and I and I would also just like to applaud um board members on this board uh for taking the time out to encourage other board members and and this is stuff that you don't see at a board meeting but these are conversations that happen behind closed doors um and you know just acknowledging saying like hey

101this is the proper way to do uh to address an agenda item this is a proper way to say emotion these things are you know I think the public often doesn't don't understand that these are normal people stepping up to elected official position and expected to act to act and to perform at a high level and not and most people will probably say well you knew what you were getting into when you decided to run but no one understands behind the scenes of what that work looks like so I personally as board chair would like to um highlight you know board members behind closed doors and I won't acknowledge your names because they may not want to that have taken that opportunity to help educate each other without shaming each other for not knowing certain

102things on the board and I think that has been very well especially we have a new board member I think we should rally around each other and where someone lacks in one area we should lift up and you know educate each other because I think that's the only way we're going to function well instead of assuming we know everything going into it um so that would just be my little piece to add on there um the next person I would like to ask is Miss Allen do you have any board goals that any goals that you would like to board to to accomplish any goals for the board this year I think that uh we should prepare ourselves more because I know that sometimes I'm not totally prepared and I think that we should get

103our packets earlier or at least a day before and so that we can operate bill with due diligence I think so thank you anyone would like to add to Miss Allen School all right I'm gonna turn to Mr bennehan we're just going around the table talking about our thank you Miss Brown um one of them a big goal is we had to stay we're working together that's the team we have to communicate more I know this year and you know I can't save we're trying to work together now we're going to work more together you know having um having people that they care people they understand people they communicate each other and we have to bring the information out like I always I say I want the staff all the staff from Richmond School I

104understand that but we're here to help them support them to listen to them not to get scared because disappointed they show up or one of the board members show up to the school oh everybody gets scared no they need to break that they need to break the ice I know before Farmers they were trouble but we are not here to travel we're here to listen that's what the reason we got War members that's the reason that um the community elect us as a boy because they trust us when somebody vote for you and care about you and people they trust and when for me when somebody trusts me for me I take that so seriously and I'm a personal men of world somebody talk to me I take that word seriously before I signature so

105I want the um the message be out with the camera okay over there be sure that we're here to support the staff to listen the step I know sometimes we got protocol and we got um policy yes we got the follow and we don't have a problem over that but today I wanted to understand that we're here to listen to them we got situation that we cannot resolve we got situation is not our protocol or policy that's what they got the supervisors or the union and that's why I really have experience there can come to me and I say no that's not my protocol that's why you have your supervisor you know contact to people but I'll listen to them I don't like to get oh the board member ignoring me it came with Attitude

106no one of the reasons the message is still of all the staff from Bristol school first of all I appreciate all the hard work it's not easy what they doing especially when they have short so many things short or staff sure equipment sure supplies shows so many things and sometimes they take it out from the pocket so be sure things are be done in our students be happy that they they understand we need to help them my phone my email is always 24 7. I would like to listen to them and they understand we're here to help work together what US are as a board member we can help them so they can get successful and they get a great education for our kids so that's the message for me you know uh whatever we

107have to do we have to do we worked together you know so far and you know everyone is doing an amazing job and I'm glad to be the board and you know this is my for last year as a board member and I hope you know thank God it guide me to be run again as a board member because I'm not going to give up I'm not gonna give up I don't know we don't get paid for this but this is my blood it's in my soul so be so many years almost 20 years in the district it's my passion to help our parents our students on our staff we're not perfect only God we make mistake but I know like always ascending you can read it in the bottom of my email with great

108communication we can create get successful and our homies primary you stay with us you know so far I like you know everything you do the great job you do you know and I hope we can be working together as I always say family thank you that's my report anyone would like to comment on Mr vinehan's goal right Mr Lombard would you like to share your goal yes thank you um I have a specific goal it's something that's been talked about I know in the teaching and learning committee before the committee that I'm on and my understanding is that diversity equity and inclusion has talked about this and that students and families have talked about this and it's kind of interesting it's kind of on the other end of the spectrum that Ms Baptiste Perez was

