Board of Education letterhead actually proclaims: Expect Great Things. Well, in a move of remarkable greatness, the majority of Board of Education members voted Tuesday night they were not competent to provide a quality education to Bridgeport kids–let it be the state’s problem. The question now is: what will the state do? Superintendent of Schools John Ramos and Mayor Bill Finch, both of whom supported this measure, did not attend the meeting (profiles in courage?).
Board of Education President Barbara Bellinger took responsibility for initiating this action. In fact, she says, she had contemplated this since December. Why then didn’t she indicate publicly if things did not improve she would seek state intervention? If things were so bad why didn’t she pack the City Council chambers during the public hearing on the BOE budget in April? Why didn’t Ramos do the same? Is it because this was all calculated? It’s a damning declaration if school officials didn’t fight for more funding for the kids with the intent purpose to turn this over to the state. Bellinger says the board was dysfunctional and couldn’t get things done. But the board, on most every key vote, was 6-3 in favor of Bellinger and Ramos.
Two members of the Working Families Party on the Bridgeport Board of Education released the following statements in response to Tuesday’s action by the Board:
Maria Pereira:
“It’s disheartening when the majority of our Board of Education has simply given up on doing the job they were elected to do. We didn’t run for Board of Education just to give up on our kids. We ran to make a difference. There are members of this board who will continue to fight to ensure the quality education our kids deserve. It was an honor to see so many enthusiastic supporters turnout for this meeting to make their voices heard. We owe it to the parents and the kids to keep fighting.”
Sauda Baraka:
“We’re going to take our case to the State Board of Education. It’s up to them now, it’s not even up to the people of Bridgeport anymore. It would be shocking and disheartening to thousands of Bridgeport parents and voters to have their democratic decision overturned by the state for no reason other than that the Superintendent and the majority party are looking for someone to blame for their own failures.”
CT Post story: www.ctpost.com/local/article/School-board-vote-asks-for-state-takeover-1453855.php.
Sauda Baraka and Maria Pereira, thank you for your statements and your service to the children of Bridgeport.
Are the striped bass running yet? And if so, what are they feeding on?
Kudos to the above women and Mr. Simmons. Baraka and Pereira passionately and eloquently stated their cases regarding the state reconstituting of the board. This whole thing is going to blow up on Finch. I don’t think the state board of ed members want to get involved with election law. How can a Mayor, Super and a school board that patted themselves on the back about “Expect Great Things!” now say they are dysfunctional based on a 6-3 voting record with the same six majority always voting with the Super? This has been an inside straight deal from the get-go with Finch and Ramos dealing from the bottom of the deck. Barbara Bellinger is a lovely woman and she has been played like a shill. They got caught and now they should fold up their tents and just go away. Will Ben Dover Barnes bail out Bill?
I was at the meeting and watched the Finch cabinet smugly smirking. They are pathetic excuses for public servants who only serve to hurt people and collect paychecks off the backs of taxpayers.
Thank you Maria, Sauda and Bobby for your service to our kids.
What? Neither Ramos nor Finch had the balls to show their faces? Ramos had a prior commitment. What’s Finch’s excuse? Is it Sonya’s night out again? Anyone know if the Shitty Council approved the AFSCME no-layoff agreement?
city hall smoker // Jul 5, 2011 at 9:39 pm
to your posting
chs,
How about some lunch at Bloodroot?
It’s About Time!
CT Post Editorial for tomorrow’s paper.
With no budget and not enough money, the Bridgeport school system is at an impasse. A state takeover, as the school board was prepared to request at Tuesday night’s meeting, might be the best path forward.
But there are reasons for caution.
The Board of Education, whatever its faults, is made up of duly elected officials, chosen by the population of Bridgeport. Election results are not to be casually tossed aside, no matter what crisis is at hand.
And few would disagree the problems Bridgeport is facing go far beyond anyone currently in office.
Faced with the fourth consecutive year of no funding increase from the city, Schools Superintendent John Ramos recommended and the school board agreed last month not to adopt the proposed budget for the coming year. The gap between what was needed and what was available, Ramos said, was simply too large.
That point is not in dispute. The state responded by saying that no help could be forthcoming without adopting a budget of some sort.
