Ed board starts superintendent evaluation
BRIDGEPORT — Superintendent Michael Testani made the case this week for his job performance to the school board.
The Board of Education held the first stage of the superintendent of schools job review on Wednesday at the Central High School library. It was the first inperson meeting of the year and not live-streamed on the school district’s YouTube channel.
The process will culminate with a scored evaluation for Testani, the first since he was promoted from acting schools superintendent to superintendent in January 2020.
Throughout an unpredictable pandemic year, Testani has led a district of 3,000 teachers and staff, and 18,950 students — 19 percent of which have a diagnosed disability and more than 21 percent of which are English language learners, according to district data from June.
Speaking to the board, Testani cited accomplishments in promoting student learning during two turbulent school years, and fostering productive working relationships with staff and the board, among others.
The superintendent brought back almost 70 percent of students for inperson learning four days a week by the end of the school year, and monitored and developed health and safety plans under the changing guidance of the state education and public health departments, he said.
He said he also prioritized professional development for teachers and administrators.
Testani also highlighted his efforts to engage with others outside the school building, including parents and local organizations. He said he’s worked to engage parents through quarterly community resource events and a new messaging platform coming this fall, as well as to draw on community partnerships for student mentorship and tutoring.
The superintendent shared student academic highlights as well from his tenure, including the fact that almost 80 percent of juniors and seniors participated in college SAT test days.
The presentation was followed by a brief discussion, with a few board members asking most of the questions.
Board members brought home a series of materials to review before filling out the official paperwork for ratings and feedback.
“I was impressed with Mr. Testani’s new (staff ) diversity initiative,” said John Weldon, chairman of the board, on Thursday, “as well as the level of inclusion he has implemented, both at the student and staff levels, through his student and staff ‘roundtable discussions.’”
Testani created a district plan to increase racial, ethnic and linguistic staff diversity, and has held monthly student roundtables and regular teacher discussions throughout the year.
“They have created a culture where student and staff views and ideas are valued and included in his decisionmaking,” he said. “That kind of collaborative environment is important and I’m glad he’s been successful in it taking root in the district.”
Board member Joseph Sokolovic said he was happy the presentation was held.
“I am glad that after two years we finally got around to evaluating the superintendent for the first time,” said Sokolovic.
“It was a well put together presentation with a lot of data to look at,” he said, “and I will take the time to do a critical analysis of the data and other information before I sit down and complete my formal evaluation.”
Sokolovic has already announced his campaign to run for school board reelection.
The board will reconvene later this month for a special meeting to discuss and aggregate their score sheets, and present them to Testani. The group has been asked to include supporting documentation like narrative reviews and data with their ratings.
The evaluation meeting is tentatively set for July 20.