Plan to stop transfers into popular city schools on hold
BRIDGEPORT — A plan to make it tougher for parents to switch their kids into the district’s most desirable schools was supposed to be a topic for discussion across multiple meetings to gather parent reaction.
It took just one meeting, however, for Schools Superintendent Michael Testani to get the message that the plan is going nowhere, at least for now.
“There is no interest by the board,” Testani said Wednesday, the morning after the school board met to virtually discuss the proposal. “At least it didn’t sound like there was.”
The board voted to send proposed changes to the control transfer policy back to committee after spending nearly an hour questioning the policy’s purpose, impact and usage.
Testani said his aim was to get a true look at enrollments by school as the district looks to embark this year on a long overdue redistricting effort.
“Someway, somehow, we have to get a handle on the situation,” Testani said. “It’s out of control when over 10 percent (of students are) not attending the school in the neighborhood where they reside.”
Unable to get an accurate count from the schools, Testani said he tapped his data management office to find that between 2,000 and 2,500 students out of 20,000 in the district are not attending their neighborhood school. That does not include students at lotterybased magnet schools.
As a result, some schools are overcrowded and others under-enrolled.
Until this year, families could apply for a controlled transfer and get one if there was space for the child in the desired school and the parent was willing to provide transportation to the new school. This year, students already transferred are not impacted but there
has been a suspension of new applications due to COVID-19.
Testani approached the board’s Governance Committee in the fall about changes to require that parents have a demonstrable need for the transfer. There would have to be space at the new school for the student, siblings couldn’t tag along and parents would not necessarily get the school of their choice.
“The superintendent’s decision shall be made with the best interest of the district in mind,” the proposed policy read.
That line itself did not sit well with school board member Jessica Martinez.
“It should be in the best interest of the child (not the district),” said Martinez, who has used the policy herself when her son was a third grader at Luis Munoz Marin School.
“That school was not adequate for the education I wanted my child to have,” Martinez said.
Her son transferred to John Winthrop School, in the city’s North End. Martinez said she was not after a
shiny new building — Winthrop is older than Marin — but rather a more challenging curriculum.
Testani said the goal is to make all schools in the district desirable. Class size is one factor in providing an equitable education, he said. In schools that become overcrowded, individualized instruction becomes harder.
Board member Albert Benejan asked Testani for a list of schools that parents most often request transfers to and from. Last month, Testani told the Governance Committee that Winthrop, Johnson and Tisdale tend to be popular. Harding, too, when it opened two years ago. The district has 37 schools in all.
When a new Bassick High is built, Testani said he expects it to make the popular list.
Board member Joseph Sokolovic said before changes are made, the board should hear from the public. He proposed a community forum.
Until now, public input has come from emails or members of the public able to navigate the district’s
call-in system during virtual meetings.
On Tuesday, the board heard from the Rev. William McCullough, a founder of Faith Acts for Education, a local advocacy group. He questioned the board trying to change a major policy during the middle of a pandemic.
“We know you have tough decisions to face. We are in tough times. This is when you lean on community for support,” McCullough said.
Naomi Nieves, a district parent and Faith Acts member, called control transfers important to parents who seek better options for their children.
“They wouldn’t be overused if the quality of Bridgeport schools was up to par — let’s be honest,” Nieves said.
Before the matter was recommitted, Board Chairman John Weldon said the policy was not intended to put interest of district ahead of child.
“It should be modified to be more student-centric,” he said. “It will be further refined. There is nothing wrong with that.”