The Bridgeport Board of Education Monday night approved a new three-year contract for Superintendent of Schools Paul Vallas in a vote that continued a 5-4 split among the Democratic majority and the vocal opposition from members of the Connecticut Working Families Party. The thee-year deal came as a surprise as Vallas had postured publicly for a one-year extension to continue the reforms he’s instituted since his hiring more than a year ago at the urging of Connecticut Education Commissioner Stefan Pryor.
The deal calls for Vallas to be paid roughly $230,000 a year, but without the extended health benefits the prior school board approved for former school chief John Ramos to age 65. It was Ramos who had supported a state takeover of schools approved by the school board in 2011 that was invalidated by the Connecticut Supreme Court.
A provision in the contract approved by the board calls for Vallas’ compensation to be docked if he leaves the district for other interests such as Haiti, where he had done prior education volunteer work before his hiring in Bridgeport. Democratic board member Ken Moales made the motion for a three-year deal, the traditional arrangement for municipal school chiefs, saying the school district needed to make a statement with continuity and furthering the initiatives advanced by Vallas, the national school reform figure who had previously headed schools in Philadelphia, Chicago and New Orleans.
Maria Zambrano, executive director of Excel Bridgeport, an education advocacy group in support of Vallas, says the vote is a boost to the future of schools.
“The changes he put in place are beneficial to the city,” Zambrano told OIB shortly after the vote. “Tonight we had a show of support from students, clergy, parents and education advocates. This was another indicator that the community is strongly behind Vallas. This is a victory for the city. Hopefully we can move forward in a productive way,” no doubt a nod toward members of the Working Families Party who opposed Vallas’ contract.
Monday night was the typical BOE slug fest with the opposition bloc led by members of the Connecticut Working Families Party Maria Pereira, Sauda Baraka and John Bagley threatening lawsuits if Vallas’ contract was extended, claiming discussion for a contract extension was added late to the BOE agenda. They were joined in opposition by Democrat Bobby Simmons.
Democrats Jacqui Kelleher, Ken Moales, Leticia Colon, Tom Mulligan and Hernan Illingworth approved the Vallas extension.
Mayor Bill Finch had urged a new contract for Vallas:
“I wholeheartedly support the three-year contract extension the Board of Education approved for Superintendent Paul Vallas this evening. I am glad the Board was able to do what is right for the children of our City. During his short time here, Paul Vallas has made a huge difference in our schools, and I look forward to continuing our work together to keep the momentum going to create the kind of meaningful reform our children deserve.”
Vallas’ contract extension is a salve for the mayor stung by the defeat of his November ballot initiative to empower him to appoint school board members.
Finch has not been bashful about his distaste for the Working Families Party that helped defeat the ballot question. Pereira and Baraka are both up for reelection in November. The elected Board of Education operates under state-mandated minority-party representation. Defeating Periera and Baraka would require Republican or petitioning candidates to finish ahead of them.
Democrats Ken Moales, Jacqui Kelleher, Leticia Colon, Tom Mulligan and Hernan Illingworth did what they were TOLD to do, no surprise about the outcome but for three years, now that’s the real joke, business as usual.
Hmmm, didn’t you predict he would never stick around?
He is sticking around because he is getting a six-figure salary for a job he is not qualified for under CT state law and is part time … No other city will touch him.
Vallas has led multiple school districts educating hundreds of thousands of students. And you? Looks like your full-time job is to post anti-Vallas, anti-Finch comments on here and the CT Post website.
Vallas has pretended to “lead” schools districts while raiding the taxpayer funds for himself and his cronies … the lies have been unveiled and this is your future. Read it and weep. New Orleans’ Recovery School District: The Lie Unveiled:
deutsch29.wordpress.com/2013/03/05/new-orleans-recovery-school-district-the-lie-unveiled/
We get what we deserve.
Hmmm, didn’t yahooy also predict Vallas would not stick around?
Contracts, IF legal, can be easily broken. It happens all the time.
Houston, we have a Superintendent for three years, perhaps, pending completion of certification requirements during 2013. Doubtless he will be evaluated frequently and perhaps he will post at least a broad outline of the expectations in terms of Goals and Tasks, or whatever new format is used.
In addition, perhaps all elected or appointed Board and Commission members might post the same type of assessment info for the public to learn from and follow. What are their tasks and goals? And maybe the Mayor can find the time to evaluate all Board and Commission members now. How long can it take? Well one member is serving without re-appointment since 1997. Dysfunction? Seems so. Or maybe it’s only a typo.
