A Greenwich music teacher, a Mary Kay consultant, a consultant with Goodwill, a paralegal and a licensed nurse with two of her children in charter schools are among the six candidates scheduled for interviews today to fill the Board of Education vacancy by John Bagley who resigned October 15. The school board will meet at 5 p.m. at the Aquaculture School presumably to put the candidates under the interview glare and make a selection to fill the ninth member.
The candidates are members of the Working Families Party, the line Bagley claimed when he won one of three minority party seats more than two years ago.
CT Post reporter Linda Conner Lambeck provides additional background here.
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You can be sure both sides (WFP & Charters) have their ringers in the mix. And anyone can promise anything going forward to get on so the real questions need to focus on what have they done to show their commitment to Bridgeport Public Schools.
I don’t think someone who has a lifelong commitment to teaching in the suburbs should make the cut. And I think a parent who already has two children in charter schools has already made a statement about the Bridgeport Public Schools.
Does anyone know the ground rules for the process? If I am WFP I want to narrow it down to three finalists. My ringer and two others. Pay close attention to whom the admin BOE members are coaching through the questions to better determine who their ringers are.
Since there are only eight members currently on the board, does the winning candidate need 50%+ of the board members or the board members present and voting? And does Sauda, as chair, get to break a tie on a 4-4 vote?
Good luck to those in the running. I hope the process will be fair and productive, despite the inherent politics. The governance of Bridgeport will only improve when we have an increase in the number of capable, committed, non-conflicted people who stick their necks out and get involved.
Bob–as an experienced person who’s familiar with Danbury, you seem surprisingly off in your your assertion regarding Mr. Walker, our fellow Bridgeport resident, having, in your words, a “lifelong commitment to teaching in the suburbs.” I don’t know him at all, or any of the others in the running, but what do you mean?
From the CT Post article: “Before Greenwich, he worked in Litchfield, Wilton, Danbury, and Western Connecticut State University [in Danbury].”
Another question regarding ties: What if two or more candidates receive the same number of votes from a majority?
If the board cannot decide, then Mr. Bagley’s effective-immediately resignation will turn into an early Christmas gift for the mayor. Watch for Moales to filibuster in order to achieve this outcome.
Bob Walsh, good question, who breaks a tie? Sauda or maybe the mayor, what does the charter say?
The charter schools won. The woman with two children in charter schools and who testified in support of charters in Hartford is B’port’s newest BOE member.
It appears Bob is right.