By Jessica Simms,
Interim Superintendent Royce Avery, center, answers questions about the facilities master plan for Bridgeport Public Schools during a Facilities Community Forum at Harding High School in Bridgeport on March 31, 2025. The Bridgeport Board of Education wants to delay the search of a permanent superintendent.
BRIDGEPORT — While the Bridgeport Board of Education initially intended to delay the search for the district’s permanent superintendent, the state Department of Education has now set a June 1 deadline to move the process forward.
Board of Education Chair Jennifer Perez sent a letter to the Department of Education on March 20 saying the board decided to push back the search for a permanent district leader. This came after members worked on adopting updated governing policies and bylaws, a requirement state education officials say needs to happen before any superintendent search can begin.
Michael McKeon, director of legal and governmental affairs for the Department of Education, responded to Perez’s letter on Tuesday, writing that this “proposed delay” is “at odds” with the Board of Education’s “previously stated desire to move forward promptly with the search.”
“This process of updating bylaws and policies should not be permitted to drag on, and thereby result in an undue delay in moving forward with the permanent superintendent search,” McKeon wrote.
The Department of Education now expects the Board of Education to approve the remaining bylaws and polices by June 1, he wrote. The board also must secure a superintendent search firm by June 1, McKeon wrote.
If the Board of Education misses that date, McKeon said it could be perceived that there is an “inability to operate efficiently and potentially result in the (state) commissioner of education invoking her authorized right to unilaterally appoint either a superintendent or a district improvement officer.”
Royce Avery is Bridgeport Public Schools’ interim superintendent and has been leading the district since the fall of 2024, when former Superintendent Carmela Levy-David went on leave. The Board of Education approved a separation agreement with Levy-David in December 2024.
School board members initially started the search process in March 2025, but Connecticut education officials stopped it, saying they were not notified that it had begun. As part of the state’s intervention process into Bridgeport Public Schools, Commissioner of Education Charlene Russell-Tucker has the authority to oversee the appointment of the district’s next superintendent.
Connecticut’s intervention into Bridgeport Public Schools came after the district faced a $30-plus million budget deficit that prompted the board to freeze spending and eliminate dozen of jobs. Through this process, the Bridgeport Board of Education set governance improvement goals and one of them is to update its bylaws. The state also created benchmarks the board must meet before beginning its superintendent search.
Perez wrote in her March 20 letter that the school board “has carefully evaluated its current stage of progress and readiness,” and due to “the scope of work underway and importance of ensuring stability within the district, we have determined it is both prudent and necessary to pause the initiation of a formal search process.”
The letter said the Board of Education would revisit the search process later this year “once this foundational work is complete.” In the meantime, the plan was for the school board to extend Avery’s contract through the end of the 2026-27 school year. The goal was to appoint a permanent superintendent to begin in July 2027.
McKeon noted in his letter that the Board of Education is contracted with Avery to be the interim superintendent until:
- The Board of Education appoints a new superintendent;
- Both Avery and the Board of Education mutually agree to terminate the contract;
- The contract is terminated for cause.
Therefore, extending Avery’s contract to have an end date would lock the city’s school board into the agreement, which could “limit the opportunity of the Bridgeport Board of Education to act in a timely manner to secure a desired candidate,” McKeon wrote.
He added that if Avery is not selected as the permanent superintendent, the Board of Education could find itself needing to pay the salary of the new superintendent while also being required to pay Avery for his remaining contract.