109talking about with students not achieving uh the standards I mean and and also I should say what you would you mentioned Miss Brown about needing to provide a specific um item for funds to go toward um I'm very interested in providing access to our advanced level courses for our high school students especially those students who I'm sorry those courses which provide the opportunity to earn college credit um my understanding from the discussion that I was in is that for various reasons nothing nefarious um all opportunities that are available in a particular school for that type of earning of college credit are not necessarily available in another High School and I think that's something I understand why it came up in the equity in the equity discussion I do obviously I understand why I came up

110in in students and families because parents are deciding where they want their kids to go to school for various reasons and absolutely it's a teaching and learning issue you know just to put it out there there's so many so many um aspects to this but one is for example there may be an instructor who's qualified to teach a certain higher level course and that instructor is one person in one building and they're not in the other buildings so the students in the other buildings may not have that opportunity so I'd like to see something that could be done to make it available for all of our high school students they could all have the same access to all those opportunities to earn college credit um and like I said this is the other end of

111the spectrum and I don't know if that would be with some type of remote capability along with the teacher in their their classroom with students in other buildings you know tuning in remotely I don't know if it would be having more more Staffing I don't know what it would be but um I I think it's something that doesn't necessarily have to be an expensive solution but it could definitely be your very worthwhile for students and parents um and and the district as a whole so that's my goal is that we can in some way expand the offering so that everything is available to everybody given some obviously there may be a situation where the facility itself has has Hardware that's not available you know but I don't know that but as much as possible that's

112what I would say um and then I would just like to piggyback onto um what um Mr bennahan and Miss Kashmir said um because those thoughts were in my mind in a general respect um and actually that's a good word respect I I I first of all respect our current composition on this board you know this is my more than fourth year because I was first eight months appointed and I've never seen attendance as good as it's been in the past year um and aside from some occasional outbursts which I hope can be held back between us we pretty much are very civil to each other uh given the fact that we all have our own perspectives and some some I should even say agendas that may be in conflict with one another but nonetheless

113it's so important to to to try to be civil to each other because it makes all the difference um so I want to say thank you to the all of you um for the way it has been basically for the past year so that I think that's a good thing and then also um I know we have in the past done some professional development I know we did a Robert Rules of Order me uh meeting with training with all of us we all got together on a Saturday and yeah I do think any other opportunities hopefully for the time being something I could tune into remotely but and pretty soon it would be in person um so I think those are great ideas so I want to piggyback on that and then the last thing

114I want to say is that all of us have our own particular style interests abilities know-how and energy around different topics so where I cannot it would not disagree with Mr sokolova's comment about everyone needing to be it all these advocacy and financing and so forth I would also just like to say that we all have our own areas that we have more passion around clearly we need money to keep the doors open and keep the schools open but some people are better at some things than others so I just wanted to say that um because as you said Miss Brown we are all volunteers and um we have to keep in mind what motivates one board member who is choosing to do this any one of us may not be the same thing as

115motivates another and so I think most we can respect and uplift one another for the what we bring to the table the better so thank you thank you are there any comments for Mr Lombard's goal yes um to to speak on your first point Mr Lombard about your goal to increase access to high achieving students to have more opportunities for college-level courses I think that's a great goal um you know many of you know I work in higher education I'm in Admissions and and I'm familiar with a lot of community colleges and high schools even even universities that that pair well with high schools in their local areas I see it all the time on transcripts students that are taking college level classes and my territory at work is not Connecticut it's Long Island in

116Queens so I see that a lot in those areas and I'm not sure how how that is is playing out in in our district but it's a very valid and good point and and then I in in the same vein of speaking about things that you know energize us and um you know things that we're passionate about I can definitely get behind that goal and commit it to um maybe studying some models that are successful between the higher education and high school between institutions of higher education and high schools that work that again maybe don't have a big bearing on cost so that's something that excites me and I feel um positive about so thank you for bringing that to um to to the goals I also wanted to just add same sentiment that everyone's

