The positioning, public posturing and battle for control of the Board of Education continues with five members who are moving forward with the regularly scheduled meeting set for Tuesday, 6:30 p.m. at Geraldine Johnson School that was cancelled by school board Chair Dennis Bradley in favor of a special meeting for Wednesday. Several board members opposed to Bradley challenge his authority to cancel the regular meeting if a quorum is at hand, as well as the full board’s previous sign-off on the regularly scheduled meetings for the school year.
After Bradley on Thursday cancelled the regular meeting in favor of a special meeting for Wednesday, Board Secretary Ben Walker on Friday fired off a letter to Bradley and outgoing school chief Fran Rabinowitz challenging Bradley’s authority. In the letter Walker spells out what Bradley can and cannot do in his capacity as board chair. Several weeks ago Bradley was one of four board members (one has since resigned) that announced a boycott of meetings until board member Maria Pereira resigns. She will not. Bradley and two other so-called boycotters, Joe Larcheveque and Annette Segarra-Negron, reversed themselves the other day to attend a special meeting. It appears they will cherry pick meetings they will attend “one day a time.” Bradley can better manage special meetings without getting into the weeds involving full board agendas.
Board members Walker, Pereira, Howard Gardner, Sauda Baraka and Rafael Fonseca have agreed to attend the Tuesday regular meeting at Geraldine Johnson School that will create enough for a quorum. Walker’s letter follows:
Mr. Bradley & Ms. Rabinowitz.
The following memorandum, Regular BOE Meeting Agenda, and supporting exhibits were filed with the Superintendent’s office and the City Clerk this morning.
As required by state law, the Board of Education approved our Regular Meeting Calendar on December 21, 2015. Under my supervision as Secretary, Dawn Cole filed the approved calendar with the Secretary of State and the City Clerk as required by state law. The minutes of our December 21, 2015 meeting clearly show that the full board unanimously approved the calendar, which included the Regular Meeting date of Tuesday, October 11, 2015, including affirmative votes of both you Mr. Bradley, & Mr. Larcheveque.
No individual BOE member, including you Mr. Bradley, has the authority to circumvent a majority vote of the full board. In fact, every Board member must adhere to the will of the full board. It is clearly understood that the Interim-Superintendent has no authority to schedule or cancel any Regular Board meeting, even at your request. As per CT state law, Ms. Rabinowitz is employed by the Board, not any individual of the Board, therefore unless the Board votes to cancel the meeting(s) we approved unanimously on December 21, 2015, neither you nor Ms. Rabinowitz possess the authority to cancel a Regular Meeting.
Ms. Baraka, Mr. Gardner, Ms. Pereira, Mr. Fonseca, and myself have confirmed their availability for attendance for our Regular BOE Meeting scheduled for this Tuesday, October 11, 2016, therefore a quorum will be present.
As Chair, you have the authority to call a Special Meeting and we will be attending your scheduled meeting on Wednesday, October 12, 2015. You also have the authority to cancel a Special Meeting called at your discretion, however you have no such authority regarding Regular Board Meetings which must be scheduled by the “public agency” by January 31st of each year for the full year.
Mr. McLeod, you are not an employee reporting to the Superintendent. You are a contractor retained by the Board to ensure we all record keeping requirements required under the Freedom of Information Act; therefore your attendance is required.
Ms. Rabinowitz, Board Policy 9124 clearly states “The Superintendents office shall be responsible to the board and will provide support to the board for conducting necessary business,” therefore both you and all pertinent staff are expected as well.
Going forward, this would include all support staff designated by you for all committee meetings.
I hope all enjoy their Columbus (Indigenous People’s) Day weekend and I look forward to accomplishing the important work on behalf of our over 21,000 public school children as scheduled on Tuesday, October 11, 2016 and beyond.
Ben Walker
Secretary
Bridgeport Board of Education
This will be very interesting. One question; does the CHAIRPERSON alone have any extra powers as to change/cancel/reschedule and set Agenda for REGULAR meetings? I have learned during this “controversy” the chair OR three members can call SPECIAL meetings.
