John Weldon, who served as chairman of the Board of Education from 2017 to 2022, shares this commentary asserting the hiring process for a school chief is “sham and has been hijacked before it has even started.”
Since November 2024, after getting rid of the former Superintendent and firing everyone she hired (except for Deputy Supt. Dr. Royce Avery), and virtually bankrupting the school system (all of which caused the State to intervene) the Bridgeport BOE has been operating for the last 2 years under mandated State oversight with the assistance Dr. Avery as Interim Superintendent. Two years operating under a “temporary” arrangement, while they’ve dragged their feet revising policy and taking other steps the State has required of them.
For the last 9 mos. of that time, Dr. Avery has not been shy about his desire to fill the job permanently. He’s done so through statements made at BOE meetings, and events he has hosted which have endeared him to the school, business and political communities. I personally find his degree of public self-promotion for the job a bit distasteful, but I acknowledge he seems to be doing a good job running the District. The BOE, for its part, also appears to be more than satisfied with him, as they recently gave him a 10% ($25,000) salary increase.
Why, then, do they not just hire him? Instead, they’ve spent the better part of the last year looking for a search firm, finally settling on Zeal Educational Group, and developing an extensive process with that firm to solicit information from all segments of the community about what they want to see in the next Superintendent, when those very same segments of the community have already made it clear that they are happy with Dr. Avery.
The BOE, at its most recent meeting, announced that candidate interviews would not be conducted publicly, with no reason given. When BOE Member Andre Woodson expressed his objection to that, he was summarily shut down by the Chair. Ostensibly, this is being done to protect candidate confidentiality to foster maximum applicants and to protect the process from interests trying to promote certain candidates. However, the next day, a graphic was circulating on social media, with Dr. Avery’s picture, encouraging the community to come to Bassick High School on August 31 at 6:30 PM to “Support Dr. Avery being the next Superintendent”.
Bridgeport BOE does it again. The hiring process is a sham and has been hijacked before it has even started.
If the BOE wants to hire Dr. Avery, it is disingenuous of them to hire a search firm (which they’ve gotten the State to pay for) and engage community stakeholders about what they want in a new Superintendent, while allowing Dr. Avery to promote himself for the past 9 mos. to those very same stakeholders.
If the BOE really cares about doing what’s best, they will either stop wasting everyone’s time and hire Dr. Avery, or back off and let the process play out legitimately without anyone promoting one candidate or another.
