Court says state takeover of Bridgeport (Conn.) district was illegal

Feb 29, 2012 1:47 PM

From The Connecticut Post: The Connecticut Supreme Court has overturned the state's takeover of the Bridgeport school system. The 6-1 decision concluded that the state violated the law when it failed to retrain the city's school board before seizing control of the district. The court ordered the city to hold a special election to re-establish the school board dissolved by the takeover. A state-appointed board that now oversees the district has hired an interim superintendent, nationally known education reformer Paul Vallas. Vallas says he will continue his work, regardless of the ruling.

DECEMBER 2011...from The Connecticut Post: Paul G. Vallas, known as an education reformer who has led some of the nation's most troubled school systems, is taking on a new challenge: The Bridgeport (Conn.) school district. Vallas, 58, has been named interim superintendent in Bridgeport, whose district has some of the state's lowest test scores and deepest poverty. He starts Jan. 1, and will inherit both a $6 million budget gap and a state-appointed school board. Vallas has led school districts in Chicago and Philadelphia, and also led Louisiana's Recovery School District that has operated many New Orleans public schools since the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.