Yesterday’s special board meeting was low key compared to the past few—No one was escorted out by police and there was little screaming.

But, it wouldn’t be Bridgeport without some conflict.

Among the most contentious subjects was Fairchild Wheeler’s lab coat policy. Yes, the school board argued for about 25 minutes over lab coats and whether they could actually even do anything about it during the meeting.

That aside, a few big changes were decided on.

The board affirmed 17 new principals and assistance principals hired for the upcoming year.

Working Families Party member, Maria Pereira, refused to vote. She abstained because she received information from a source whom she failed to disclose that the principal selection process at Harding High School did not include the school’s governance council – which is a group of elected students, teachers, and community leaders.

According to Superintendent Vallas and his staff, each school governance council, with the exception of the Alternative school and Fairchild Wheeler which don’t have governance councils yet, weighted in on the principal recommendations and in most cases their recommendations were used because Vallas felt they “made the right decision.”

The board also voted in favor of applying for additional state grant money through a program designed to help schools implement the mandated changes required to comply with the new common core assessment system.

If granted, the state may cover $797,529 of the $1,145,217 costs required to comply with the state’s technology requirements. According to Superintendent Paul Vallas the district has already ear-marked the entire expense in next year’s operating budget, but is seeking the grant money to offset the cost further. The grant will go towards an additional 1000 Chrome book laptops, 30 laptops carts, and 10 access points, which are necessary in order to implement the new common core state standards assessment.