Mayor Bill Finch, Ramos and School Board President Barbara Bellinger then proposed a resolution that asks the state to replace the nine-member school board and, in effect, take over the district. This is the resolution that was to be discussed Tuesday.
It’s true that a vocal minority on the school board has put up some obstacles to the majority’s plans. But that’s simply the nature of a political board. Those members were elected like everyone else.
And there’s little evidence a state takeover would close the budget gap; the chairman of the state Board of Education has said as much.
Ramos has called the inequity in education funding between the city and suburbs “perverse.” That is the real issue, and it goes far beyond any squabbling on the Board of Education.
State help for the Bridgeport schools would be welcome, and may ultimately be necessary. But not at the expense of overturning elections.
Read more: www .ctpost.com/news/article/A-high-price-to-pay-for-help-1453358.php
*** Money or not, “change” has been needed for quite some time. Maybe now if the state takes over, expecting great things may be possible for Bpt public schools! Only time will tell, no? Where does this move, if accepted, leave the present members of the Bpt BOE? *** OVERALL POLITICAL CHANGE IS NEEDED FROM TOP TO BOTTOM ***
Where can I get a Mary-Jane sign? I’m voting for her, made up my mind. I woudn’t even vote for Ganim, had a change of heart. He is a crook any way you look at it and Finch is a do-nothing Mayor. Thank God I voted for these two women in November of 2009 they are the only ones who care. As a product of the Bridgeport School system in 2008 I can tell you it sucks!
donj,
You can tell them you want a lawn sign (among other things) here:
fosterforbridgeport.com/fosterformayor/volunteer/
Bridgeport thinks they can save some Green.
blogs.courant.com/rick_green/2011/07/the-bridgeport-board-of-educat.html
The three people who voted against the state takeover are correct. Elected people are supposed to put the best interests of the community before themselves. Maybe the best interest IS a state takeover? Maybe the Mayor and City Council should consider if THEY should be in office. The people of B’port are NOT being served by their elected officials. We see that in our taxes, our services, our economic development, and now in our future, the education of our children. Time to bail!!!
A state takeover is simply going to be an infusion of money, but the State is broke. There will not be meaningful changes that will effect the everyday running of the school system. The same people will be advisers or some other title yet will in all likelihood keep their salary. Remember, Bridgeport is the city that got Malloy elected, he will not burn bridges with the politicians he owes. One thing a career politician will always be thinking of is how to keep their job.
Bpt did not get Malloy elected, the Finch mafia from Madison Ave were supporting Lamont in the primary and stayed out of the main election. Malloy does not forget that. You shouldn’t either.
Chosen 1,
Malloy ran against Foley, not Lamont in November.
Ramos had a prior commitment and could not attend last night’s meeting. Could someone please tell me what is more important than 20,000-plus students?
Finch had a prior commitment too. It was Sonya’s night out.
MJF is right to file an FOI. Something is very fishy here. You have a mayor and supt who haven’t had a civil conversation in years. Then out of the blue they both agree a state takeover is the solution. And they do it months before a close election. Something is not right.
This stinks from the neck up.
This is all about four members who are up for re-election and Finch knowing the three against him will gain power. Maria Pereira is the best thing to happen for the parents of Bpt.
I cannot believe neither of them attended. That’s as outrageous as the Casey Anthony verdict.
What a disgrace!!! Lenniem what’s your opinion? I feel everyone has kept silent over this issue … What happened to the reporting by the CT Post, where’s Daniel Tepfer? Does anyone care about our kids anymore? Since the board cannot do their jobs, THEY SHOULD NOT GET PAID!! Forfeit their salaries for the year, you’ll save some money right there!!! Finch just sealed his fate, no way he gets reelected … If I were Foster or Gomes I would take out a front-page ad in the CT Post … Where is all the money going to? Where’s the money for Dunbar school?? How can Finch tie the hands of the BOE by making a deal with the unions without them knowing? But Finch has no control over the BOE??? I need some more reporting on this.
Board members don’t get paid, but Ramos makes a bundle. As for the mayor, he and the City Council control the setting of the BOE budget. Finch decided he didn’t want to give the BOE more dough in an election year, despite campaigning to increase BOE spending. He also has influence over selection of board candidates.
tbrnx,
Yours is a new name to me on OIB. I suggest you have missed a lot of factual reporting on money, in this case the City Budget and City Council approval process. (Go to OIB archives and review info from TOWN COMMITTEE, BEACON2, JIMFOX, etc. starting around mid-March 2011.)