And for all of you fans of where the BOE money is going in the City Capital Budget, where are these numbers reported? Where are they available to the public? Where do we stand? When does the School Building Committee meet? Who are the members? Where are the minutes?
Let’s get back to basics. If you don’t keep asking for data, how do you expect to get it? Perhaps you want to do the City Attorney’s office Freedom of Information Dance? It’s complicated, first few steps with City offices and then with the State Board requesting a hearing, and all accompanied by a brass band playing “16 Tons” (and what do you get? Another day older and deeper in debt. St Peter …). Time will tell.
Just research Philly and NOLA to see your future. Test scores will improve slightly but it will be a shell game. There are plenty of ways to juke the stats. The masters of deception know all the tricks.
Listen to the sound of money being suctioned towards the eduvultures. They will be circling now the coast is clear.
I did some research because I keep seeing this repeated everywhere and it just doesn’t make sense. None of this was hard to track down.
Vallas arrives in Philly in 2002. Only 19.5% of elementary school students are “proficient” in math. By 2007 when he leaves, that number has risen to 44.9%. In 2010, 3 years after he is gone, 56.6% are proficient in math. Same for reading. 23.9% in 2002, 40.6% in 2007 and 50.7% in 2010, three years after he is gone. Can’t find much after 2010, but can’t really blame someone either way after being out of control of the district for that many years. Similar statistics in NOLA. Upon arrival, 62% of students attending schools deemed failing by the state. Three years later that number is less than 20% students attending failing schools. “beware” says there are plenty of ways to “juke” test scores, so looking at other than test scores, a more simple measurement by our own US Department of Ed:
DOE just released its first nationwide study of a single cohort of high schools students for graduation rates. A year after Vallas is gone, 76.4% in the RSD district graduated in four years, beating the national average of 70.9% of American students graduating high school in four years, and most importantly according to the USDOE, concerning the achievement gap, NOLA’s African American students graduating in just 4 years exceed the national average by a whopping 16.5%.
Lots of numbers, but I am impressed.
He is just slicker than you … lots of ways to game the system. Are test scores the only measurement? Those cities are a mess now. So much for sustainability. Are you also an edupreneur also know as an edushyter? Cheating as we worship … straight from his playbook:
deutsch29.wordpress.com/2013/03/02/cheating-as-we-worship-the-almighty-standardized-test/
John, any comment about the Post blog by Jonathan Kantrowitz who reported Finch’s education liaison Joshua Thompson who is a member of the Mayor’s discretional staff is paid out of the education budget?
I do not read Jon’s comments regularly. May take a look later today. However I believe this “fact” is something to be raised at a BOE meeting. Simple question. Go to the Public School site, see if the info is there. If not, to Mayor’s budget, currently late, but has to arrive soon. Under employee detail, a $102,000 salary ought to pop out. Or maybe you can go to the Mayor’s brown bag luncheon and ask the question. If I show up with my snow shovel tomorrow, it will probably cause frustration and stomach churning by the Mayor. What is Josh Thompson doing? What are his GOALS and TASKS, the successful completion of which are worth $102,000 plus healthcare and other benefits???
I am aware of one cynical poster on OIB who does not believe in evaluations or assessments, because there is always an agenda in play. Well, with public funds, until there is a better way, we should be expecting something effective, timely and dependable for our dollars. Look at the section in past annual budgets on departmental GOALS/Progress towards, etc. We should all be looking at this data on the City site. I shouldn’t have to wait for the City to respond or not to FOI or other routine requests. They need to be pro-active. Time will tell.
It just occurred to me. If Mary-Jane Foster were Mayor, we would not have Paul Vallas.
How could you be so sure of that, yahooy? Did I miss an op ed piece? I am not so sure Vallas is not exactly what Bridgeport needs.
I’m not surprised you’re not so sure.
*** It’s good the BOE finally pushed through a decision on the schools Supt. tonight before the new fiscal year. And by the overall support in general, it seemed there were more Bpt folk in favor than not. Also a three-year contract to end right around the same time Mayor Finch’s term in office ends seems fitting should things not work out to the liking of the then BOE, State of CT Educational Dept, teachers and parents groups, education advocates and of course the school system’s academic scores. With all the long-term engraved problems in the Bpt school system, anything less than a three-year contract would have been the usual short-term fix the city’s BOE is known for! Now it’s time to set politics aside for at least a while and help the Supt. and BOE work together towards a positive common goal for the children of Bpt. *** GOOD LUCK TO THE BPT SCHOOL SYSTEM ***
Abundantly clear more ‘people’ in Bridgeport were in favor of Vallas. More Calamarian rhetoric.
