A Race for Local School Board Control - Bridgeport, CT | The IDEA Blog

A Race for Local School Board Control - Bridgeport, CT | The IDEA Blog:

A Race for Local School Board Control - Bridgeport, CT

Posted by Scott Nine on Aug 30, 2013 - 05:40 AM

The community of Bridgeport, CT has a very interesting race for school board that seems worthy of national attention as a microcosm of what's happening in communities across the U.S. The story that leads up to the election goes something like this:

 

About two years ago the mayor of Bridgeport, CT, Bill Finch, moved to disband the local elected school board in favor of a mayoral control structure, like what's happened in NYC, Philly, Chicago, and other urban cities. On a 6-3 vote the board agreed it was no longer able to function and a mayoral directed and appointed board was put in its place. Paul Vallas, previously the CEO of New Orleans schools, was brought in to serve as the interim Superintendent. In many communities the story stops there.

 

But in Bridgeport, a coalition of union, family, and community groups took the city to court stating that this was illegal and the town had to have control of its schools. They won. In a special election the board was put back in place, but again with a 6-3 majority that still favored an approach of more centralized control, charter schools, and an effort to break apart the teachers union.

 

The same community coalition also challenged in court that Superintendent Vallas did not have any of the qualifications needed to be in his position, possessing no degrees in education or the administrator's certificate required by state law. They won again. The mayor then coordinated a process where Mr. Vallas took an online course and fast-tracked a process to get an