Halloween weekend, sorta. You have any scary thoughts less than two weeks from the municipal election? (A snowstorm, maybe?) As it applies to city voters this is like Night of the Living Dead. Knock knock, anyone home? Just us zombies. Maybe it’s time for a seance in front of Mr. Barnum’s gravesite at Mountain Grove Cemetery to increase voter participation. Oh that’s right, Mountain Grove is the place for voter participation.
So what happens if the state Supreme Court overturns the state takeover of the Board of Education? Is this a good thing or bad? Is there a special election for all seats or will the school board members whose terms were not scheduled to expire when the majority threw in the towel be grandfathered in? So how about this for an idea? The Supremes reinstate the elected board and as its first action calls for a state special master to oversee schools, the traditional attempt to reform a failing system. This is new territory for the city and the state. The law the local school board cited and sanctioned by the State Board of Education to strip local control is new and never before challenged.
Going back to the way it was–flatlined budgets, burdensome deficits, education leaders throwing up their hands–would be a nightmare. Anyone know how to play this game?
No matter what happens the state must have a major role in reforming the city school system. The way it was is not the way it should be.
To be honest, Bridgeport public schools sucked when we had a boe, why not have the state run them? I’m not mad at all, let’s see how it work out. As a public school student a few years back I did not see anything good the boe did.
“The Supremes reinstate the elected board and …”
But wait a minute, Lennie! One of the former BOE elected members is running for City Council–again. Was her seat one with an expiring term in 2011?
Hey Lennie, what happens with the decisions already made by the State BOE–like Ramos firing?
donj, you get from the Bridgeport public schools what you put into it–I’m not talking about money, either.
Lennie,
It’s a bit of a mess right now. The court has several options including decisions that uphold voter’s rights, one that puts the petition candidates back on the ballot, one that calls for election of an all-new BOE, and even a decision that calls for a special master.
Somehow this court needs to reconcile two basic rights: the right to vote and the guarantee of a public school education to Bridgeport’s young.
There are probably other decisions that could also be handed down by the court regarding this case, but obviously the court will not ignore what the city casts aside.
Maybe the Supremes will sing “Nothing But Heartaches” and “I hear a symphony” and “You keep me hangin’ on” and reinstate the BOE 3 then kick the election to December 6.
During the Supreme Court argument, the Chief Justice asked lawyers if the Board of Education was responsible for all of the problems with the Bridgeport schools. It’s a fair question.
As the governing body for the school system it deserves a large share of the blame. But so do the Mayor and Council (who set their budget) and the state, which still hasn’t fully funded local education.
Isn’t it interesting the Mayor and the Governor planned this coup while pinning the blame solely on the Board of Education?
Interesting too they suddenly got the idea to do this in January right after a friendly new Democratic Governor took office. But this isn’t political.
Even more interesting, they worked on the idea for months but kept it secret until the very last minute. Who needs to know what the voters and taxpayers think?
Ah, Bridgeport. The circus continues.
Clever repartee. The fact of the matter is the mighty ‘6’ who were elected were elected by calamarian control. These are the people who claim they are unable to work effectively because of a hostile environment. They should be removed and replaced with state-appointed people who can move in, remediate and move out. That’s why the state came in. I say let them do their job. Our right to elect who we want didn’t seem to work out, did it?
And let’s throw out our constitution while were are at it. Glad Timpanelli and the BRBC are going to get their asses handed to them as “Friends of the Court.”
They are so “YesterYear!”
Last night the BOE held a meeting on the budget. Perhaps 40 people from the system were present to answer questions asked by members of the Board.
My opinion: after viewing the way Boards and Committees handle City money in recent years, I am impressed by the tone of the questions and responses; by the depth of the questions and the research that was done to meet them; and by the breadth of experience and knowledge on the part of the “current Board” in sorting out ways to produce a realistic budget using all potential “savings” or “inefficiencies” they can find.
Hoping or expecting the Mayor to raise his three-year flatline commitment to education in Bridgeport or looking for dollars from other sources still requires a solid budget with realistic expense figures. It appears Chair Trefry and other members are providing the serious effort required. And that is a real gift to this community. Linda Connor Lambeck, CT Post was present and I am curious to see whether she has the same impression.
