As she prepares for her first official meeting Monday as the newly selected member of the Board of Education, Kadisha Coates should have plenty of observant company, including Tammy Boyle, the District Parent Advisory Council president, and former school board member Maria Pereira, opposed to her replacing John Bagley who resigned more than a month ago representing the Connecticut Working Families Party. In an interview with CT Post reporter Linda Conner Lambeck, Coates argues she just wants to fix a broken system.
Coates, a supporter of charter schools opposed by some public school parents, was selected two weeks ago to replace Bagley by a majority school board vote of Democrats Andre Baker, Dave Hennessey, Ken Moales and Hernan Illingworth, and Republican Joe Larcheveque.
Protesters to her selection will rally at 5:30 p.m. prior to the school board meeting scheduled to take place 6:30 p.m. at Read School, 130 Ezra Street. Charter schools receive public funds but operate independently of traditional public schools. Opponents argue that charter schools bleed funds from needy public schools.
In a news release issued by Boyle Sunday night, she asserts:
Kadisha Coates is a charter school parent of Achievement First charter school and a pro-charter school advocate. She personally never attended the Bridgeport public schools and neither of her school age children has ever attended a Bridgeport public school. In fact, prior to the evening she interviewed with the BBOE, she had never so much as attended a BBOE meeting, advocated for or volunteered in the Bridgeport public schools.
In March and April while many Bridgeport public school parents and community members were attending public hearings in Bridgeport and Hartford to protest the addition of two new charter schools in Bridgeport, she attended those hearings in support of adding them.
Kadisha Coates is affiliated with ConnCAN and Families for Excellent Schools, two pro-charter school organizations that are funded by Wall Street executives, millionaires and billionaires. In fact, ConnCAN’s founder Jonathan Sackler donated $50,000 to Mayor Finch’s failed attempt to take away our right to vote for our Bridgeport Board of Education members. Jennifer Alexander, CEO of ConnCAN, was the officer of a political action committee that contributed $100,000 to the failed attempt to elect Mayor Finch’s three pro-charter school BBOE candidates last year.
“It is offensive that a charter school parent and advocate with ties to these organizations has been placed on the local school board that will make vital decisions about 21,000 BPS children, 30,000 BPS parents, and over 2,000 bps teachers and staff,” says Boyle. “Thousands of BPS parents and community members stood with both BBOE members Andre Baker and Dave Hennessey and worked tirelessly to elect them last November. Their decision to vote for Kadisha Coates has shown us how willing they are to betray thousands of children, parents and community members in exchange for power and influence. Their actions will have a negative impact on the Bridgeport public school community and we are prepared to hold them accountable for their brazen violation of our trust.”
GE
Did Tay hire Maria P as her PR person because that sure sounds exactly like what Maria posts on OIB.
Thanks, Bob. I have been asked to act as MC and I more than happy to assist.
Maria,
How come you have not commented on your district’s habitual harasser Richie P.?
Is that how the BOE hands out unpaid suspensions? One day a month for the next five years?
Or maybe everyone in the 139th thinks like the Finch administration and believes sexual harassment is not a serious offense.
To quote your bow-tie buddy, time will tell.
This CT Post profile of Kadisha Coates is idiotic. She has the nerve to state “I am affiliated with nothing. I’m affiliated with my children and their progress. That is what I am affiliated with.” I guess it was pure coincidence the place she chose to conduct her interview was Mayor Finch’s office.
Here is the quote of the year. Kenneth Moales stated “She is another vote to end the circus atmosphere. Stay tuned as the Circus Ring Leader is about to be thrown out.” Now the vast majority knows Kenny Moales is the biggest BBOE clown who has ever existed. He is uncouth, classless and a bully. Please, please, please run on Mayor Finch’s slate for the BBOE next year.
Dave Hennessey’s quote should read “I was torn between two candidates. In the final analysis, I chose the candidate who I thought would vote FOR ME OR MY BUDDY JOE LARCHEVEQUE TO BECOME CHAIRMAN.” Who does Dishonest Dave think he is fooling?
Maria still has nothing to say about HER City Council representative, Richie P.
Is his behavior acceptable?
Is spreading out the discipline over five years a good practice?
What would you be saying if it were a BOE employee?
Nothing?
Hypocrite.
Troll, I posted a comment on the very first story about the sexual harassment allegations.
You are frequently preoccupied with who I am or not supporting, what I am or not writing about, etc. You should consider finding a hobby to keep yourself occupied. Maybe you can start a collection of troll dolls, statues, memorabilia, etc.
Funny, you have so much time to post on OIB, however you chose to not respond to my proposed wager on Dave Hennessey or Joe Larcheveque cutting a deal to be elected BBOE chair or vice-chair. If you were confident in your position, you would accept the bet and make some extra money for the holidays. Your failure to accept the bet says an awful lot.
Bob, you and Steve A have asked about the response from the 138th concerning Rich P. Comments were made when this became public knowledge. What more do you want and what more is there to say?
We worked hard to elect this school board and it looks like we elected a bunch of egotistical assholes who are only interested in power and power struggles. It looks like the next time some of these people are up for election we should vote to get rid of them and begin to start over. This is one group of people who have not accomplished a damned thing when it comes to the kids.
Why was it sad to send her children to Beardsley? Did she ever stop in to visit the place? It’s considered one of the best in the district when test scores, staff morale and the latest Apple grant are taken into consideration. Too bad for her children–they wouldn’t receive a better education anywhere else.
Sue, a few of us were speaking about Kadisha Coates’ disparaging remarks regarding Beardsley School in the CT Post this evening. I doubt she has ever set foot in that school, researched data on the CSDE website, etc. I understand some Beardsley School staff were very upset about her derogatory comments. However this is typical behavior of charter school proponents.
At the meeting, many of the public spoke directly to the BOE members, I thought that was prohibited at the meetings?
BBOE policy does not prohibit speaking directly to BBOE members. The policy prohibits speakers from making demands on BBOE members or personally attacking them, not addressing them directly.