As far as last night’s meeting is concerned, it was obvious while the board may have been split between the Working Families Party and its more rational members, the community members in attendance were not split.
My wife and I went to the BOE meeting last evening but left after the Board went into executive session. It was very clear from the start the BOE was split 5 to 4 on Vallas. It was not clear a professional and comprehensive performance evaluation process was in place. This needs to happen in the future. It looks like Bridgeport’s school district will have some continuity of leadership for the next three years. A lot of work is ahead and it’s time to look forward versus backward.
That’s right. Let’s move forward, not backward!
Contestant: I’ll take Bridgeport for $100.
Alex Trebek: … the answer … “doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result” …
Contestant: What is insanity?
Alex Trebek: Correct!
Let us be mindful of the specific individuals who are currently engaged in the negotiations for the extremely lucrative BOE construction projects and take a careful look at the contracts for BOE support services. Last night’s structured vote made several people happy.
yahooy,
Who is participating? Can you be helpful here? Facts, please. Negotiations or meetings where decisions get made? Where posted? What times and places? Contracts for BOE support services with whom for what amounts? (Have you looked at purchase order records in past years? Are bidding processes followed?)
Shine a light for people to see what is there, please. Otherwise it becomes fear mongering that does nothing towards changing an angered body politic. Can you help with this? Time will tell.
I’ll not name names. What is being done is not illegal. I raise the issue to inject ‘fear’ as you call it to raise awareness perhaps there are other highly skilled and capable contractors out there who might provide the city with a level of service that ensures an efficient utilization of capital resources. Last time the city embarked upon an aggressive construction program, many were incarcerated. Then we were sued by those who were pushed aside in the bidding process. I am deeply concerned and you should be too. But you seem to be content in proffering word after word and accomplishing nothing. Write on, Macduff … for all it’s worth.
And you monger fear to the community!!! Why not be a fishmonger, yahooy? When fish go bad they smell. The way you write about the City, why would I try for a contract, so maybe I bypass Bridgeport and go elsewhere? And we get what’s left?
By the way with your attitude, can the cycle be broken? And how about naming names of quality contractors or the others who prey on us, according to you? As far as “accomplishing nothing” we shall see. Time will tell.
How dare you cast blame upon me for heralding the dysfunctional political climate in which we live and suggesting it is I who cast fear onto the entities that might consider commerce in our town? Yet every single word you spew forth makes pale my bewares. You, sir, are a philistine and a lousy one at that.
So eloquent about the frailties of others to disclaim? Having intelligence but afraid or proud of using it to keep the community captive? So entranced by your wry and literary style? Get a life … sell fish, not fear … nourish the people of the community with your bon mots … rather than confirm them in despair … and when things happen, will you be at the party? Time will tell.
Balderdash.
Well it’s about time! Vallas has been doing great work in the time he’s been here and now this new contract gives him the time to let his reforms take hold. Bridgeport schools are on their way up!!!
And at $900 a day we can pay for his car and gas … god knows he couldn’t afford that … that’s for the lowly teachers. Such a rock star, so beholden to the almighty V. You are being pickpocketed by an expert. Just wait …
Dave Walker, I understand your point but let me quote Jorge Santayana. Santayana is known for his famous saying, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
Great point. We all need to learn from history and from others. In addition, you can’t expect different results with the same people doing more of the same thing over and over again.
Whooo hooo!!! Yay! What a victory … our children finally have a chance! Major great change happening in this City. Even among the negative, good always comes out. What a noble man not even to accept benefits working employees are entitled to. God is good!!!
A truly let them eat cake moment.
Spam from Excel B’port … she already posted that nonsense on the CT Post.
I wonder if Jmar’s church is the beneficiary of Board of Ed funds … this is why a lot of local clergy were supporting Vallas in the first place.
To my g/f and I and our children it does not matter if Mickey Mouse is in charge (actually was, insert Ramos for Mouse). If the person is legally hired and does what is best for the children, and is not corrupt, we are happy to have them.
Question being, is Vallas that person?
*** It’s a done deal, now it’s time for the fantastic four to work with Vallas & Co. to try and turn things around instead of being a thorn in his side every step of the way, no? If it doesn’t work out hopefully he’s out with Finch & Co. in three years and they can say, “we told you so!” ‘Til then it’s time to play ball within reason for the kids, “not politics!” Time to work towards replacing some faces on the city council & BOE who are not city employees to start with, no? *** HERE WE GO! ***