BOE Responds to “Baseless” Ethics Complaint Targeting Superintendent Calls the Complaint an “Unfounded and Desperate Attempt” to Impede BOE’s work

Stamford Education Association (SEA) President John Corcoran’s ethics allegation against Superintendent Dr. Tamu Lucero is baseless and motivated by politics, according to a formal response from the Stamford Board of Education (BOE) that was sent earlier today to the Connecticut State Department of Education (CSDE).  

At its Tuesday, July 22 Regular Meeting, BOE members voted 6-1-0 to authorize Board President Michael Hyman to respond to the union leader’s July 9 letter to the CSDE. In his communication to Commissioner of Education Charlene Russell-Tucker, Mr. Hyman rejected the claims in the SEA’s complaint, accusing the SEA of seeking to use the Code of Professional Responsibility as “a weapon to pursue what, at best, are disagreements by the Stamford Education Association with the professional judgments Dr. Lucero has made.” Mr. Hyman went on to say that the SEA’s complaint was nothing more than “an improper personal attack on the Superintendent” and called it “disgraceful” that the SEA was attempting to “convert disagreements over district operations into an issue of professional ethics.”

“The Board of Education has complete confidence in the integrity and professional ethics of Dr. Lucero, and it is saddened by this unfounded and desperate attempt by the Stamford Education Association to impede the work of the Stamford Board of Education through use of unworthy and cynically motivated attacks upon its Administration under the leadership of Dr. Lucero,” wrote Hyman. 

In characterizing the SEA’s complaint as “devoid of substance” and “a publicity stunt,” Hyman cited numerous instances in which the SEA made baseless accusations, invented claims, or omitted facts in support of its complaint. Mr. Hyman also called out the SEA for its attacks on Dr. Lori Rhodes, writing that “(R)aising the issue of Dr. Rhodes’ scholarship to impugn her integrity is disgraceful, dastardly, and underscores the vacuity of this ‘Complaint.’”   

Mr. Hyman cited Mr. Corcoran’s objection to the high school flexible schedule as the “true motivation” for the SEA’s “unfounded” complaint. As Mr. Hyman explained in the Board’s letter to the CSDE, the BOE and the Superintendent acted within their authority to revise the high school schedule and related teacher assignments, and the Board negotiated the impact of those changes with the SEA as part of the new Collective Bargaining Agreement that went into effect on July 1, 2025. The new CBA was approved overwhelmingly by SEA membership (882 in favor, 77 against) and unanimously by the BOE (9-0-0) in November 2024. 

In closing his letter to Commissioner Russell-Tucker, Mr. Hyman wrote that the SEA president “improperly conflates professional disagreements with issues of professional ethics” and asked the Commissioner to “advise the Stamford Education Association that the State Department of Education will not be taking any action” on the SEA’s complaint. 

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