Money for Dunbar School? Seems this particular school has a symbolic status in the mind of that neighborhood, but it has had multiple leadership in recent years (enough to use the phrase ‘revolving door’) and the number of students has fallen very low relative to the school’s capacity. There are other schools that are not too distant from that neighborhood that also need more students (or the State of CT might ask for millions of capital funds used to redo those buildings to be returned and that is not affordable by the BOE). The Education system needs a location and one choice would be to locate in Dunbar, it has been asserted by Ramos.
The never-ending Bridgeport School Audit has not yet completely untangled the overlap of BOE and City functions. Healthcare plan administration with ‘surprising’ necessary additional expenses and unions with membership in City departments as well as with BOE are at least two of the areas where the rub has gone the wrong way this year.
Finch formed the budget in his office and sent Tom Sherwood on the trail to sell every bit of it as is mostly to the City Council. The BOE should have had their own budget formed, in order, voted upon and sent to Sherwood. This did not happen in time so Sherwood presented last year’s budget numbers once again, and Superintendent Ramos looked sheepish as he said he would talk one-on-one with the City.
(Can you see this ‘one on one?’
Ramos: Where am I going to get the money?
Finch: That’s your problem. It’s an election year and I am not going to raise taxes.
Ramos: But the Federal money is gone! And no one is providing sufficient grants.
Finch: That’s unfortunate. You will have to do whatever is left to you. Shrink the fat from your payroll.
Ramos: After three years there is no fat left. It is not possible without cutting out the people you have placed on the Education payroll.
Finch: You can’t go there. (By the way I am doing some more negotiating with unions to balance my 2011 or is it my 2012 budget? Have to check with Sherwood. Good luck, Superintendent. Remember this is what you get paid the big bucks for!
Fantasy? Very much so, but so is going to Hartford so frequently to maintain the currently in power, still in power after budgets, elections and incompetence pass before the eyes of the public.
Sharing this information with friends and neighbors is a civic duty. Outrage at routine ineptness and embarrassment the current leadership brings on the City is overdue. A lot of it was at the BOE meeting last night.
So leave your TV set (or chess game, whatever) and get yourself out to:
* City Council meetings and that will be as informative as watching paint dry!
* The next BOE session (whenever) so they may respond to whatever Hartford decides to do with the BOE that has claimed itself as ‘dysfunctional.’
* Any of the several Council subcommittee meetings where you can listen but not talk but may see the direction of the Mario machine working its way through the system.
* Local activities that appear before the Planning and Zoning Commission, Historic District or Zoning Board of Appeals. Smell the coffee brewing in the discussions and the decisions.
* And now for a real treat, you can see how a group with a citywide focus operates. Take in one of the regular Library Board meetings. They allow a period before each meeting for public comment. And in this case most of their members are present to listen. They are committed to build and operate East End and East Side full service operations, but the Mayor holds up hiring decisions (for a year, no less) and the City Council liaison process has broken down. Perhaps too few trying to do too much without the necessary time? Time usually tells.
That’s a starter list for those who might like to get reporting beyond the CT Post. Of course you might read the City Charter, review the adopted budget, look at the minutes of various committees and give the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report – 2010 (especially the notes in the back of the audit) a good read. Perhaps you may throw your energy behind a candidate: your time, your energetic voice, your money and your expertise are in demand in 2011 like never before. Maybe you will run for office. If not you, then who?
Hey Barb,
If John Ramos loves the children of Bridgeport so much maybe he should do the right thing and RESIGN!
www .wtnh.com/dpp/news/fairfield_cty/bridgeport-school-board-okays-state-takeover
The City is now in unknown territory. (Of course it might be said the moment Finch took office we should have realized we were in the same suspect situation.) Four years later we know one thing: Bill Finch has not raised taxes and that is his banner to hold high. The Board of Education with inadequate City funding has given up their oversight and called in the State. Bill has ducked Pension A by going to the State with a story about how bad off Bridgeport is financially, and gotten his waiver, but Pension Plan A will fail and more than $60 Million per year from the general fund will be called for within six years. Bill has tossed $20 million of retiree healthcare costs per year into the future also. No balanced budget. Who cares?
