City Republicans this November will be campaigning against incumbent members of the Working Families Party for elected school board seats. News release from the Bridgeport Republican Town Committee:
The Bridgeport Republicans are united in supporting the termination of Principal Carmen Perez Dixon and are appalled at the actions of three “Working Families Party” Board of Education members. Ms. Dixon who was found negligent by the CT DCF after three video tapes of her physically abusing young students at Jettie Tisdale School surfaced is currently standing before the BOE in a termination hearing.
The videos turned in to DCF by school security are said to feature Dixon in incidents that occurred between Feb. 9 and March 23, 2012 where she is shown “manhandling” children including dragging a kindergarten student down the hallway, and “physically threatening” kids including slamming a baseball bat down on a desk in front of a child. These videos were viewed by the board members sitting in on the hearing last Tuesday, however, the parents, press, and public have not been allowed access to the tapes because children in the images might be identified.Dixon’s defense says, regarding the video tapes showing her “manhandling” and dragging two children, pulling children by the collar, etc… “It doesn’t tell you what happened before or after the videotape stopped rolling,” The Republican Party feels that it does not matter what happened before or after the tape stopped as there is no excuse for ever physically abusing a child especially a kindergarten student.
The Bridgeport administration also tried and failed to fire Dixon in 2009 after a court hearing, for reasons unknown to the Bridgeport RTC that unanimously voted in favor of publicly taking a stance against Dixon’s reinstatement on Tuesday.
In a strange turn of events on Monday, Attorneys for Dixon tried to get the case thrown out due to the fact that Superintendent Vallas was Superintendent at the time of the events in question. Three members of the Board actually voted in favor of throwing the case out and reinstating Dixon due to this frivolous loophole. John Bagley, Bobby Simmons and Sauda Baraka were the Board members who voted to immediately reinstate Dixon as a principle and seemed to try very hard in favor of forgetting everything that they saw on video. This comes as no surprise to the Bridgeport GOP as the hearing began with Sauda Baraka’s integrity coming into question as BOE Chair, Kenneth Moales, asked that she recuse herself from the hearings after allegedly witnessing Baraka and Dixon having private conversations.
Bridgeport Republicans find the votes of the three aforementioned Working Families Party Board Members to be reprehensible and utterly irresponsible. It certainly appears as though they have allowed politics and friendly favors to come before the very children that they were elected to educate and protect. If this Board reinstates Carmen Dixon Perez and allows even the possibility of continuing to violate children’s rights it will have solidified its perceived lack of integrity. Republicans in Bridgeport hope that voters will pay close attention to these hearings and remember how the Board members cast their votes when they cast theirs in November.
VALLAS FACTS: Was Paul Vallas ever really a teacher? NO. ‘It all depends on what your definition of ‘Is’ was then, sort of … Did Paul Vallas ‘teach’ and how much does it matter (except to show that he’s a liar) …
Sharon Schmidt – July 15, 2013
[Editor’s Note: Back in 2002, when Paul G. Vallas was still warm following his dumping by Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley (June 2001) from the position of “Chief Executive Officer” of Chicago’s public schools, Substance did a major investigation into what we called “The Vallas Hoax” and published it both in print and on line. Sadly for Philadelphia, New Orleans, Haiti, Chile — and now Bridgeport Connecticut and Illinois (outside Chicago) — the people with power didn’t both to check whether Paul Vallas was telling the truth — or don’t care. Recently, we received more requests for information about Vallas, following the decision of a Connecticut court that he did not have the administrative credentials to be superintendent of the public schools of Bridgeport. In the course of that litigation, Vallas apparently said that he had been “a teacher” and so we’ve received some requests from people in Connecticut asking about that, too. The short answer is: NO. Paul Vallas never taught. The more nuanced answer is: “It all depends on what you mean by ‘teacher.'” Paul Vallas, like many of the leaders of corporate “school reform,” may not be very good at teaching, and may not be able to actually run a school, and may be a five-time failure as a school administrator — but Paul Vallas is very very good at frustrating people trying to pin him down with facts. And so, we are reprinting our March 2002 story about Vallas’s claims about his “teaching” here now, in July 2013. George N. Schmidt, Editor].
www .substancenews.net/articles.php?page=4398
*** FROM THE OUTSIDE LOOKING IN, I DID NOT SEE THE VIDEOS NOR DO I KNOW MS. DIXON. HOWEVER THE LITTLE INFO I DO KNOW IS THE BPT SCHOOLS ADMIN. SEEMS TO HAVE A VENDETTA AGAINST MS. DIXON AND MAYBE IT’S TIME FOR HER TO CONSIDER RETIREMENT BEFORE SHE LOSES IT COMPLETELY; REASON IS SHE SEEMS TO ATTRACT MUCH NEGATIVE ATTENTION. NOT KNOWING THE ACTIONS BEFORE AND AFTER THE SO-CALLED INCIDENTS IS IMPORTANT BUT IN THE EYES OF MANY IT STILL DOES NOT JUSTIFY THE OVERALL PHYSICAL REACTION RESPONSE. BUT BEFORE FOLKS DECIDE TO CONVICT HER OUTRIGHT, THEY SHOULD THINK AND REALLY OBSERVE JUST WHAT IT’S LIKE TO WALK IN MS. DIXON’S SHOES AS A PUBLIC GRAMMAR SCHOOL PRINCIPAL IN BPT. SHE OBVIOUSLY IS OLD SCHOOL AND DEMANDS RESPECT OVERALL FROM HER STUDENTS WHICH IS VERY RARE THESE DAYS IN CITY PUBLIC SCHOOLS WHERE KIDS RUN WILD IN THE HALLS AND ROOMS VIOLATING EVERY BOE SCHOOL RULE WITHOUT ANY REAL SANCTIONS PLACED ON THEM AND DISRUPT TEACHERS, STUDENTS, STAFF AND SCHOOL SECURITY WITH THE ADMIN ALWAYS LOOKING THE OTHER WAY! *** GOOD LUCK ***
Mojo … you speak the truth. I know Mrs. Dixon, and she is old school when it comes to demanding respect. I hope she wins the case, she is someone who cares for the students. I could go on, but Mojo, you have said it all; vendetta.
This is an unholy alliance between Finch supporters and the GOP to kick off the WF Party who spoke out against the illegal actions of the Machine-led majority on the council. This is all about corporate money and they are funding both the organization Dems and the GOP. Slater speaks with forked tongue!
This is the most ridiculous theory I’ve heard in a while. Bridgeport Republicans are not in any way forming an alliance with the Dems! Corporate Money?!? Where?!? Trust me when I say the Republican bank account is in no way reflecting that. We are in direct opposition to most of the current administration’s policies. and if we are in bed with Finch, where are the benefits? City hall is not exactly overflowing with Republican workers, and we clearly have no say in city policy. I’m actually surprised at myself for even justifying this garbage with a response.
Dearest Cisco, please don’t let the desert troll work you up. The heat out there in Tucson is exacerbating his need for conspiracy theories. BRG, why don’t you just move back to BPT if you care so much about what’s going on here? It’s hot as blazes here in CT, so you won’t be missing much in terms of weather.
That is total nonsense.
If it is why are you guys getting so upset, why is it Ball-less was so quick to attack me if my comment was as ridiculous as he claims it is? Workers in City Hall, come on Cisco … that is so old fashioned. This is about lucrative contracts. Your party in recent years has been so irrelevant I don’t think there would be enough registered Republicans that you could find any city workers. Corporate money that will be flowing into campaign ads by various organizations that are supposedly not affiliated with any candidate, not exactly a new phenomenon.
*** UNITED WE STAND, DIVIDED WE FALL. ***