Violating the new school chief hiring process, school board members defying self-evaluation reports and standoffish to training schedules as required by directives from the Connecticut State Board of Education is part of a scathing rebuttal by state education leaders to Bridgeport Board of Education Chair Jennifer Perez.
Connecticut State Department of Education Director of Legal and Governmental Affairs Attorney Michael McKeon authored the email to Perez on behalf of Education Commissioner Charlene Russell-Tucker.
Following the force out of ex school leader Carmela Levy-David, infighting on the local board, staring in the face of a $30 million deficit and Governor Ned Lamont wondering: “what the hell is going on down there!” the state education board provided Russell-Tucker broad authority to intervene on behalf of the limping school system, including engagement to appoint a permanent chief…from the start.
Royce Avery is currently leading the district in an acting capacity.
Among the state board’s directives: training for the elected nine-member Bridgeport board so they, the policy makers, understand the interaction with the top administrator.
Bridgeport has had a revolving door of school leaders and school board members the past 15 years.
In his letter to Perez, McKeon advises the school board acted unilaterally in the school chief search without plugging in Russell-Tucker.
“As we have discussed, the Commissioner has the authority pursuant to Section 10-223e(e)(2) of the Connecticut General Statutes to approve the hiring of a Superintendent. This is authority that the Commissioner takes extremely seriously; she in no way considers it a pro forma exercise. As such, the Commissioner’s exercise of this statutory authority requires that she or her designee at the CSDE be involved in the hiring process from the outset.”
In addition some local board members including Vice Chair Joe Sokolovic, who is up for reelection this year, have pushed back on the state’s intervention.
Also, some local school board members cannot be bothered by the state-ordered training sessions to build collaborative relationships with the district, something that came to the attention of the state board.
Writes McKeon: “These reservations on the CSDE’s part are underscored by recent reports that at least some of the Bridgeport Board members have stated that although they will attend the CABE training sessions, they are not invested in them and do not see them as a means of improving the Board’s overall performance.”
McKeon’s full email to Perez follows:
Thank you again for your March 18, 2025, e-mail regarding the Bridgeport Board of Education’s proposed search for a permanent Superintendent of Schools. As we have discussed, the Commissioner has the authority pursuant to Section 10-223e(e)(2) of the Connecticut General Statutes to approve the hiring of a Superintendent. This is authority that the Commissioner takes extremely seriously; she in no way considers it a pro forma exercise. As such, the Commissioner’s exercise of this statutory authority requires that she or her designee at the CSDE be involved in the hiring process from the outset. This expectation was shared with you by way of my February 7, 2025, e-mail, a copy of which is attached. In turn, attached to that e-mail was a copy of the CSDE’s February 7, 2025, response to CABE’s proposed training schedule, which proposed training schedule you had originally provided to the CSDE by e-mail dated February 4, 2025. As I noted in my February 7 e-mail, the CSDE’s February 7 response set forth in red font the CSDE’s expectations with respect to that training, including the following:
5. Choosing a new Superintendent (Facilitated by CABE staff and others (Mary Broderick?)
CSDE Expectation: The selection of a new superintendent shall require the approval by the Commissioner of any proposed permanent Superintendent of Schools that the BBE may seek to appoint prior to the BBE determining, and making any offer to, a proposed candidate for the permanent Superintendent of Schools position. The Commissioner expects to be engaged in the recruitment process as well. This prior approval is separate from and in addition to the post-offer right of Commissioner approval required under Section 10-157(a) of the Connecticut General Statutes.
2/7/2025 CSDE Response to BBE Training Schedule
As plainly stated therein, the Commissioner’s expectation regarding her statutory right to approve any proposed permanent Superintendent of Schools included being “engaged in the recruitment process.” According to the McPherson & Jacobson, LLC timeline that you provided on March 18, however, the recruitment process – including the review of the “criteria for the new superintendent” and the posting of “application information” — began on March 10, over a week before the Bridgeport Board’s intention to initiate a Superintendent search was shared with the CSDE. Furthermore, the timeline designated March 15, 2025 – three days prior to Bridgeport having apprised the CSDE of Bridgeport’s decision to begin a Superintendent search — as the start date on which applications were to be received. Additionally, the approval process – including the Commissioner’s engagement in the recruitment process — necessarily contemplates the Commissioner’s consideration and approval of the criteria for assessing the qualifications of applicants prior to those criteria being adopted and disseminated by the Bridgeport Board of Education. This, however, was not done.
In addition to the Bridgeport Board’s unilateral commencement of a Superintendent search, at this juncture the CSDE is extremely concerned by the fact that approximately a third of the Board’s members have not completed and returned their self-evaluation protocols, which as you know were due at the close of last week. These self-evaluations are intended to inform the goals of the training that is being provided by CABE. Consequently, the failure of Board members to participate in this process raises serious questions as to their intention to work collaboratively as a board of education to improve the Board’s governance of the Bridgeport Public Schools. These reservations on the CSDE’s part are underscored by recent reports that at least some of the Bridgeport Board members have stated that although they will attend the CABE training sessions, they are not invested in them and do not see them as a means of improving the Board’s overall performance.
It is critical that Board members invest themselves in the training that is being provided pursuant to Section 10-223e(e)(2) so as to improve the functioning of the Board, which includes the proper recognition and allocation by Board members of roles and responsibilities between the Board and the Superintendent and the rest of the central office administration. Given that, as well as the other concerns discussed herein, the CSDE believes that initiating the hiring process for a permanent Superintendent of Schools is both premature and directly contrary to the Commissioner’s clearly articulated expectation that she would “be engaged in the recruitment process” for the Superintendent position. Consequently, and in conjunction with the Commissioner’s statutory authority to approve the hiring of a permanent Superintendent of Schools, the CSDE is directing the Bridgeport Board of Education to stay and otherwise take no further steps in the Superintendent hiring process until such time as the Board has provided the CSDE with positive proof that it is making progress toward strengthening its role as stewards of the Bridgeport Public Schools. Thank you.
Don’t let the Connecticut State Department of Education USURP OR Supplant BBOE!