It was announced last night the Windham and Hartford cases of State Board of Education takeover were “different.” As Maria said last night, dissent may precede discussion, and while it may be messy for the most part the Board was civil, under control and the business of the evening was conducted and concluded. Differences of opinion or viewpoint bring out new concepts and new information. I saw that last night. That was healthy, unlike the operation of our other elected group, the City Council.
We are so used to seeing our elected bodies operate as if they were trained drill teams rather than deliberative bodies with a common citywide purpose, rather than narrow personal or political interests that cause ultimate conflicts.
And ultimately, when you look at the audit of this year’s financial operations next February to see what has been going on in the last six months and what has just been dumped over to the next budget year, we will begin to understand how poorly the elected have sensed the temper of the times, the need for change, the singular focus only on necessary basic services, and the use of community to learn at the schoolroom of open, accountable and transparent City process.
Gomes was in Hartford and put out a release on his being dead against the takeover, but the release was not put out by any media outlets. Hmmm.
The state board of education can tell the mayor Bridgeport is a taxing authority and tell him to raise taxes for the educational shortfall.
We should stop paying the Common Council. Then we will see how many would still want the job.
AT,
Is your reference to those on the City Council who hold City positions?
Or is it to the $9,000 stipend they can use for quarterly requests to reimburse themselves for expenses incurred in their representation one assumes?
Perhaps you are asking for a SCOREBOARD to be posted to show who has used their stipends, for what, and in what amounts? Ask for it, from your own Council representative and see what they say.
I mean, the political sphere ought to provide some entertainment for the taxpayer as well as those who travel and sup on the public dollar! Not all do so, happily.
BEACON2,
I was mildly offended to be excluded from your “Must read” list; I am sure it was an unintentional oversight. All kidding aside, yes we all need to keep a scorecard. Political alliances are mercurial at the best of times. I clearly see Finch winning this horse race coming into the Sept. primary. The anti-Finch vote will be divided between 4-5 opposition candidates. This will assure a Finch victory unless Gomes & MJF combine forces and the lesser candidates withdraw and throw their support to the decided. In the event Finch wins the primary I will support a Republican to be his replacement. Democrats for Republicans, let’s hope we don’t resort to that. Let’s hope the Republicans can cover.
This whole this is pretty disgraceful but perhaps it is what’s best for the underrepresented school children of Bridgeport. The state can’t do any worse than these incompetent political cronies!
Nancy–
How’s Phineas doing?
Profiles in Courage?
I can hardly wait for Bill’s next JFK quote!
It is only rumor so far, but I’ve been speaking with folks living in Black Rock who are all excited about Mayor Finch’s plan to add three more grades to Black Rock School, supported by the residents of Black Rock so they don’t have to spend money on private school … or send their kids to Longfellow!
Sounds pretty prejudiced to me, Barfy.
I thought so too, considering other cuts, but that is the way to get votes, ain’t it!
… disclosure, I do not live in BR.
Barbra Bellinger said the following, “the board was dysfunctional and couldn’t get things done.” But the board, on most every key vote, was 6-3 in favor of Bellinger and Ramos.
I take what Bellinger states as meaning she and the other 5 who vote with her are incompetent. With a 6-3 voting majority you can get anything you want passed.
I think this was all planned. First you have a BOE that does not submit its budget to the Budget committee until 24 hrs before they are to appear before this committee.
Second you have Sherwood in public saying screw them I already put last year’s budget for the BOE in place.
Then the BOE comes before the B&A committee and a lot of bullshit takes place but no changes to Sherwood’s budget figures.
Finch’s no tax increases and padded budget that has about $5 million in salaries for jobs that are no longer there is more bullshit.
The people on the BOE think their budgets are a sacred cow and can’t be touched. They have made no serious attempts to cut away fat and waste.
Shame on Finch and Ramos they both should be fired.
Lennie Grimaldi, where is your courage? Where would Finch, Bellinger, and Ramos find a dumb idea such as turning over our schools to the State of Connecticut? It is very likely such an idea came from Only In Bridgeport:
/blow-up-the-boe-bring-on-the-state/
Only from the mind of Lennie Grimaldi. Out of all the good ideas and advice from OIB contributors and its host Lennie, they had to pick this one. What really throws me off is Lennie’s dual position on this one. Is Lennie against such a move or in favor of it? Just weeks ago, Ben Barnes said there is no money to help Bridgeport BOE out. But there are millions from the State to take over the schools. More red tape, just what the schools need.
