Endorsed Democratic School Board Candidates Share Background

OIB readers have requested the background of the three candidates endorsed last week for school board seats by the 90-member Democratic Town Committee. Since we aim to please, see below the letters submitted to the DTC by the Rev. Simon Castillo, Katie Roach Bukovsky and Brandon Clark. We will be happy to publish the background of an opposition slate seeking petition signatures to qualify for a September primary. They are City Councilman Andre Baker, former City Councilman Dave Hennessey and Howard Gardner, an ex candidate for the city’s legislative body. We also look forward to publishing the credentials of Republican, Connecticut Working Families Party and petitioning candidates for Board of Education. The letters submitted to the Democratic Town Committee follow:

Letter from Rev. Simon Castillo

I am writing this letter to express my interest in running for a seat on the Democratic slate for the Bridgeport Board of Education in the November 2013 municipal elections. I have a passion for education and a commitment to our children’s future. I believe I am uniquely qualified as a Democratic candidate for the BOE based on the following:

• I have served as the Pastor of Good Shepherd Christian Church for 49 years located in Bridgeport’s West Side for almost 50 years.

• Founder of the Helping Hand Center, which is a center for those who battle with substance abuse and serves as a residence for individuals who have contracted HIV/AIDS. We have been serving in this capacity for 40 years.

• I have served on the City’s Police Commission.

• Currently serve as the Fire Chaplain.

These brief bullet points are only a snapshot of my experience in our community. As you consider my request, I hope that my experiences demonstrate my knowledge on the issues, my leadership savvy, and my passion for putting children first. The vision and leadership that has arrived in Bridgeport must continue in order for our city’s children to have the best possible chance to succeed.

Respectfully Yours,

Rev. Dr. Simon Castillo

Letter from Katie Roach Bukovsky

I am writing this letter to express my interest in running for a seat on the Democratic slate for the Bridgeport Board of Education in the November 2013 municipal elections. I believe I am uniquely qualified as a Democratic candidate for the BOE based on the following:

• I have been in the field of education market research and database marketing for the past 21 years. As an Account Executive for MDR, a Dun & Bradstreet company, it is inherent to my position to keep up with the latest trends in education in order to provide superior education market insight to my client base. This includes Federal initiatives and funding, such as the Common Core Standards, the Education Reform movement, No Child Left Behind (NCLB), Race to the Top, Title I, Title II, and the now-exhausted Stimulus Funding. I have professional and personal contacts readily available to tap into the higher tier and complex world of the U.S. Department of Education, as well as access to information on Corporate and local grant opportunities; all of which can help bring meaningful change to the landscape of education in the Bridgeport Public School District.

• While I have never run for a municipal elected position, I have served on the annually elected board of the S.S. Norden Club in Bridgeport for the past 25 years, many of those spent as President of the S.S. Norden Ladies’ Auxiliary. I have proven experience in conducting regular monthly membership meetings, maintaining decorum and adhering to the By-Laws of the club and deferring to Roberts’ Rules when necessary. I believe this demonstrates my leadership abilities, as well as my ability, good judgment and intuition to keep a meeting of 40+ women under 40 minutes by knowing when to ask for motions to table as opposed to putting agenda items to a vote.

• For 10+ years, I served as a softball Little League coach and Vice President of Softball for the Black Rock Little League (BRLL), resigning prior to the 2012 season. I began my “career” with BRLL when my daughters (now 20 and 17) were coming up through the system. During that time, I connected with daughters and families from the “four comers” of the city, as BRLL Softball was open to all City residents, and stayed on the BRLL Board and served as a coach well beyond my daughters’ respective graduations from the league. This decision was due to my dedication to the girls and their families, believing that I made a positive impact in their lives. I still maintain the strong relationships with these families who know me fondly as “Coach Katie,” who I am confident will support me in my candidacy.

• As a parent, I have four children who have at some point in their elementary schooling attended a Public school in the City of Bridgeport. My three older children each attended Six-to-Six at some point during that span, and I currently have a son that is entering 8th grade at Black Rock School. Additionally, they have all “done time” in the Catholic school system, but I know that, if done right, the traditional Public school education they could ideally receive in the Bridgeport Public school system would far surpass the Private/Catholic sector. Working with their father, who had bought a house in Fairfield back in 2006, we made arrangements for my two older daughters (Casey, 20 and Colleen, 17) to live with their dad so they could take advantage of the Fairfield Public school system. Unfortunately, we didn’t have the opportunities that we have today for secondary education in the Bridgeport Public school system. With the developments that have arisen in the past 18+ months, I am excited about the prospect of having my youngest son (Danny, 12) have the opportunity to take advantage of a Public school system that provides programs such as the new Fairchild Wheeler Magnet Schools.

