To the Editor:
NOTE: When I speak of the Board of Education, I refer to the majority of five who follow the superintendent’s vision and who are responsible for almost all of the motions carried this year. Quotations are followed by the date of the minutes from which they were taken.
What has already been established:
REDUCED WORK LOAD: While scheduled for 19 Regular BOE meetings for 2023-2024, only 14 were held. Five or 26% were cancelled without explanation.
The budget should have been considered in detail during four of them (11/13, 2/13, 3/11, & 4/8). On April 22, Joe Sokolivic “said the [finance] committee had met only twice since October, and more effort was needed.” The discussion of the budget before the full board came one week before they were to present to the City Council.
The June 6th online meeting was never adjourned as the Chair, the four members of the majority, and the Superintendent went off camera after which the video was shut down. The cancelation of the June 10th Regular meeting led to the need for three online Special Meetings where public comment was not allowed, a violation of the by-laws. On June 11, Mr. Medina was not provided a link to the meeting, and by June 27th his email had been blocked for ten days; he had not received the necessary materials. The details of what is to be discussed is often sent within hours of a meeting, allowing insufficient time for study.
The reports by the Superintendent, BOE Chair, and Chair of the Finance Committee often consist primarily of activities attended or visits made to schools. This information could be provided digitally, leaving time for consideration of matters of substance. While so much needs attention, this BOE is not providing it. The pattern for their workings is that the Superintendent sends an item to a committee where there is minimal discussion before a vote is taken to move the matter forward to the full BOE and then the item is voted on by the BOE—again without significant analysis—with the majority supporting the recommendation.
UNEQUAL TREATMENT GIVEN TO BOE MEMBERS: The Chair excluded two members from committee assignments: Joe Sokolovic, a six-year BOE member with a background in finance who had served as finance chair, and Rob Traber, a community organizer who taught at Blackham School for 20 years, while also serving as Vice-President and President of the BEA Union for six years. Two of the new and inexperienced members were assigned to two committees. One was made Chair of the Finance Committee, even though she had little knowledge of finance. The budget would have been presented and discussed thoroughly if Joe Sokolovic had been leading. The unjust and spiteful action of the Chair led to an underperforming BOE at a time of financial crisis (and when the long-time Chief Financial Officer was leaving).
EXECUTIVE LEVEL ADMINISTRATION POSITIONS HAVE RAPIDLY INCREASED: The position of Assistant Superintendent was only established well into Mr. Testani’s tenure. With Superintendent Levy-David, the executive level administrative positions (approximately $150,000 with an approximately $70,000 assistant) have increased dramatically: Assistant Superintendent of SEL, Comprehensive Health & Student Affairs; Deputy Superintendent; Director of Communications; Executive Director of School Leadership; Executive Director of School Turnaround; and Executive Director of Specialized Services.
“PRODUCTS” HAVE BEEN EQUATED WITH IMPROVING EDUCATION: Instead of drawing upon the expertise cited above, the superintendent has hired outside contractors with little training in education to do the work traditionally done by educators. Relay Graduate School of Education, which is not well regarded by academics, is paid to teach the teachers how to teach and Hanover Research to provide supervisory functions. Several tutorial programs, such as Hey Tutor! and Dream Box, have been added. No ideas or offerings on how to improve instruction for Bridgeport students have come from the superintendent and her staff; instead, they have “bought” the answers. Why then were so many executives hired? They do not offer expertise at meetings and Hanover Research is providing functions that they could readily do.
PARENTS’ INPUT NOT WELCOMED: Parents have had limited input during the last school year. The superintendent held “parent forums” after the community cried out against the closing of six schools without following proper procedures. The “forums” were not conversations, but the answering of written out questions with a full police presence to “control” the parents. The Proposed School Closing Timeline remains on the website.
The Superintendent and Chair weaponized BPS police to illegally bar a parent from all future meetings; a City attorney had to rescind the order and apologize. The Chair threatened the expulsion of a BOE member by the police during the May 28th meeting.
Also on May 28th, one of the few parents who spoke out at BOE meetings, Chaila Robinson, had one message: that she was frustrated with the Board. Identifying the meetings as “a circus,” she clarified that Ms. Baptiste-Perez is “talking at people and not with people” and concludes that “[o]ur board and superintendent would rather fight us parents and teachers than truly work in partnership for the betterment of the children’s education.” Another parent lamented how the elementary school that her children attended had been “like a family and getting parents to come in and help and show the staff appreciation was amazing,” but now the school has “lost over 25 amazing teachers and the principal left mid-year.”
