Max Medina, who spent 16 years on the Board of Education including several years as its president, is watching closely as city and state pols examine a legislative fix to the Connecticut Supreme Court’s reversal of the state takeover of schools. If they don’t get what they want, says Medina, they change the rules just like Venezuela.
“The Connecticut Supreme Court handled the decision superbly,” Medina told OIB. “They did this in a way to eliminate chaos. Then we see the Venezuelan-style government that comes from the political system.”
Medina, an attorney with the Bridgeport-based law firm Zeldes, Needle & Cooper, served as BOE president during Finch’s first two years as mayor before leaving at the end of 2009. Finch and Medina, who live just a few blocks apart in the city’s Upper East Side, have never been buds. They had engaged in testy letter exchanges over Medina venting at Finch for short-changing spending for school children.
Medina, in fact, marvels at the way the mayor professes publicly to put school children first after flatlining the BOE budget for four years in what Medina believes was a calculated attempt to force the state to takeover schools, and a money grab by Finch to control construction contracts and school budget, the largest pot of money in the city budget.
“How much more disenfranchised could Bridgeport voters be?” says Medina. “The emails show this was something they were plotting since January 2011. You had a conspiracy by a dozen people” Medina says that included the mayor, the governor and his advisers. “Connecticut has become Venezuela.”
So Max, when are you running for the BOE?
Finch never met a conspiracy he didn’t like.
Et Tu Brute?
Three early childhood specialists have been reassigned to schools, and one math curriculum specialist I know if is awaiting the same fate. I believe these highly paid professionals are being placed as long-term substitutes in order to save a few bucks.
Disgusting.
Make that highly educated as I’m not aware of their pay level. They make the same rate as teachers, but are leaders and specialists in their respective fields. I’m shaking as I type this.
BTW, the BOE website is down. Maybe the webmaster has been reassigned to substitute duty too?
Sue,
Why are you shaking as you type that blog? I am a highly educated well-paid educator. I was at 948 Main Street/curriculum center for 15 years. I was reassigned to a classroom at Roosevelt earlier this year. All curriculum specialists were at one time classroom teachers. Most subs in Bridgeport are NOT certified teachers. They are bodies who show up. Classes are being covered by subs because there is a hiring freeze. Roosevelt has three classes being covered by non-certified people as I type this. How is putting a master teacher who is certified back in the classroom to educate children a bad thing?
I don’t get it. Why are the students the last thing people care about?