117been kind of touching based on it's a new year you know I think typically people enter into a new year they have a new desire to to approach the year with some you know um with a different attitude and so you know I would also like to see us be better about communicating with each other to also add to what Mr Mr benahan was saying I also want to be mindful about what is this a very Millennial term but subbing subbing each other you know it there's things that can be said directly to one another in a respectful way I think it's more helpful that way many of us who sit here are already sort of operating in marginalized spaces as it is you know I me as a Latina me as somebody from Bridgeport

118me as a woman you know to feel attacked or you know offhand constantly receiving offhanded comments from people who are operating in the same space as me like we don't need that you know we need to be um better about um working together and encouraging each other and being kind to one another you know like Mr Lombard said there's there's definitely people that are better in different areas and that's fine I think that we all bring value to the board in different ways for that reason so I would like to see that Improvement in 2023 as well thank you uh Mr binahan yes I'm going back with Mr Bart said Mr Bart I know for the time I know you I have to say thank you for your value time you'll be so professional and

119you're so kind that you understand what we're going through and you're the kind of person that you understand our parents and students you know is your passion you know and I respect that so I would appreciate everything you do for the board and I hope you know your kid with us you know and don't go nowhere but I really respect everything you do I really appreciate you're a very smart person and I know you care about the future of our students and the the benefit of our parents thank you right our last one is Mr sokolovic um yeah as far as goals and objectives um I waited for last because I had them I've been here a while so uh we need to set an evaluation for the superintendent and in order to do that

120we've got to come collaborate with her to get some goals and objectives in order to prepare a effective evaluation and also we also need to update our strategic plan it's supposed to be done every three years it's been I think about five since we've dusted off the old strategic plan and that's up to us as a board and the staff to collaborate on that as well and I'd also like to look at everything that we've been missing for a while as far as passions and different things and the way we've behaved over the years I would say I would like to say for the past four years or so we've had somewhat of a dysfunctional board and things were not being done that should have been done and I know I'm loud I know I'm

121passionate I know I rub people the wrong way but that was under an old board I would try to do better to assist people and as far as people's passions being different and having different strengths and weaknesses not one person's passion can be satisfied without the money so anybody who wishes assistance on testimony and providing testimony I'm more than happy to help you I'm more than happy to make the bullet points I know money gets boring sometimes he's listening to three four hour presentations on the budget but it's something that's very necessary to accomplish each and every goal that was mentioned here this evening thank you and I believe we've done everyone um pretty much I've mentioned mine um which is definitely uh getting the board to be able to work as a collaborative effort

122as you know one another and then my biggest one is going to be the project that I'll work with finance and Miss parents who really see for um support financially from the the state concerning um Department of Education for our students so without further Ado what I'm going to do is I am going to ask each of you if you can uh submit it uh send your email language uh your goal language to me um and then what we'll do is um and this is a continue process so for anyone that is watching and viewing you know goals are they take time so as we are building our goals and then addressing them one at a time you know every once in a while there will be an item that I hope to bring to

123the board where we see how far we are with either one or more goals so that we are held accountable for what we said tonight that we're going to do as a board moving forward so if that's okay with everyone that's something that I would like to you know add to our agenda at least you know so forth until you know things have been accomplished and to the to the public that is listening like I said it will not be tonight we have this goal completed like Mr sokolovic said it's going to take some time but I do think all of these are achievable goals here on the board thank you everyone for being with us for that moment um the next agenda item for us is discussion and possible approval of the new logo

124for the district I'm going to call Mrs Henry up to do this um and I'm excited that she's here uh to present on this item hi Mr Jeff sorry good evening everyone um when I began almost two years ago um the superintendent and waterbed asked me to begin collecting um ideas from students about rebranding and designing a new logo so um back in September and October in 2021 we solicited design ideas from students um from there we reviewed it with the board we shared ideas we expanded the solicitation to include KH students we have had numerous meetings over the course of the last year and a half to review themes look at different ideas we've looked at logos we've tweaked logos we've developed different colors and approaches and the final design that The Branding committee