As you consider my request, I hope that I have demonstrated my knowledge on the issues, my leadership savvy, and my passion for putting children first, The vision that was brought to Bridgeport nearly two years ago must continue in order for our city’s children to have the best possible chance to succeed.

Respectfully Yours,

Katie Roach Bukovsky

Brandon Clark letter

The purpose of this letter is to introduce myself to you and to notify you of my intent to run for a seat on the Bridgeport Board of Education this fall. With your blessing, I would like to do so as an endorsed member of Bridgeport’s Democratic Party.

I first came to truly know Bridgeport in the fall of 2002 when I moved into the freshman dorms at Sacred Heart University. Like all incoming freshman, I knew that the next four years would have an immense impact on my life and I was eager to learn and grow. In the fall of my freshman year, I started my work study assignment in the Elias Howe Annex located in Bassick High School. I was placed in a 5th grade classroom with a young teacher who had an intense passion for teaching. My first assignment was to watch and observe. Over time, my responsibilities increased from watching to correcting and grading assignments, and finally to tutoring students who were falling behind their peers or having behavioral challenges. One thing that was clear during my time at the Annex was that there was large percentage of kids in that 5th grade classroom that were under-taught and/or unprepared for completing 5th grade work.

For three years I worked with the same teacher, in the same grade, and saw the same results. Year after year, I worked with 5th grade students who were not prepared to do 5th grade work. In fact, many of those students were not prepared to do 3rd grade work. During my last year at Sacred Heart, I worked at the Wilbur Cross Elementary School with another exceptional teacher and came across the same phenomenon; children, who were technically in the 5th grade but unable to do/complete work that was typically expected of children much younger. These experiences coupled with what I was learning in my classes about the achievement gap and the dire situation facing the Bridgeport public schools and the children it served led me to believe that my work in Bridgeport was just beginning.

In the fall of 2007, I enrolled in a master’s program in School Psychology at Fairfield University. While there, I started working in the early childhood education programs at Hall Neighborhood House on the East Side of Bridgeport. These two experiences highlighted the dissonance between the academic field of Early Childhood Education and what was actually being practiced in the Bridgeport Public Schools. For three years, I watched and helped as parents desperately searched for alternatives to their local neighborhood schools with varying levels of success. It broke my heart every time parents “lost out” on an opportunity to provide their children with a quality education and were forced to send them to the local school that they knew was unable to prepare them for a lifetime of success. It was through these experiences, and after multiple trips across the country, that I discovered my heart had found its home in Bridgeport.

In the fall of 2010, I started working for Achievement First Bridgeport Academy Elementary School. Achievement First had just opened a new Elementary school on the East Side of Bridgeport (a school that I had helped many of my Hall Neighborhood House families apply to). I was fortunate enough to secure a job working with the most challenging children enrolled in the school. Although stating I am fortunate to work with the most challenging children at a school may seem like hyperbole, it is indeed the truth. Many of the children come from families that look a lot like mine did while I was growing up: a single mom, sometimes working two jobs, sometimes not working at all, trying her best to raise a colored boy against all odds.

It is for these reasons and many more that I am hoping to run and win a seat on the Bridgeport Board of Education. For far too long, the children of Bridgeport have suffered from a lack of opportunity and lack of vision from the school board. My goal is to improve the district schools to the point where, by the time my newborn son is ready to enter school, my wife and I would feel comfortable sending him to ANY school in the district. I am well aware that this task is grave and challenging, but I truly believe that I am the most qualified person for this task. I would love to speak with you in more depth about my potential candidacy, anytime, at your convenience.

With thanks and my sincerest regards,

Brandon Clark

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37 comments

  1. Thanks, Lennie. It is important to understand the background of the candidates. I hope once the challenge slate has met their signature requirements you will be able to post their backgrounds. I hope there will be many forums or debates so the voters get to know more about all of the candidates.

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  2. From Castillo:
    “As you consider my request, I hope that my experiences demonstrate my knowledge on the issues, my leadership savvy, and my passion for putting children first. The vision and leadership that has arrived in Bridgeport must continue in order for our city’s children to have the best possible chance to succeed.”

    From Katie Roach:
    “As you consider my request, I hope that I have demonstrated my knowledge on the issues, my leadership savvy, and my passion for putting children first, The vision that was brought to Bridgeport nearly two years ago must continue in order for our city’s children to have the best possible chance to succeed.”