Does not exist.
www .bridgeportedu.net/Board/Policies/2015-2016/BylawsOfTheBoard9000Series_03-01-16.pdf
Thank you, Mr. Walker. I look forward to the public speaking portion of the meeting. It will be interesting to see you as chair. Some people don’t know when they’re beat. Give it up Bradley and Joe L, you guys are done. Don’t take a whole city’s kindergarteners and their paras down with you. Man up and show up or resign.
Joe, I’ve seen some moves and actions over the years, but this one takes the cake. Bradley has completed law school, obtained a license to practice law, and still spits in the face of the law. I know Testa had no idea what he was getting into when he got in bed with Bradley with the hope of having more sway with getting jobs for friends, and next have his hands in contracts. No sir, this time the player got played. Whether you like Maria or not, can you imagine where we’d be if she didn’t have the determination, smarts, ability to research for hours at a time, and is completely devoted to the BOE? I never thought I’d say this, but to be fair I’ll take a chance and give Ganim credit for doing an end-run around Bradley and appointing Fonseco with a commitment from him not to join the boycott. Bradley could have dragged this on for who knows how long, and it would again take a court decision to stop it. He’s a dangerous man because of his ego and lack of concern for anyone but himself. I hope this puts the final nail in his coffin, and he never has a chance of winning another elected office.
Lisa, could this be the beginning of a rift between Joe and Mario? We know Mario was a strong supporter of Dennis and Joe appointed Fonseca to end the boycott, we also know Dennis doesn’t want to end the boycott. Has Mario lost his control over Dennis or has Joe said to hell with both Mario and Dennis?
Donald, you’re about as close as anyone can get in calling that one. At this point it wouldn’t serve Ganim to have a public rift with Mario, but I don’t think he’s going to jump into another Mario-driven embarrassment. Mario dove into the scene while Joe was still shaking his head over his win. Had Ganim had a opportunity to think it out, I think it would have gone differently. In my years of serving with G1, I don’t remember him being all that interested in BOE matters. That was Testa’s territory. Remember the hires and contracts, it was Testa’s goose that laid the golden eggs. If there’s anything left of the old G1, he’ll pay more attention to moves like this because I know he has no one around him who’s savvy enough to figure these moves out before they go south. To answer your question, Dennis is of no worth to Joe, and Joe will keep Mario on a shorter leash.
Lisa, remember. Ralph Ford is grooming Dennis Bradley to be the next mayor of Bridgeport.
Ron, I seriously doubt that now. You know I’m not a fan of Ralph’s, but he not stupid. After this public embarrassment and Dennis’ inability to turn it around, Ralph’s not going anywhere near a wild card.
IMHO, Ganim and Testa might have gotten a little surprise in this BOE fight but I still feel the Testa-Ganim alliance will continue. Ganim and Testa will support each other as the needs arrive for each other. We are just coming up to the First Year Anniversary of Ganim’s “reoccupation” of the mayoral office (December 1st). Ganim and Testa hope to keep their hands in the cookie jar for another three years. The ONLY thing that might make a difference is if enough ANTI-Ganim/Testa City Council members are elected in the 2017 City Council Elections.
Or another change might be in the DTC elections in 2018 but that is really pushing time much farther out.
That’s correct, Frank. However, under state law every “public agency” (local school board?) must file a Regular Meeting Calendar by January 31st of each year.
The Board voted on the 2016 Regular Meeting Calendar on December 21, 2015 and it was approved unanimously, which included the votes of Dennis Bradley and Joe Larcheveque.
Not Bradley, or any individual can circumvent a vote of the full board, therefore unless the Board votes to cancel the Regular Meeting, it stands.
This is to Frank Gyure. Joe will not publicly distance himself from Testa as that would appear to be a major crack in his administration. But as I’ve said before, although Joe appears to have lost his game, and maybe he has to a degree, he’s not stupid. He’s the same crafty Joe as always. He started out trying to figure out what changed during his long absence plus who was left. Mario knew this which is why he lunged so quickly into the BOE situation, he pushed too much into Joe’s head too soon and succeeded in being the pied piper. I don’t know the end result of this BOE situation, but we’re getting there. Once the Court rules, the Board will get back to business, no more finger-pointing, Fran will be gone, no more interference, Bradley will be left to concoct on his own and just maybe everyone will be surprised at the performance of the BOE. I hope the new member/members will be properly vetted for the right reasons and we’ll all move on to the business of the City as a whole.