125landed on should be on your table I want to break down a couple of details in the logo for you all does everybody have a copy great um so the concept of the design is that we have the Bridgeport City skyline in the background with the Barnum Museum the bank buildings and the lighthouse in BlackRock um the students represented are there showing diversity in our districts they're also wearing the colors of the five different high schools so BMA is the navy blue basic is the green Harding uh excuse me Central is red Harding is yellow and Fairchild wheeler is the steel gray color we have the wavy line in the front to represent our proximity to the Long Island Sound and we have the green writing because we're the Park City so those were the

126ideas behind the logo in December once the committee once The Branding committee decided that this was the logo that they wanted to move forward with um Jeff graciously helped us solicit information and feedback from the community staff and students we sent out uh five four or five parents wear requests um asking for feedback from the community as you can see on page two what the data we actually had a rich strong response rate we had almost 4 000 responses which is almost double what we usually get on surveys so we were really excited about that feedback as you can see the family sentiment came back at 4.01 and then the staff and students came back 3.79 I do work out that the family sentiment was the majority of the votes if you look at the

127the numbers of submissions and so I opened to you all for comments and questions sure I will open up the floor for everyone that would like to add any comments or questions for Miss Henry or Mr Jeff on the survey side of things awful question yes I took the survey I'm just curious which bucket I would fall into for the survey you would be family and community I believe or yes any other questions yep go ahead um how many students were involved in the so the students were all staying for the same four requests to take the survey and I believe the response rate between students and staff was just over 700. thank you Mr Lombard I know I didn't ask you actually I don't have a question about the survey but I just wanted

128to comment the the logo is such a nice mixture it's sophisticated and simple at the same time I just really like it I saw one of say thank you thank you um and then I'm gonna just uh see if there's any special comments from board members that were actually on the committee Miss Castillo yeah um thank you for that comment Mr Lombard um we also just to add to um Your Name Escapes me Sarah Jane Sarah Jane um just to add to what Sarah Jane just shared we also tested the way this logo performs on different um you know Billboards mugs pens you know um what do you call it letterhead right on backgrounds yep right and so it does perform well in in many different contexts it also performs very well in black and

129white it performs like even in black and white you can still see um you know the sort of character of the students that are involved here I think diversity was also an important element that wanted that we wanted to come through and in the representation of the the logo um and and that's it I just wanted to add those those couple of other things that um I I think I was involved in in US arriving at this place and I I feel very proud of the work that we've done I felt that it was very thorough and um I think we landed in a very good space I'm proud of it Mr binahan no comments I guess I would like to add as well uh I chaired this uh committee I want to say thank

130you to both Mr Jeff and Mrs Henry for the countless conversations the revisions the you know you name it all I we really appreciate it because it does take a lot to get feedback but also takes you know to the design team for taking the time to capture ideas and thoughts for it um and it was really awesome to include Miss Perrin in this process as well as the the interim superintendent so I'll leave my comments to just turn it over to miss Perrin real quick so if you have any comments you would like to add being that you know you'll be behind this completely so so one of the things that I I noticed um when I went to the first meeting I looked at it and it caught me that it represented so

131well what our students who they are who they represent and being that we have such diversity in the district I thought it was a great way to capture who our children are what our high schools represent and the different things that make us unique as Bridgeport a lot of times when you hear about Bridgeport um being from Bridgeport being raised here being um educated here and working here you've always heard negative things right you hear things especially about the education system and about our children so when you see something like this it really ties it all together to show the positivity that we have what we're representing in the direction that we're going toward so I thank you for your time I thank you for your efforts I think that the community was definitely vested

132in looking at this and seeing that it was a representation of our great City so thank you thank you yep yep quick question I know that you said the squiggly lines represent the um sound what about the two diamond shaped things on the end uh is that some kind of significance just wondering not specifically it just closes the logo off it gives it a boundary and and before we move on to motion I would like to say thank you to Mr sakolovic who had played a really good role in eyesight and looking and going over so just want to give you your things because you know it not being on the committee but showing up to all he was there at all of them to give his endpoint and I thought that was very very

