Working Families Party School Board Candidates: Empower Parents, Teachers, Students, Not Politicians

The small but mighty Connecticut Working Families Party has a chance to make history in Bridgeport on Nov. 5: coalition control of the Board of Education. In 2009, WFP candidates Sauda Baraka and Maria Pereira defeated Republican candidates for the state-required minority party slots on the school board. The WFP added another last year with the election of John Bagley. They now occupy one third of the school board seats. The WFP backed all three victorious challengers in the Democratic primary September 10, including Andre Baker who will also appear on the WFP line for the general election. The three Democratic nominees are prohibitive favorites. So barring two Republicans running ahead of the WFP candidates, the WFP will control school board policy with its Democratic alliance. OIB asked the WFP candidates to share their vision on school board policy. Commentary follows:

We are Sauda Baraka, Andre Baker Jr., and Eric Stewart-Alicea, and we are running for Board of Education on Row C, the Working Families Party line. All three of us are parents of public school students who are dedicated to providing a quality education to all of Bridgeport’s public school students.

Sauda has served on the Board of Education since 2005, and has been an involved parent activist in Bridgeport for nearly 30 years.

Andre Baker Jr. is a four-term member of the Bridgeport City Council who has been an independent voice for his district and always puts his community’s needs ahead of those of the political machine.

Eric Stewart-Alicea is the current President of the District Parent Advisory Council and an advocate for parent involvement in our schools.

We are proud to be the candidates of the Working Families Party because we believe that every student in Bridgeport deserves the opportunity to receive a quality education. We believe public schools are the foundation of our community and must be protected. These are the values we will bring to the Board of Education.

Presently, our schools are suffering because of a top-down governance mentality, which excludes parents and teachers from meaningful decision-making roles.

We have a plan to turn our schools around and restore a role for parents in the education of their children!

Here in Bridgeport we have witnessed unprecedented attacks on our public schools. In 2011, the state illegally took over the Board of Education in a conspiracy orchestrated by the Mayor and wealthy out-of-town interests. Then, and again last year, the Mayor attempted to take away our right to vote for our Board of Education; instead he wanted a Board that he, and he alone, would appoint. The current administration–first hired by the illegally appointed Board–has willfully ignored parents and teachers who want to have a say in how their children’s schools are run.

Gratefully, these efforts have failed, but we must continue to be vigilant.

Parents, teachers, students, and the community have come together and demanded an accountable, transparent, and inclusive school system. We are proud to have worked with the community last year to protect our right to vote for Board of Education, and keep parents and teachers engaged in running our schools.

Going forward, we would like to see a number of positive changes that will improve Bridgeport’’s schools:

• Community driven solutions for our schools, not top-down governance that deny families, teachers, and the voters a voice. Parent Advisory Councils, School Governance Councils, teachers, and student representatives must work closely with the Board of Education and the Superintendent to address issues and resolve them together.

• Support for wrap-around services; schools should help coordinate targeted services to address the needs of families of children attending public school. Research has established that out of school factors account for up to two-thirds of student achievement results. Providing targeted services addresses the achievement gap.

• Responsible budgeting that puts money into the classroom for services and smaller class sizes. Our tax dollars should not be used to pay for legal battles, no-bid contracts and special favors, or high-stakes tests that take away real instruction time.

• Well-trained and well-supported teachers who will thrive in the classroom, instead of recent graduates with no certification or experience. We will work to set up programs that give teachers the support they need such as mentorship programs, where experienced teachers guide new teachers as they develop their professional skills.

• Raising the academic standards for all schools. We do not support a two-tiered system; rather we believe every school should meet the standards of excellence. We do not support charter schools, and other programs, that siphon off resources from public schools and put them into schools that serve only a select few students.

It is time for Bridgeport to take its schools back. We want to empower parents, teachers, and students, not politicians. We are independent parents standing up for stronger schools in our community. We look forward to working with a new Board of Education in order to better serve the public school students and families of the city of Bridgeport.

Vote for the Working Families team on Row C on November 5th.