I do hope that concerned Bridgeport parents, residents and taxpayers show up in force on Tuesday, October 11 at 6:30 p.m. at Geraldine Johnson School located at 475 Lexington Avenue.
There is much work to be done. Although I do not believe Mr. Fonseca’s appointment to the BOE is legal; I give him credit for at least attending the meetings.
Will be there ’til 7:45pm.
I’ll be there too!!!
Thanks to Maria, who was the author of this memorandum and was instrumental in the construction of the message sent. Maria spent hours researching and scouring BOE policy and CT statute putting this together. After she and Howard dissected the memorandum, it was presented to me to file.
This was Dennis Bradley’s response to the memorandum.
“Our regular meeting has been supplemented by a special meeting. Under my order and direction. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me.
Sincerely,
Dennis Bradley, Esq”
Aside from the obvious fact the man is ignorant of the difference between “supplemented” and “supplanted,” am I alone in thinking he also suffers from PLDD? Petty Little Dictator Disorder? Sorry, I should be kinder to those who are limited. Bless his heart.
Oh, who am I kidding? Who the flock does he think he is to order me around? Bless his heart.
Perhaps we should take him at his word that the special meeting is in addition to (supplement) the regular board meeting therefore the cancellation notice was in error. Don’t worry folks, one day very soon Mr. Bradley’s position as chair will soon be supplanted.
Thank You Mr. Ben Walker. Bless your heart.
Hahaha.
Maria and Dennis both need to go! Their egos have by far exceeded their original intent for the purpose and mission. It’s disgusting semantics are the basis for this mushfest created yes, by Maria. But for the others to cause this impasse is just disgusting and irresponsible to the kids and the job both so-called swore and took an oath that means absolutely squat to either of you. Your egos are both leading you down a path of No Return! Rightfully so, I may add.
The children DESERVE BETTER AND SHOULD GET IT.
All your BS at the expense of the children! Grow up, do your bloody job or get the “Bleep” out. It’s about the RESULTS Maria, not the fight! Something that is “crystal clear” you’ve forgotten long ago when your head started its journey far far up your ass!
It’s time to take it out and do the bidding for the kids that you too, swore to an oath that is obvious you’re not fulfilling. Not your horrendous roller-coaster political career.
You both should be removed for the undermining your BS kid antics have caused. Again, it’s not your intent, it’s the journey and results! And this Board doesn’t have any concrete results, does it?
SeaYoung, you should really first get a clue then search for the facts on the whole entire situation before you voice/type your opinions.
Smart reply, Gary!
It appears we have another coward.
One Word; Gary, Lisa and Ineffective One.
Ineffective! Sums her entire process over the years.
Again, intent is not the question or concern.
Results are, you Ostrich blinded by a bull in China shop to know.
Actually, we ALL DO! Case In Point:
Next week’s “Dual” Meetings. Great Results. Undermining, counter-productive and pet these egos that definitively come before the children. As we (Honor and Integrity) all know. What a Bloody Disgrace!
Too bad her ego can’t see through that, but bulls in china shops never do. Do they? Results Folks, Not Process! Go buy a clue and take your heads out of the sand!
I hope you’re not right, SeaYoung. I’m being optimistic, but my crystal ball isn’t perfect. It’s all about the kids, and I hope it gets back to them ASAP.
Lisa, you and I know if I weren’t effective the efforts by Testa, Ganim, Rabinowitz and the charter school millionaires and billionaires to attack me wouldn’t exist.
Coward, laws must be followed whether you like it or not. The Regular Meeting on Tuesday has substantive items on the agenda. Dennis scheduled a Special Meeting with just two items so he could block Baraka, Gardner, Walker, and me from including our items on the agenda.
Clueless Maria, Foremost, not a coward again. Just sick of all your counterproductive BS as most of us are. You have taken your entrusted position and made a bloody mockery of the children, PERIOD. That has only been your course and direction always. And that’s just it, your EGO ALWAYS comes before the children. Not your intent, but your process is all f’d up. Hence, your ineffectiveness.