    Lennie, who wrote this for them? Looks like a copy and paste job, doesn’t it? Was it Danny Roach? No. Castillo’s church secretary? No. Someone from the Finch administration? Hmmm.

    It looks like Brandon Clark submitted his bio. But I’m wondering if Kelleher was one of his professors. It wasn’t the trips around the country that led to his interest on the BOE, it looks more like he came from the same hunting grounds as Kelleher–Sacred Heart.

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    1. Speedy, maybe you wrote it. Does that change their credentials? You believe Castillo’s a good man, right? Is his background relevant? You are after all supporting the challenge slate. So it’s okay for you to hustle signatures, hand out advice to your candidates but not so for the endorsed candidates to receive help?

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      1. Lennie, “The letters submitted to the Democratic Town Committee follow:” If they were submitted to the DTC then obviously they weren’t the endorsed candidates yet. Following your logic here, I can conclude the fix was in and no other Democrat stood a chance of seriously being considered.

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  3. I’m just dying of laughter here. Now that I’ve pointed out the obvious, I wonder if all the posters before me will reconsider their posted comments. You guys should be smarter than that.
    If elected to the BOE all of these three candidates will do as they are told or asked. It is obvious coming out of the gate, someone is telling them what to say or doing it for them.

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  4. Lennie, you get your butt moving and get back to the fools trying to fool all of us and make it clear they failed to pass muster under further review by “Speedy.”
    Now I know from reliable sources the DTC had a list of five candidates at first and Castillo was not one of them. Where are the bios of the original five candidates? Hector A. Diaz stated here he had expressed his interest in getting on the BOE. Where is Hector’s bio? Don’t give me that crap about you only want to know about the three that are endorsed. I want to Pry Open the Juice Stuff.

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      1. Lol. There will be more videos on Public Housing. I think the BHA needs some “speedy” lessons on Preventive Maintenance. I’ll try to tape one soon and I’ll leave the editing and publishing to you.

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  5. Good catch, Speedy! My bad. I didn’t take the time to do the comparison. I retract my statement but still thank Lennie for getting the information front and center so you could catch the DTC in the act. OIB.

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  6. Is Mr. Clark currently employed by the Bridgeport BOE or a company contracted by the BOE?

    If so, wouldn’t keeping his employment (sounds like he’s doing important work) while serving on the Bridgeport BOE present a conflict of interest?

    Anyone on the DTC consider this?

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    1. Peter–the current charter schools are state funded and have their own board not affiliated with the BOE, but my antenna also went up on this one … Big target for WFP and their anti-charter platform for sure.

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      1. Jennifer, thanks for the info.

        Seems unlikely they’re operating in separate universes … especially when we consider recent history. It’s hard to disentangle Bridgeport BOE leadership/politics/policy/votes from Mayor Finch, Paul Vallas and Stefan Pryor, State Dept of Education, etc., in Hartford, no?

        As you know, I am not a member of WFP or anti-charter.
        I’m a Democrat who moved here last fall … and supported State Rep Hennessy’s bill to prohibit Bridgeport municipal workers from serving on the City Council (it died in Hartford).
        www .ctpost.com/local/article/Conflict-of-interest-bill-gains-traction-4275139.php

        If elected to the B’-port BOE, would Mr. Clark recuse himself if/when conflicts arose? Or would he follow the Mayor Finch model and wait for the CT Post to do a story and inform him of this? That is, will he do what’s right, or will he keep the substandard B’port tradition of incestuous politics alive, shrug it off, and say he’s doing what’s best for the children while doing what’s best for the B’port DTC and himself?

        Every single person in Bridgeport who is not on the DTC deserves better.

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    2. Mr. Clark is currently employed by Achievement First and works at Achievement First Bridgeport Elementary. When this is the case, one will usually recuse themselves from a vote if it presents a conflict of interest.

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  7. *** Out of the DTC choices, Rev. S. Castillo is probably the best of the lot. Long-time Latino community spiritual representative and good person to the core who is great to work with and open-minded to people’s concerns. A BFD commissioner and department chaplain as well as other city, state and neighborhood positions. Rev. Castillo along with Rev. Cook was instrumental back in the ’70s in getting the CT DOC to allow in different outside religious bible study groups and services in the prisons and county jails; as well as combining the Drug & Alcohol Helping Hand Centers with the Teen Challenge Organizations. It will be a step in the right direction with someone like him on the “thankless” BOE. *** GOOD LUCK! ***

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  8. Speaking of Elias Howe, when I left the school in or around 1998, the 4th and 6th grades had the highest CMT writing scores in the district–there was a press conference on 1/14/98 commending the school. There was a ‘sheltered’ English program servicing bilingual students according to their language classification. Identified students then benefited from a Talented and Gifted bilingual program–the first in the district.

