Dear Members of the Stamford Board of Education and Mayor Simmons
I am most likely unable to attend tonight's Board of Education meeting, but I would like to get this into the official record and meeting minutes for the public input.
I would like to express my unequivocal support for Dr Tamu Lucero, and would strongly recommend her contract be extended. Dr. Lucero, has been one of the finest Superintendents we have had in my 20 years in the Stamford Public Schools. She has always been open and receptive to me, and every single one of my interactions with her has always been positive, productive and professional. Dr. Lucero has continually impressed me with her overall knowledge of all the issues that are currently impacting the district. I am most impressed with her ability to dive into all issues that face our district, but most importantly her work in identifying and proposing a solution for our infrastructure needs. The work she has done with the city as a whole to develop a plan to improve our schools physical plants over the coming years is a huge undertaking and we need her leadership to see this plan through. This plan is an absolute need that has been ignored by previous administrations and previous elected boards across the city for at least 20 years. For this alone she should be rewarded with a new contract.
In a city with 130,000 residents and a school district with nearly 18,000 students, it would be impossible for any leader to please everyone, some decisions are going to run counter to what some constituencies want or believe is best for their specific interests. The superintendent needs to take all available information, synthesize it, then make a decision or recommendation that is in the best interest of our entire community, which will provide a positive impact on the majority of students, and not just appease those screaming the loudest. I know there is a vocal minority in our community who are very upset by the recent proposed 4x4 High School block schedule changes, and they are using this opportunity to fan the flames of discontent with Dr. Lucero. This group has started multiple petitions around their various grievances. I would like to point out that they have been unable to gather more than 1000 signatures, which represents approximately 00.77% of the entire city population. This is a blip on the radar and not indicative of the entire school community and definitely not the sentiment of the entire city voting population. They will tell you they represent the majority, but numbers don't lie. Rather than focus on any of her recent perceived missteps, which are inevitable, we should absolutely be focusing on all the great things she has done in her tenure, which started when the previous superintendent departed prematurely, hit the ground running because she already had experience in our district, then dealt head on with a global pandemic. Again, these issues alone should be cause enough for a contract extension.
Finally, I would like to reference my previous letter to the Board of Education sent on May 6, 2022, where I said we must consider the hard costs associated with replacing a superintendent, along with the softer opportunity costs associated with the required time that a new superintendent would require to get up to speed and become a productive leader in our community. Those hard dollars and opportunity costs should be spent on teachers to support students in the classroom, which will improve academic outcomes rather than flushing that same money down the drain looking for a new superintendent. They should not be spent on recruiting firms, interviews. lawyers to review contracts and everything else associated with a proper search process. All these tasks and the dollars associated distract directly from the mission of our school district and there is no ROI or perceived value that will be created by not extending her contract. This is simply just not a great use of our tax dollars, when we have a perfectly capable candidate who wishes to remain in our amazing city.
Running this diverse and very successful district, takes experience and a great deal of time to understand the nuances of the various stakeholders. Why would we cut off our nose to spite our face? If we don’t extend her contract then we are essentially throwing away a perfectly good, proven asset, who has successfully led us through the most challenging period in the past 100 years for what? Why do we think any quality candidate would want to come to Stamford after we have unceremoniously dumped a successful superintendent? Why do we think that any other candidate might be better for Stamford, then the amazing leader we have now? It would be an absolute travesty on multiple fronts if you were allow her to walk away and not extend her contract
Dr Lucero has the experience we need to keep moving our city and our schools forward in a positive direction. She deserves to have her contract extended.