Mayor Finch deserves no applause for his settlement with AFSCME that created a “no cut” contract for them. Bill just threw another log on the BOE administrative railroad track, at the same time he was denying them any new money, etc. and plotting in Hartford to eliminate their frustrations, a major number of which he caused. Find that interesting? Yet he will keep repeating education in Bridgeport is a major goal? Guess that gullible word needs repeating.
It is really necessary and important we learn about governance practices in other communities and raise our sights to expect much better than we suffer at this time from members of the community who have no clear idea of their overall mission in public service, and then disappoint us with their results. Time will tell.
Perhaps included in a Special Master solution there could be a Financial Review Board ingredient to work with the board or a Board of Finance for Bridgeport.
There is no accountability. And therein lies the ultimate problem. If the schools fail, no one gets axed except the superintendent. No teacher gets axed, no principal gets axed, no one on the BOE gets axed. And there are no monetary penalties for ineptitude and basic incompetence on any level.
Bob,
Accountability works in all directions, it seems to me.
For instance, where is the accountability for a fifth grade student speaking to a teacher (whom the student has known for five years and who has spent countless hours attempting to encourage reading skills with this unmotivated young man) who says to that teacher recently, “I don’t like your attitude.” Now this is something the young man, a special education student with an IEP, individualized education plan, has heard from a parent and tried on the teacher. The teacher was able to turn the comment around on the student and regain the teachable moment, but where does accountability on the part of parents attend in a situation? And a student who is being goaded by a parent who wants a specialist appointed and her son taught in her home at a cost far in excess of the classroom experience?
And listening to some of the parents speak at Tisdale School two weeks ago, it seems the home-school continuum of care provided by social workers and counselors is seen by families in the community as less an educational effort than a community commitment and right of a family to expect. How do we sort out the various expectations in such an equation that is also tied up in the BOE budget? So there is some accountability in the system, or there would be greater dysfunction and seeming chaos than we see today. Perhaps it is time for the education Mission to be discussed by all stakeholders and get buy-in and commitment from the various segments as to what they are responsible for and how they will be held accountable, with consequences spelled out in advance.
It is a tragedy in the making when a young person and also the responsible adult in their life do not “show up, on time, dressed to play” for maximizing the $200,000 and greater public expenditure provided for about 15 years in schooling. Where is the accountability or the consequences in such situations? We may be talking about the same situations but from different points of view. Waste is waste, wherever it exists and where present, it requires a different approach.
Indeed. Accountibility is also at the parental level, should there be a truly concerned parent. I realize coming from a ghetto mentality and a welfare situation it’s hard to discipline, but teachers aren’t supposed to be the disciplinarians. I don’t know about you, but we were terrified of the prospect of the dean in high school and having a parent come to school. And I attended high school in Hell’s Kitchen in NYC.
Bob // Oct 29, 2011 at 10:29 am
To your posting
Bob,
Whatever the components of your life that played into your education experience in a public school system, one of thousands and thousands across this country established to meet the constitutional right of each child.
The best expectations see a three-way partnership with the child, the parents and the teacher.
When this three-way partnership has been critically damaged, the social contract the city of Bridgeport (as well as any other US city) has with her citizens Is to put that three-way in a healthy, functional state.
Neither the Mayor nor the Superintendent has ever shown the leadership needed to give every student in the Bridgeport school system an education that serves them rather than sentences them.
Neither the Mayor nor the Superintendent had the political will or the moral courage to take on the work needed to make the parent-teacher-child work together on even the most basic levels.
Like every other department in the city, the department of education has become politicized.
Bob … you had a component working (the dean) that may have been strong enough to make your education experience one of value. I think that’s what you were saying.
In Bridgeport, every child is living what they learn and it is that learning experience that must be shaped. No matter how difficult it is to get there we must insist the relationship of parent to teacher to child must occur.
*** If the state’s takeover is overturned, it’s back to square one again for the next four years. Then who will bear the blame as the new city BOE moves slowly through the same old song & dance? *** LAND OF A THOUSAND DANCES ***