    How fortunate Mr. Clark was able to work with a “young teacher who had an intense passion for teaching,” who couldn’t fix the terrible teaching from those 4th and 3rd grade teachers. One of these terrible teachers was named Teacher of the Year, and currently holds an important district position. Maybe I should state their name. They certainly deserve a chance to provide a rebuttal.

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    1. Oh, Sue!

      You must be mistaken!

      Excellent teachers and educational progress did not exist in Before-Vallas Bridgeport.

      Seriously, with the dawn of the After-Vallas era nearing, would there be some harm now in asking every Bridgeport educator who has been recognized for their excellence (say, by the Bridgeport Public Education Fund?) over the past 5 to 15 years to share their experienced, on-the-ground ideas for educational progress in Bridgeport?

      Perhaps a public forum hosted by a respected, non-conflicted individual? Political machines, if you really care about the children, keep out of this.

      Pro-Vallas people will say “no” to this, because, in their minds, public school teachers for the most part are led by the union.

      But think about it, what grade-school educator in their right mind would relinquish the protection of their union, right now, to fend for themselves in an educational swamp now led by Kenneth Moales, Bill Finch, Paul Vallas and Stefan Pryor and his pals?

      If you want results, you had better get the best teachers on board, Bridgeport. And “best” in this context does not mean “nods the most when Vallas or Finch speaks.”

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    2. I have no problem dropping names of great teachers. Mrs. Walters (1978), Elias Howe, who didn’t give up on me despite the fact I didn’t know English and she didn’t know Spanish. Bilingual Program, where was that?

      Principal of Elias Howe, Juan Lopez. “Hey Mr. Gonzalez, come over here, where are your books? Go back upstairs and get them.” This was outside on my way home.

      Mark Gianinni, my Record Keeping and Business Fundamental. Blame him for my ability to spot something wrong on a record document. He went beyond teaching business courses and lectured us on how life was going to be in “the real world.” If anyone know where Mark Gianinni is, I’d like to know. The days of visiting your old teachers are over for me–they all retired or passed away.

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    3. I do not believe Mr. Clark stated the 4th and 3rd grade teachers failed those children. The system as it has been constructed in Bpt has failed those children. There are many great teachers from K through 12 in Bpt, and in many other urban settings for that matter, but it is difficult to deny a 5th grader reading at a first grade level has not been failed at some point. Mr. Clark is focused on kids first and foremost above ALL else–too often we speak about hurting the feelings of adults and not about making sure the children we serve are adequately prepared for a difficult world.

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  9. Lennie–
    Will you be requesting similar info from the incumbent BOE members who are up for election? I would like have them re-state their qualifications, their plans if re-elected, etc.

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  10. Thank you, Joel. I would be seriously embarrassed if that were me. It would appear they would flunk composition but today’s education only cares about standardized testing.

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    1. Bob Walsh, I was betting you’d be the one to notice the other copy and paste job. From the first sentence I could see the copy and paste.

      From Castillo:
      “I am writing this letter to express my interest in running for a seat on the Democratic slate for the Bridgeport Board of Education in the November 2013 municipal elections. I have a passion for education and a commitment to our children’s future. I believe I am uniquely qualified as a Democratic candidate for the BOE based on the following:”

      From Katie Roach:
      “I am writing this letter to express my interest in running for a seat on the Democratic slate for the Bridgeport Board of Education in the November 2013 municipal elections. I believe I am uniquely qualified as a Democratic candidate for the BOE based on the following:”

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  11. Good work, Lennie!

    BTW–In light of the up and coming BOE elections I am starting to graph Bridgeport education data and trends on my Blog–Bridgeport Social Issues. See link below. Please feel free to comment and also please provide suggestions on the BSI blog regarding any education data you would like to see graphed. If you want ideas regarding what is possible to graph please see the following Connecticut CEDAR website.
    sdeportal.ct.gov/Cedar/WEB/ct_report/DTHome.aspx

    Here is the link to the Blog:
    socialecologicalresearch.tumblr.com/

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  12. Let’s hope we don’t have any plagiarism scandals in the B’port school system if the endorsed slate gets elected. They wouldn’t know plagiarism if they saw it or if someone wrote it for them.

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  13. Lots of dialogue about who’s running. Not much about who’s voting. If we are to effect the change we seek, we must get the apathetic to the polls. The calamarians will prevail unless the ‘get out the vote’ efforts are addressed.

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