The BOE money problems are due to the City of Bridgeport’s mismanagement. Why not call for a Bridgeport Financial Review Board?
Speedy, no dual position, the BOE is a mess and the folks in charge don’t know how to fix it. Ramos, Bellinger, et al. are strategically flawed. During the budget-making process they caved. They did not fight publicly for the students. If they’re not willing to step down on their own, blow it up and start over. They’ve made a plea for help. But in doing so you must powerwash the leadership. So Ramos should resign. If I’m Finch, or any of his opponents, it’s better to take the lead on reforming education and not partnering with Ramos, as he has done, for now, at least. As mayor, he’s better off taking the lead and calling for a housecleaning. The way he has presented his position, Finch risks being part of the problem rather than reformer.
The mayor, whether he knows it or not, has changed the dynamic of his own election.
All bets are off.
He may have held the line on taxes, but the fortress he created around his ministership just crumbled when the Board of Education went to Hartford for a bail-out.
The presumption by voters, here and elsewhere, is their elected officials can hold the line on taxes, expenses and still provide effective governance. Is it always fair? NO. But there it is.
All the charges–real, speculative and downright loopy–made about city budget irregularities are on the table.
B2 may have facts but is too long-winded or esoteric on this blog? Not anymore. You just might as well throw all the chips regarding pensions he has mentioned into the pot as well. Missing anything, Beacon?
Even if the mayor gets past this election, if that is what he really wants to do, this will not go well.
Bailouts of local government are all ugly. That’s saying the state even agrees to get involved now without letting the city really sink the boat first.
It was a terrible time for Bridgeport more than 20 years ago when the financial review board came in. It was necessary to straighten things out, but awful. No one should look back on that nostalgically.
The Board of Education, and effectively the mayor, are saying to the state: “Hey, you fund the majority of education, you tell us what we have to teach, you do it.” On one level, you can understand. The problems are rotten.
But the system is set up for local control. The mayor is voluntarily throwing local control over to the state. “State” sound so distant, not human, it’s a big building on a hill in Hartford.
How do you think real Connecticut, places like Bristol, Haddam, Stafford Springs and New London, is going to react to a decision by the Bridgeport mayor and the Bridgeport Board of Education to shirk what is supposed to be a Bridgeport responsibility?
Hint: You ain’t going to get much sympathy.
Jim, part of the problems the big cities in Connecticut have are caused by the small towns and suburban towns. They control the votes in the legislature, both houses. They dump all of their social programs on the cities and barely fund them. We swallow the tax-exempt status and get a pittance in pilot funds from the state.
Look at the school formulas and we still get screwed. Show me a small town with high schools like Bassick and Harding. Go to some of these towns and just look at the astroturf stadiums and ballfields. Then look at Harding and Bassick.
town committee, I’m in agreement with your statement. What the hell does Board of Education President Barbara Bellinger, Schools Superintendent John Ramos and Mayor Finch want? They control ALL of the VOTING, the AGENDA, they control everything at BOE meetings. There is nothing that Simmons, Baraka and Pereira can do to change the 6-3 vote on anything. The only thing Simmons, Baraka and Pereira can do is to passionately and eloquently state their case and then lose by a 6-3 vote, and now Bellinger, Ramos and Mayor Finch want to go crying and running to the State. For what? You control all the votes.
This whole deal stinks worse than the shithouse door on a shrimp boat at low tide. Finch and Ramos, after squabbling for years, finally agree on one thing: asking the state of Connecticut to take over the BOE, a body even its members categorize as “dysfunctional.” I applaud Maria Pereira and Sauda Baraka for standing up and voicing their displeasure. I also applaud Mary-Jane Foster for filing an FOI request. It’s obvious Finch and his handlers are cynically manipulating events to improve OTB’s flat poll numbers. The race is tightening as the primary approaches. As more of his dirty laundry is sorted out in the media (including the unnatural and unhealthy influence Mario Testa holds over the Democratic Town Committee), it will be that much easier for Bridgeport’s voters to make an informed decision on election day.
ANYONE BUT FINCH!