133good and you know his biggest thing is if you look on there is the green you want to make sure that the public schools is in green so and the g yeah if you wanted a different G yes um so at this moment yep yep yep um is there I'm not sure if we have like an audience online but I don't know if they're if they can see the logo can we Mr Sam is it possible bringing up on the screen so those in the room can see it or maybe we could I gave them all paper copies can we bring it up on the screen for the online um for anyone who might be viewing online because we're all talking about this logo they're probably looking like what are they talking about before we

134vote on it he's looking for it okay okay thank you Sam I believe I emailed it to you last Wednesday or Thursday if you search your email there we go I mean I don't know did you want it to be bigger there you go they're zooming in there you go yeah it was just for accessibility for anyone online who who might be wondering what we were talking about I just want to make sure everybody could see it yeah that's it that's good thank you got it all right so at this moment I will and so this is a item that will need board approval to move forward so at this moment I will entertain a motion to uh approve this new logo okay okay so move by Miss Castillo I'm gonna give it to Mr

135Miss Allen okay Mr Lombard Allen all in favor aye aye aye any opposed any abstentions I'm saying uh motion carries that's upstairs you heard me yes okay um but if for the work room is around full of steam because I don't like people say why the reason Mr Ben how I'm staying um the reason I'm saying is because I feel that when I asked for the my request months before about the logo how they look like how we can present to the thing you know how to present to the people how to present to us the community and everything I feel was I was ignoring my request that's the way I feel so um and I request that months before and everything and everything was done and uh like I said and that's why I'm

136the reason I'm upset so I just want to put that for the record thank you truly noted uh Mr Bennett has a stay in motion does carry so uh we have a new logo what we'll do is in the meantime um which I think will happen maybe we can find out exactly like what the process because I remember uh Mr Jeff State in that preparing new badges like there's a whole system that may need to take place so I don't know yeah we have a whole host of different things queued up for this now that it's done um with the superintendents directly we'll obviously carry forward with that got it all right thank you thank you thank you um the next item on our agenda is discussion possible action on RFQ to find a crisis

137management public relations firm for the district uh this item came out of uh came out of The Branding committee uh The Branding committee saw a need to support the superintendent in the district when it came to Christ crisis issues and how those issues were presented to the public letting parents know as well as Community leaders I believe Mr pyres is the individual that would talk on this item if he's up there no well miss miss Eagles here so miss Siegel um the floor is yours uh thank you and uh good evening I do not have presenter rights so at the moment I am not able to share the draft RFQ on the screen um Jeff are you able to give me presenter rights or Mrs Sam okay you should be all set Miss Siegel oh

138thank you at this point you should be able to see the screen yes um this is a draft request for qualifications that we prepared in response to the request of The Branding committee and The Branding committee identified five areas for services and those areas are listed on the screen risk assessment mitigation and Consultation Services reputation management full service crisis communication planning crisis communication training for administrators and Senior staff in the district and development and implementation of crisis response plans including training we indicated that it would be the intent of the Board of Education to engage The Firm that is ultimately selected when under contract on an as needed and as requested basis to provide designated Services each with a specified goal at the contracted hourly rate so the intent would be for this type of

139service to operate in a manner similar to that of Legal Services which means that when you need the service you would ask the firm that's under contract to provide that service and the firm would then bill for that service based on the contracted rate and we indicated that in operational practice the superintendent on behalf of the board would request the quotation based on the rate schedule and the contract prior to authorizing initiation of any service now we also indicated that and I'm just looking through the Section so I can show it on the screen uh yes we indicated that um it would be anticipated that the board would enter into at a minimum a three-year contract with an option to renew for up to two additional years now as I believe everyone is aware as

