In This Issue

High School

Report Card Conferences

Bridgeport Parent Center

November 2010

Save the Date!

Safe and Warm:

BPS and City Come Together to

Provide Bridgeport Youth in Need

with Pajamas and a Book

The Pajama Program Kicked Off at City Hall Chambers

    David, a 1st grader, was sad when he learned that some kids don’t have pajamas to sleep in at night. He and his fellow scholars at Madison School decided to do something about it. They raised $200 for the Pajama Program, a non-profit organization that provides warm pajamas and books to needy children.

    “I’m glad we could help them and make them smile,” David said of the children in need.

    BPS Superintendent John J. Ramos, Sr., Ed.D., Mayor Bill Finch, Bridgeport Fire Chief Brian Rooney, Bridgeport Acting Police Chief Joseph Gaudett, Jr. and various members of the district and community came together at City Hall Council Chambers on Tuesday, November 9, 2010 to kick of the citywide collection of new pajamas and books for the Pajama Program.

    “This feels good because we are doing something that matters,” said Dr. Ramos of the community effort.

    Decked in pajamas of their own, a group of students from Madison School were on hand to deliver their donations. Many of the children recognized the importance of having warm pajamas and a book to curl up with at night. “So the little kids will have the same thing we have,” said 1st grader, Brianna. “It’s important to help other kids.”

    Mayor Finch encouraged the students to “learn to love to read and help others.”

    In addition to the 541 pairs of pajamas and books collected by the district, the law firm Pullman & Comley, LLC. contributed $309, which will provide an additional thirty pairs of pajamas for the children of Bridgeport. The collection of pajamas and books will continue until the end of March 2011.

    As a liaison for the Connecticut Association of Foster and Adoptive Parents, Department of Children and Families, Shree Breeden gets a chance to see the children’s faces first hand when the pajamas and books are delivered. “It makes them happy to know that strangers care," she said. "It also makes them feel safe. It’s something many people take for granted.”

    Many of the children that the Pajama Program provides for are currently living in shelters, have been abandon or abused, or most deprived of any love at all. They are youngsters who do not know the comforts of a mother or father to tuck them into a cozy bed and read to them a bedtime story. With support and donations from the community, a positive impact will be made on Bridgeport youth in need.

    To participate in the Program, please drop off new pajamas, books, or make a financial donation at the following drop off points in Bridgeport :

The Parent Center

800 Boston Avenue

Bridgeport Police Headquarters

300 Congress Street

Bridgeport Fire Houses

Fire Headquarters

30 Congress Street

Engine 12

265 Beechmont Avenue

Engine 7/Ladder 11

245 Ocean Terrace

Engine 6/Ladder 6

1035 Central Avenue

    For more information about the collection of pajamas and books in the Bridgeport district, please contact Lissette Colon in the Office of the Superintendent of Bridgeport Public Schools – lcolon@bridgeportedu.net – or contact Janet Estevez-Filardi of the Pajama Program at janete@pajamaprogram.org.

Central Magnet High School Senior Selected as

National Achievement Scholar

Khadijiah Davis, a senior at Central Magnet High School, has been selected as a National Achievement Scholar. Khadijah has scored in the top 3 percent of more than 160,000 African American students who requested consideration in the 2011 National Achievement Scholarship Program when they took the 2009 PSAT. She is also among 3,100 Outstanding Participants in the Program being referred to U.S. colleges and universities.

    The National Achievement®Scholarship Program is an academic competition established in 1964 to provide recognition for outstanding Black American high school students. Students may enter both the National Achievement Program and the National Merit® Program by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) and meeting other published requirements for participation. The two annual programs are conducted concurrently but operated and funded separately. A student's standing is determined independently in each program. African American students can qualify for recognition and be honored as Scholars in both the National Merit Program and the National Achievement Program, but can receive only one monetary award from NMSC.