Copyright Hartford Courant
The state’s largest teacher’s union is challenging a decision by the Connecticut State Department of Education not to investigate what it describes as serious complaints against a Connecticut superintendent. The Connecticut Education Association alleges that Stamford Superintendent Tamu Lucero over the years allowed unsafe working and learning conditions including verbal and physical assaults by students in a number of middle schools, that a student was falsely accused by an assistant principal of attempted assault and that central administration pressured teachers to publicly support a scheduling model they did not agree with. “We are going to continue to fight and pressure the administration and utilize all our resources be it grievances … or lawsuits if necessary,” said Kate Dias, president of the Connecticut Education Association. “To have the state say we don’t want to take this up after laying out reams of documentation, it was really a sad day.” The Stamford teachers union filed a complaint, saying that the conditions have led to a high turnover rate of teachers with 90-100 teachers leaving per year over the last five years, resulting in 500 leaving the school system. Some have cited concerns about safety and working conditions, according to the union. Stamford Board of Education President Michael Hyman made objections to the complaint. In a letter to Education Commissioner Charlene Russell-Tucker dated July 25, Hyman referred to the complaint as “an improper personal attack on the superintendent” calling it a publicity stunt by the Stamford Education Association. “While professional disagreements are to be expected, Mr. Corcoran’s continued public efforts to discredit the superintendent and the elected Board have been counterproductive, serving no other purpose than to waste time and taxpayer resources while undermining the SEA’s relationship with the BOE and district,” Hyman said in an email. Stamford Education Association President John Corcoran said this is nothing personal. “The board makes decisions that are more political decisions versus doing right by kids,” he said. “What have they done to support teachers?” Hyman is in a tight race with Adam Vandervoot, where he is behind by 81 votes, according to totals Tuesday. A recount has been issued. Dias argues that a majority of the issue is how “the administration is managing some of the stressful things that are going on in the school district. “These are times where we need everyone involved: the students, the families, the teachers,” she said. “We need the support of the administration to help resolve the matter. We need them to step in to guide the process to do the work they have agreed to do by virtue of taking on the jobs they have taken on.” Corcoran filed a complaint with the CSDE on July 9 regarding what he referred to as “serious breaches of the Connecticut Code of Professional Responsibility for School Administrators by Lucero,” citing systemic failures in “student safety, staff welfare, community trust and ethical leadership which have been widely reported, corroborated and persistently ignored by Stamford’s district leadership,” the complaint states. The CSDE dismissed the complaint, saying that none of the allegations constituted ethical violations or warranted further action and therefore the matter was closed. “The SEA’s June 9, 2025 complaint claims that the superintendent has violated the Code of Professional Responsibility for School Administrators is without merit,” wrote Michael McKeon, director of legal and government affairs for the CSDE in a letter to Corcoran and Hyman. “As such, there is no basis for the CSDE to take any action with respect to the superintendent’s certification,” McKeon continued. “Additionally, the CSDE has no authority for superseding or otherwise interfering with the Stamford Board’s personnel decisions or intradistrict policies, particularly when they are either a subject of the collective bargaining agreement between the Stamford Board and the SEA or have otherwise been negotiated thereunder.” Kathleen Steinberg, spokesman for the school district’s public affairs office, said in an email that the “CSDE spent nearly three months reviewing the allegations made by the SEA in its July 9, 2025 ethics complaint and found that the SEA’s allegations lacked merit. “If the CEA wants to double down and go after the CSDE for rightfully dismissing a meritless complaint, that is their prerogative,” Steinberg said. “The Stamford Board of Education considers this matter closed.” Corcoran shared his disappointment with the CSDE’s decision. “What kind of signal does that send when they overlook the safety of students and teachers?” he asked. “This is not personal. This is a wake up call to the central administration and the Board of Education that what we are doing is not working. It is time to change direction. If you want to continue to not provide a safe working environment and poor working conditions, you know what you are going to get. More teachers that are going to leave. Parents are pulling kids out and putting them in private schools.” Unsafe working conditions In his complaint Corcoran states that “teachers and staff repeatedly reported dangerous student behavior including threats, physical violence and property destruction. “Incidents included students throwing objects at staff (including a cell phone that resulted in a teacher being hospitalized), roaming halls without supervision and verbally assaulting teachers,” he said. Following the hospitalization of a Turn of River Middle School teacher who was struck by a cell phone thrown at her by a student, the Stamford Education Association filed a formal grievance, Corcoran wrote. The complaint states further that Associate Superintendent of Middle Schools Lori Rhodes was not held accountable for failing to monitor and intervene and was assigned to the role of associate superintendent of High Schools in the 2024-25 school year. Further, the complaint states that Sherri Prendergast, principal at Turn of River Middle School, was reassigned as director of elementary curriculum for the district and no action was taken. Hyman said in his letter to Russell-Tucker that the complaints of unsafe conditions fails to “note that these events occurred in June 2024, over a year ago. “The administration appropriately and successfully addressed these concerns at that school during the 2023-24 school year and there have been no similar problems in that year that just ended, a fact that the Stamford Education Association deceptively omits in the transmission of its ‘urgent complaint,” Hyman wrote. Corcoran said the new principal worked with the SEA and its faculty representatives to address concerns by teachers. High School block schedule Corcoran’s complaints states that “multiple school leaders reported being pressured by central administration to publicly support a high school block scheduling model they did not agree with.” “Teachers and families were excluded from meaningful engagement in the process,” Corcoran’s complaint states. “Public protests, board petitions and alternative proposals were ignored.” Dias said there have been discussions with the district about the block schedule, which she said has been made “to reduce student offerings under this efficiencies mindset. “The problem became it was driving class sizes up and reducing the course offerings for the students,” she said. “It is problematic in large districts. The number of courses being offered is directly connected with the students’ ability to graduate on time and access the courses they need for college preparation. It has a direct impact on students’ ability to be successful in a post secondary space.” Dias continued: “We have been driving that concern home and being largely dismissed. We are creating a scenario in which kids are not getting the courses they need.” Hyman cited his disagreement in his letter. “In accordance with its statutory obligations, the board negotiated the impact of these changes on members of the bargaining unit,” he wrote. “Period. The Stamford Education Association is free to criticize the schedule that will be implemented in the coming year as it has done repeatedly.” Corcoran said the schedules were given to the SEA nine months after the agreement was completed, causing confusion among teachers.
