On May 22, the Democratic Town Committee will meet at Testo’s Restaurant to endorse candidates for a variety of offices. Three city-resident members of the current state-appointed Board of Education, Jacqueline Kelleher, Ken Moales and Hernan Illingworth, are seeking the DTC endorsement.
As a result of the Connecticut Supreme Court reversing state control of city schools, a special election has been set for September 4. If there’s a primary it will take place July 10. That’s a big if.
There’s little talk, so far, of a challenge slate against the three candidates the DTC endorses next Tuesday.
Superior Court Judge Salvatore Agati, per Connecticut Supreme Court ruling, set the special election for September 4, the day after Labor Day. The judge, with the help of officials from the Connecticut Secretary of the State’s Office, set a process for major parties to endorse candidates, potential primaries and then the general election.
Kelleher, a professor at Sacred Heart University; Moales, a city minister and Illingworth, active for years in the PTA, have been members of the reconstituted board since last summer. They have sent a letter to party officials seeking the endorsement of the DTC. Former State Representative Hector Diaz has also expressed interest in running. Organizing a Democratic primary challenge slate is a big pain in that neck that requires securing more than 2,000 certified petition signatures to qualify for the ballot. Any takers? If not, the real action will come down to whether a Republican or a candidate running on the Connecticut Working Families Party line gains the minority party seat. Four school board seats are up for grabs including one reserved for minority party status. The nine-member elected school board that will be reseated once the results of the special election are certified has two WFP members on the board.
Candidates endorsed by minor parties such as WFP, as well as petitioning candidates, would also appear on the special general election ballot September 4.
And guess what? City voters will not be done deciding BOE issues at the ballot. Come November it’s expected voters will decide between choosing an elected or mayoral-appointed school board. Mayor Bill Finch empaneled a Charter Revision Commission to address the question and formulate a ballot question for City Council approval. The mayor supports an appointed school board.
This feels like the plan.
How long has it been in place?
So Vallas holds these conference calls, and just seems to spout out what’s at the forefront of his mind. Let’s see, the latest is there will no longer be Student Assistance Team meetings (where the collective specialists brainstorm ways to help struggling students). Now the meeting will be called SRBI, which is the three-tiered intervention process involving reading and math strategies (TBD). The school guidance counselors will be in charge.
This is so out of their realm of training it would be like having your accountant perform your back surgery.
Voting for any of the three names mentioned in this column is like voting for Finch again. These three are Finch toadies, pure and simple. BTW how much money does Moales receive from the city for his daycare facility?
Hector Diaz is a candidate?
My accountant did do my back surgery, but first he stopped at my wallet.
I’ll never vote for a Finchette!
And furthermore, teachers WILL teach 90 minutes of reading and 90 minutes of math daily and hold regular team level meetings.
We’ve already been doing that for years. How is this new?
Every day I hear more horror stories from my BOE friends. About the uninformed decisions made by Vallas. About Johnny Fabs calling back his old retired compadres for make-believe jobs. About Mario calling the shots. What was the point of hiring a so-called “expert” to turn our schools around if he is taking his orders from the kitchen of Testo’s?
As OIB regulars know, the Board of Education is all about politics and money and not education.
Charter revision has been and will continue to be basically a setup for pushing through the Finch agenda, especially an appointed school board. Bridgeport voters should overwhelmingly reject an appointed board.
What I find compelling is the fact many of the municipalities in which Vallas has been contracted to “reform” the public school system have a major commonality between them. What do Chicago, New Orleans and Philadelphia (just to name three) have in common? Major Political Corruption. Why should Vallas look to change a formula that produces financial success? Corruption pays, obviously.
Equally compelling is all the urban centers seem to have very poor school systems and typically a fair amount of corruption.
Interestingly, all that spring to mind–Philly, Chicago, Newark, Hartford, etc. are just like Bridgeport … Overwhelmingly One-Party controlled. And that party is Democrat!
So far, Vallas looks okay to me. At least the BOE meetings now follow an agenda and not the wild ravings of the mob. And they seem to be making good decisions.
The “good decisions” the appointed BOE is making reflects a point of view that is highly subjective in nature. As always, it depends on the lens of your camera.
*** Let them run, everybody else is! Also there’s talk of a school systems name change sometime after the election? The BOE will be considered changed to BOZ! *** BOARD OF ZOMBIES ***