140of July 1 of 2022 the city Charter was modified by the city council to allow for contracts to have five-year terms and so this could be written uh as anticipating a five-year term or it could be written as anticipating a three-year term um as it's currently written with an option to renew for up to two additional years so that would be at your discretion and we also indicated in item five on this page that it is projected that the annual expenditure for crisis management public relations Services would be in the range of 2500 250 000 per year obviously we're not able to make an accurate prediction of what the actual cost Factor would be uh but I think in in some years perhaps the expenditure would be five thousand dollars in other years it might

141be uh uh twenty thousand dollars it would depend upon the need uh and the requests that are made to the selected firm now this document has not been reviewed by Legal Services it has not been submitted to the contracts committee at this point um it was prepared at the request of The Branding Committee in order to delineate a process and indicate the template that would be used in order to put that process into place so if the board wants to go forward we would then have the draft reviewed by the city attorney's office and submitted to the contracts committee which would then bring the final version to the board for approval thank you Miss Siegel um I'll open up the floor for any questions yes I gotta I gotta I got a question as far

142as the timeline so this is a relatively new service is it maybe more prudent to enter into a one-year agreement in case we don't like if the firm's not a good fit we don't want to be locked into three years and with like maybe a one-year contract renewable up to five years or something like that I don't know if that would make more sense to everybody or not yeah yeah so motion to Amanda RFQ to read one year with up to for one year renewals second oh it's been seconded by Miss Castillo discussion um let's vote on the amendment all in favor any opposed any abstentions I say no I would want to run it through does it run through the same kind of contractual obligations like the transportation contract where it has to be

143three years Miss Eagle no it does not have to be uh three years um I'm modifying it on on the screen now for your consideration uh we can certainly uh modify it to read for a one-year term commencing on or about July 1 2023 with an option to renew for up to four additional years uh so and this is just for the amendment so I'll stick to my no okay all right so uh motion carries now we'll I'll entertain a motion we still have discussion Miss Brown we have a full range of discussions oh sorry my bad um anyone else's discussion okay go ahead I'm sorry uh so can you break this down for me like um just giving a couple of examples of um uh what do you call it like a crisis that

144we might potentially go through that this firm would be able to help but like can you just give me like a couple of examples because I know I see you know like Risk Management and reputation management but just a couple of quick examples maybe under oh but Siegel yeah I guess I was talking to miss Siegel well I I think that it would be the board or the superintendent who can describe the types of of of uh situations that might require these types of services okay so one of the things um I think for instance if there's a crisis at the school a major fire unfortunately God forbid if there's like a shooting you know something that happens on the campus that will impact the whole Community it could be gang violence something in their

145neighborhood that might impact the school those types of conversations that we would engage in to be able to direct appropriately that's what I needed thank you so much okay if I can add to that um one of the is one of the reasons that this particular thing we were thinking of the overall plan for um Communications for the whole entire District the board of vet doesn't have a director of communications at all so nances out of ten uh something will get leaked out in the public and the superintendent hasn't even had the right amount of time to respond to it professionally so that she could be able to you know address parents staff and moving forward so that was one reason in doing that so the risk management actually came down Miss Siegel had asked

146the committee to think about one specific area that we thought that we can really aim for so we wanted to be able to support the district that way if that makes sense thank you so much it makes plenty of sense thanks any uh just any other individuals would like to share on discussion for this item I had something I forgot no it's okay it's okay I'm looking through here to see if I felt like any light bulbs will would go off um but it's not coming to me right now if if I remember I'll share but um I will say one thing that I think is attractive about this also in addition to the um the crisis management piece the reputation reputation management I think is key I'm sorry I might I have like a

147family thing going on over here and I don't know how to mute my watch so I apologize um but um as Miss Perrin shared earlier about uh reputation management I don't know that that's something we've ever had um but I I think we can agree that it's an issue right not just within the district but also externally and so I think it would be nice to have that um piece there's also the uh the streamlining of communications when um crisis occurs that I think is important very important we have had issues with that as well where things happen in the district and it's like who who does the communication come from you know who's notifying the parents how timely do we have to be what does the messaging need to look like and so um

