The Bridgeport School District Policy & Personnel Committee advanced proposed bylaw changes on Aug. 21, 2025, sending a draft code of conduct, a proposal to lengthen public-comment time and a review of committee structure to the full Board of Education for further consideration.

Board Chair Jennifer Perez told the committee the code-of-conduct language is intended to be proactive: "One of the recommendations ... had to do with putting in place systems that would prevent us from even getting that point," Perez said, referring to mechanisms to avoid conduct violations. The draft code (Bylaw 9110) expands on existing language and is modeled on sample provisions used by other districts, Perez said; the committee agreed to refer the draft to the full board for a first read so members can review it in greater detail.

The committee also considered Bylaw 9160, "Meeting Conduct; Public Address." Committee members debated a staff recommendation to increase individual public-comment time from two minutes to three. Several members, including a board member identified as Joseph (Joseph Holliday), expressed concerns about meeting length and staff burden; others, including board member Benny Morales and board member Joe Sikalovic, argued for the extra time to let parents and community members fully present concerns. Medina said the committee would forward a motion to the full board to change the limit to three minutes and asked that the full board consider whether to limit the number of speakers or keep the current cap (the committee discussed 10 versus 15 speakers under the district's 30-minute public-comment limit).

On committee structure (Bylaw 9280, "Committee Structure"), members discussed clarifying standing and ad-hoc committees in the bylaws, whether certain committees should be committees of the whole for personnel matters, and whether to add a fifth committee to handle overflow items. Several members asked staff to provide sample committee definitions used in other districts and requested legal review to ensure the definitions comply with state law and FOIA requirements.

Actions by the committee included referring the proposed code of conduct to the full board for a first read; referring the proposed public-comment change to the full board for consideration of three-minute comments (no waiver of additional readings); and returning committee-structure proposals to staff for drafting and legal review.

Ending: Committee members emphasized that drafting will continue and that final decisions will come before the full board after the posted documents and legal review are complete.