Where we left off with the last BOE meeting:
CURRICULUM WAS PURCHASED (more “PRODUCTS”): Minimal information is presented about the products so that the public has little idea what is actually being purchased. The following, which had gone through committee, were adopted on June 27: Education Solutions Now 6-12 Social Studies Curriculum (which was “affordable” and had been purchased in AL, FL, MO, and TX), Discovery Education Science Curriculum, Supplies, and Professional Development (the only curriculum to be endorsed by a teacher), and Empowering Writers Coaching Proposal for Grades K-5 (favorable reports had been made by previous participants). The expectation expressed by the Chief Academic Officer on May 13 were that instructors will be provided with a pacing guide that outlines the recommended usage for purchased instructional programs; usage reports will be collected weekly and there will be “no wiggle room” in following these mandates. This is a “mechanized” with “no excuses” view of the classroom.
AN ELA 6-12 CURRICULUM (which had not gone through committee and has NEVER been purchased before) APPEARS for June 27. It is SCRIPTED, meaning that the teachers are presented with a “daily script” that they are to follow; each teacher is expected to be at the same place as all of the other teachers at any given time. This assumes that students and teachers are like robots. As mentioned, this curriculum was presented “at the last minute” with no true teacher input as only eight teachers responded to the survey sent out as school was ending. Mr. Traber “said it seemed this is something we should have started months ago and included the teachers in the planning and discussion” (6/27).
WHERE ARE WE WITH THE BUDGET?: As noted, many purchases and hires have been made since the budget was adopted.
TEACHING TO THE TEST: The Chief Academic Officer “said it is important that the instruction is aligned to the rigor of the SAT assessment” (6/28). She is describing Outcome-Based Learning where the outcome on assessments is the goal in and of itself. Class time is to assist the student in test performance. The SAT is a very limited marker, especially for students of color.
TEACHER AND STUDENT VOICES SQUELCHED: A true educator talks about creative and critical thinking and social and emotional well-being. They want students to come to VOICE as they learn, interpret, analyze, critique, and create. How can teachers encourage VOICE when their own has been taken away and they are assessed on how well they follow the scripts? None of the actions above or below embrace the humanity of students or teachers and, thus, are bound to fail miserably.
What has been happening this summer:
SUPERINTENDENT’s EVALUATION NOT COMPLETED: On May 7th, a special meeting began the evaluation process; when the vote to go into executive session did not pass, those who lost called for adjournment. The matter was tabled on May 13th. During the June 6 online meeting—the meeting that ended without adjournment—the Superintendent refused to publicly present her accomplishments as had traditionally been done. Her presentation was made on June 11 in online executive session. No meeting has been scheduled to review and discuss the findings in order to create an evaluation.
MICROMANAGING TEACHER’S SCHECULES and GREATER ALIGNMENT: The district rather than the principal is creating teacher schedules. In all elementary schools each grade is shown as teaching the exact same subject at the same times every day.
THE START AND ENDING TIMES OF THE SCHOOL DAY WERE CHANGED WITHOUT CONSULTATION (just like the initial changes to the school calendar): The impact of changing high school from 7:53 to 2:45 and elementary school from 8:50 to 3:25 has yet to be determined. Teachers are parents in other districts, parents going to work now have later start times for their children, athletes are competing with schools that get out earlier, etc. etc. And there is the curious matter of the bell times being the teacher’s working hours so that the building administration are responsible for student supervision before and after school (which makes no sense as it is an impossibility).
A message from the Superintendent was sent on July 13. A posting of the schedule on Facebook by Bridgeport Strong that same day was shared 351 times and had 223 comments by the evening of July 14. Like most major decisions by the Superintendent, it was made behind closed doors. It was not made “in partnership with our unions” since the BEA challenged it as best they could. Willie Medina says, “It’s insanity the lack of communication and transparency. Once again, the cart comes before the horse.” Rob Traber writes:
Sadly, we’re either going to spend a lot more money that we don’t have or this plan will depend on abusing employees insofar as teachers, paras, and security will work without proper compensation to be there for the students before and after school . . . . Meanwhile, it’s another devastating personnel shakeup.
Joe Sokolovic commented: “Personally I think logistics should be worked out first before disrupting tens of thousands of lives. A little respect for our parents as well.” He also pointed out that the state-mandated 900 hours per year requirement had always been met, while the implication of the communication was that the changes would bring BPS into compliance.
His conclusion is spot on: “It seems we are turning our schools back into factories. Uniform products to be produced using standardized methods. It’s almost like they want to destroy public education.” Disruption is the rule with this administration, and privatization is one of the key methods used to destroy public education. It is happening before our eyes in Bridgeport. Certainly, teachers have to consider if they want to “perform” as implementers rather than teach as educators. All that is noted above is lessening the educational opportunities for students and teachers and is disregarding the needs of the parents and the community.
Trapasso previously worked as a teacher of English at Central High School
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Editor’s note: This letter has been corrected to reflect that Lynn Stephens remains Director of Adult Education, and an Assistant Director has been hired to take her place