The Bridgeport School District Board of Education voted Oct. 2 to restore paraprofessionals who were eliminated from kindergarten classrooms earlier in the district’s budget reductions and authorized use of the district’s Internal Service Fund as a contingency if projected savings do not materialize.

Dr. Avery, a district administrator, told the board the cuts were part of steps taken to reduce a $32,000,000 deficit and that classroom visits after the school year began showed “we needed to be able to provide some additional support for kindergarten classrooms” because of students entering with more and different needs. “One of the things that has happened since school started ... we had a couple of weeks at least the first week of school it was brought to my attention that we needed to be able to provide some additional support for kindergarten classrooms throughout the district,” Dr. Avery said.

Board members said the restoration was urgent. Board member Joseph Sikalovic said he supported restoring the paraprofessionals but urged caution about funding. “I’m definitely in favor of bringing back the kindergarten paras ... however, we gotta make sure the money’s there and accounted for,” Sikalovic said, adding he wanted a backup plan if projected savings from an attendance-incentive program fall short. The board later voted to permit use of the Internal Service Fund to cover any gap created if the attendance-related savings are not realized.

The district said the immediate funding comes from a combination of grant adjustments and projected savings from a teacher-attendance incentive program launched in August; district staff said duplicated or unused line items in grant budgets (including work on the alliance grant) also yielded a small amount of savings. Nesta, a district staff member working on grants, described the approach as a “backwards design” review of grants and said those adjustments, combined with the attendance program, made the restoration possible. The attendance program targets teacher daily attendance at about the national average of 94 percent and is intended to reduce substitute-teacher spending.

Board member Akisha Casimir pressed district staff on whether kindergarten teachers had been consulted before the positions were cut earlier in the budget process; staff said there had not been a deep, targeted conversation with kindergarten teachers when the cuts were first identified and that the decision reflected prior reductions in paraprofessional positions and a broad review of line items. Casimir also asked why classroom visits happened after school started; Dr. Avery said staff needed time at the start of the year to see how new students settled in and to identify emergent needs.

Board members and staff clarified that the paraprofessionals being restored will be agency-hired staff (Delta agency) rather than direct district employees; principals will supervise the agency paraprofessionals when assigned to schools, and district staff said they will also monitor classrooms. The board discussed longer-term staffing needs: one member warned that personnel comprise the majority of the district budget and that a projected $20,000,000 deficit next year could again require personnel-focused cuts unless additional funding arrives.

On the motions: the board approved a voice vote to allow the Internal Service Fund to be used as a contingency (voice vote with two abstentions recorded), and later approved a formal motion to restore kindergarten paraprofessionals to last year’s level by roll-call vote (7 yes, 0 no, Christine Betts absent). The board chair then adjourned the special meeting.

The actions are a short-term response to reported classroom needs; district leaders said they plan to provide monthly updates to the board on attendance and budget effects. The sources of funding cited—grant reallocations and a teacher-attendance incentive intended to lower substitute costs—were described as contingent and in part projected rather than guaranteed.