148you know a a firm that specializes in crisis management would certainly have the resources to advise on that but also um just developing a crisis response plan I think is also important I'm going to go through this and see if there's I can remember my question though got it yep I'm Miss Perrin and just to add on to what Mr Castillo she is specifically in regards to the reputation piece as we know that there is a teacher shortage across the whole nation and as we are trying to engage and attract people to conserve without Scholars here we need to be mindful of that and I think that they will be a great benefit to us I've got a Mr Lombard I'm sorry if I missed you did you have would you like to share any

149for discussion on this item no thank you all right so um I will entertain a motion to vote on Miss Brown yes sorry I had a comment uh I will say just from the contracts committee um let's engage how many votes or how many opportunities we get from the one-year term because what I've seen in contracts is that we've only we get one bit multiple times just one bit and so I with the one year if depending on our feedback we may want to come back and amend that if it's going to be more enticing for crisis management because that's the only thing I could think of um with the contracts committee is not having a lot of offers for any company to come and work in this district and so what's going to be

150more appealing for them to come in um there can always be some kind of a clause in the contract where if we're not satisfied with the performance or anything like that a cancellation or termination so but that's the only thing I could think of uh that's why I like hesitant with one year but I understand to not wanting to get into a five-year contract but there's always language you can put into contract and before approviveness we should still have legal go through it yes okay um Mr Siegel so I'm sorry sorry uh yeah no that's that's the last comment because Miss Siegel did mention that it has not gone through legal yeah that was my question um my question was what was the plan for it going to Legal um what does that process look

151like and also if there's a cost for it there is not any uh cost for the uh City attorney to review um an RFP or an RFQ uh in fact the city attorney's office requires that all requests for qualifications and requests for bid uh be reviewed by the um by the legal office um I'm presuming that uh if the board votes this evening to pursue this RFQ that um our next step internally meaning through my office will be to um submit the RFQ to the City attorney for a review um and and then to proceed to place it on the agenda of the contracts committee thank you Miss Siegel all right so um I will entertain a motion uh to uh go to create to push the RFQ to find a crisis management public relations

152firm okay can I State the motion yes you think I raise a motion that the board of education is approved the RFQ for a one-year crisis management company subject to approval from the city attorney to then be moved to the contracts committee is there a second yeah do you repeat your motion please take a motion to approve the crisis management well you know what were we so moving so let me go back up to it I actually thought there were there was already a main motion that we already amended it to be yeah the amendment we did vote to them there was a procedural mishap that violets lie I mean we've amended the language yes but there needed to be a main motion on the floor before the amendment went forward oh so I mean

153we were all in agreement so I didn't raise it but that's fine even if that's an invalid motion the motion I could raise it now is the motion to approve the RFQ to find a crisis management company for one year um so repeat again I moved that the Board of Education submits the RFQ to find a crisis management public relations firm for the district for one year subject to approval to the city's attorney to then be moved to the contracts committee second I'd like to propose an amendment the resident has sent it back to contracts it's it's really only the one year issue that we're going to be looking at correct and just bring it back to the full board to skip a step if there's any comments from legal then there will need to

154be something to be discussed if it's no comments from legal it could be a quick motion to approve in the contracts committee but if there's any kind of feedback language that needs to be changed that is essentially what the contrast committee is for right is to take a look at it and this is pretty much boilerplate with the exception of the one-year term according to you according to Mr Pirates who prepared it and Miss Siegel was prepared clapping hundreds of them this is basically boilerplate language with dates picked up and pulled it around it's the function of the committee to talk about the contracts committee which I don't know do we have a date yet for the contracts committee yes 31st and then the next board regular board meeting after that will be proposed amendment

155we could just take the extra time I don't I I would like to give this City attorney enough time to get to it as that may not be an expedient process in itself so I understand so there's no Amendment are you going to keep your motion on the floor no okay no he didn't I know you're gonna kill this but you probably have to do it one more time no it's not necessary okay all right well I didn't switch the page now all right all in favor all right Mr sokolovic's abstains any abstentions Karen none motion carries uh at this moment we will entertain a motion good night just in case