Maria, when your message, your intent of why you took the position, seemingly always gets muddled and ending up in court, it’s time to GO! Your message is not getting through because of your process, therefore INEFFECTIVE Maria, PERIOD. Yes, there will be times one must fight legally to prevail in stagnation. But “every” time out? NO. Maria your process now by far outweighs your intent and results. And all you’ve done
is make it harder to achieve the issues the children need accomplished.
As stated by most who know you, your bullish mentality is vital and essential but NOT at the cost of reasonable forward progress. Only progress going on now is backwards, Maria. Own that!
And in regards to your comment about being a coward, I’ve already told you most of this straight to your face. You’re just too much about you, your ego and everything else falls by the wayside. This is genuinely based because your head is so far up your ass, you can’t see clearly or fairly for the children.
Case in point again. The children of the 2016-2017 school year. How’s that going? Still lying to yourself and can’t embrace constructive criticism, EVER. Not a grand quality as a true professional, now is it?
Your response is atypical of the concerns for the children. Dig your heels in some more Maria and see where it gets you!
All your prior BOE accolades are just that. Prior. What are your results and effects now, Maria? The dysfunction is solely based on your process, again your process. As we again see, the current results stand for themselves.
Ineffective and Dysfunctional, your TWO BEST QUALITIES. And the reason you’re lashing out at me is due to the fact your head is so far up there, you forgot who I was and what was said as food for thought. You are your own worst enemy. But maybe we should ask the kids about that!
Disgrace is disgrace. No way around that. You all are the creators of this mushfest and all should take responsibility to own that. Get your poop together, cut out your undermining games and do your job for the children.
Do you really think ANY issue in either Board meeting will be accepted by the other? You’re a blowhard and you’re using the needs of the kids and going backwards. Awesome job, Maria. Way to go!
Lastly, you need to take a good look at yourself in the mirror. Your EGO is what is causing the problems, always has, always will. The children deserve an adjustment in your behavior and time will eventually do you in unless you do. Without any help, the State could take over again with no hesitation, and then where will we be? Three-fours years backwards. There’s your RESULT, Maria! You’re on the cusp of losing all the work you’ve done the last four years. I’d say you’re up for the role Dumb & Dumber 3, or would it be 4 by now Maria?
Food For Thought!
Ms. Pereira, keep undermining people who attempt to thwart the rules. Keep making everyone follow them. Keep challenging things like illegal state takeovers in court. Keep demanding board employees be subject to evaluation. Keep holding people accountable for their actions or inactions. Never mind the anonymous crybabies who get their information from media soundbites and biased reporting from the CT Post. Those of us who are paying attention know you are right. If all the anonymous keyboard warriors would put up and show up they might get a clue.
More WORTHLESS comments from another coward HANDLE unless I am told by Lennie “everyone” knows who “SeaYoung” is along the lines of Milkman and Local Eyes. Is there a list of “handles” who are out there but yet “everyone” knows who they are?. When I signed up for OIB, as I read the rules, handles would be reserved for those who bring “juicy” bits of information from deep inside City Government and their identity needed to be protected. SeaYoung is another example that the “handle” policy is all BS. SeaYoung’s comments here are WORTHLESS.
The Truth Hurts, Frank! Sorry for you.
SeaYoung. Who are you??? Do you have the guts or bravery to tell us your name?
Your thoughts are completely scattered, incoherent and unfocused. Let me guess, you’re Donald Trump.
Any state takeover would be challenged in court. And the state is fully aware of that.
The Truth Hurts! Sorry for you as well Fernandá, excuse me I mean Maria!
Dennis Bradley just sent us the following email:
“Hello All,
Just want to make it clear that the Chair calls meetings.
The dates published in December were proposed and NON-BINDING, only the Chair can create the agenda and none was drafted, and only the chair has the authority to call and thus cancel meetings …”
I truly believe Bradley is completely losing it and cannot accept he has lost. Since when is the vote of an elected board “non-binding?”
He is unable to refer to a single CT state statute or board policy that supports his position. Bradley thinks he is the king of the BOE instead of the chair.
A CT Post article just placed online states France Rabinowitz considers the meeting canceled and will not be attending. This is a direct violation of Board Policy. If Rabinowitz and her staff do not attend they will need to face disciplinary action. Rabinowitz does not work for Dennis Bradley, she works for the full board.
Suspension without pay seems appropriate.
Don’t forget those “pieces of glass” all over the floor now!