Wait, What? » Bridgeport

$1 million in public funds for Bridgeport BOE Chair’s family – without a vote

jonpelto — Thu, 16 May 2013 15:28:11 +0000

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The last agenda item at this week’s Bridgeport Board of Education meeting was entitled “School Readiness Grant Program, Priority School Districts, July 2013 – June 2014”. According to the agenda and board packet, the Board of Education was being asked, as it has for more than a decade, to authorize the City of Bridgeport to [...]

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Meanwhile, deal surfaces to give Bridgeport elementary school to Jumoke’s charter school management company

jonpelto — Mon, 13 May 2013 14:35:44 +0000

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Tags: Bridgeport Fuse Jumoke Academy Malloy Michael Sharpe Paul Vallas Stefan Pryor

Re-post: Fresh off Malloy’s “victory” of getting the Chief Operating Officer of FUSE/Jumoke Academy on to the State Board of Education, the Malloy Administration, Mayor Bill Finch and “Superintendent of Schools,” Paul Vallas, have apparently concocted a deal to hand Bridgeport’s Paul Lawrence Dunbar Elementary School over to Hartford’s Family Urban Schools of Excellence (FUSE)/Jumoke [...]

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Wait, What? Bridgeport Board of Education scheduled to approve $1 million for Moales Daycare facilities despite foreclosure threat

jonpelto — Mon, 13 May 2013 12:45:48 +0000

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Tags: Bridgeport Bridgeport Board of Education Kenneth Moales Jr.Mayor Bill Finch Paul Vallas

(Written by Jonathan Pelto and Carmen Lopez) In about 100 days, Reverend Kenneth Moales, Jr. and his Cathedral of the Holy Spirit and Prayer Tabernacle Church of Love, Inc. may well be facing the foreclosure and public auction of property owned by Moales’ church, located at 1231-1243 Stratford Avenue. The loss of the church property [...]

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Deal surfaces to give Bridgeport elementary school to Hartford charter school company

jonpelto — Sun, 12 May 2013 16:26:57 +0000

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Tags: Bridgeport Fuse Jumoke Academy Malloy Mayor Bill Finch Paul Vallas Stefan Pryor

Fresh off Malloy’s “victory” of getting the Chief Operating Officer of FUSE/Jumoke Academy on to the State Board of Education, the Malloy Administration, Mayor Bill Finch and “Superintendent of Schools,” Paul Vallas, have apparently concocted a deal to hand Bridgeport’s Paul Lawrence Dunbar Elementary School over to Hartford’s Family Urban Schools of Excellence (FUSE)/Jumoke Academy [...]

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Mayor Finch and Bridgeport say… But we don’t want to spend our money on education…

jonpelto — Tue, 07 May 2013 13:01:56 +0000

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Tags: Ben Barnes Bridgeport ECS Formula Malloy Mayor Bill Finch Paul Vallas

Connecticut’s taxpayers cover more than 80 percent of the costs associated with running Bridgeport’s Schools. For more than twenty-five years, Connecticut’s primary funding mechanism has been called the Education Cost Sharing (ECS) formula. Underfunded by about $2 billion dollars, the money is distributed to towns based on a variety of factors including the number of [...]

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Vallas “no bid” special education software deal in Bridgeport continues to be a disaster

jonpelto — Mon, 06 May 2013 12:03:21 +0000

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Tags: Bridgeport Easy IEP Mayor Bill Finch Paul Vallas Special Education

It was one of the first non-bid contracts that Bridgeport’s “Superintendent of Schools,” Paul Vallas pushed through. Using a half-baked “sole-source” rationale, Vallas hired a company that he had worked with in Chicago and Philadelphia without using any bidding process. The contract promised Bridgeport a state-of-the-art special education software program “for free,” as long as [...]

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Is Bridgeport Board of Education Chairman Kenneth Moales, Jr.’s financial empire collapsing?

jonpelto — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 20:24:30 +0000

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Tags: Bridgeport Kenneth Moales Jr.Mayor Bill Finch Paul Vallas

“I have the financial means to give my children the best. Why would I not give my children the best? … The best for my sons is at Fairfield Country Day,” said Moales, adding that he has 400 children from his church, the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit, in the public school because he doesn’t have [...]

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Meanwhile, did you get paid $900 for working Sunday?

jonpelto — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 14:48:23 +0000

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Tags: Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch Paul Vallas

No? Well you need a contract like Paul Vallas, Bridgeport’s “superintendent of schools.” According to the legal version of his contract, “…Mr. Vallas shall be paid a salary of $4,500 per week…It is understood and agreed that Mr. Vallas may engage in other employment and/or volunteer activities during the term (e.g. volunteer efforts in Haiti), [...]

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Mayor Bill Finch asks – Wait, What? Connecticut’s School Funding Laws Apply to Us?

jonpelto — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 18:22:08 +0000

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Tags: Bridgeport ECS Malloy Mayor Bill Finch Paul Vallas school funding Stefan Pryor

Connecticut’s Education Cost Sharing Formula: “Three requirements apply to towns receiving state ECS grants. The first is that they spend their entire ECS grant for education. The second is that they not use an increase in their ECS grant in any year to supplant local funding for education (the nonsupplant requirement). The third is the [...]

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Vallas, Pryor and the State Board of Education temporarily dodge lawsuit (Bridgeport Style)

jonpelto — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 14:43:58 +0000

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Tags: Bridgeport Bridgeport Board of Education Carmen Lopez Malloy Mayor Bill Finch Norm Pattis Paul Vallas Stefan Pryor

The state law Governor Malloy pushed through allowing his Commissioner of Education to waive the certification requirements for Paul Vallas had two simple provisions. To become Bridgeport’s permanent superintendent Vallas would have to complete his “probationary period” as Acting Superintendent and pass an Education Leadership Program at a Connecticut institution of higher education. In early [...]

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