22 positions saved from schools cut list
STAMFORD — Twenty two positions previously on the chopping block for the Stamford school system have been spared, thanks to negotiations with two city unions.
Specifically, 10 office support specialists, seven custodians and five school IT employees will no longer be eliminated from the school district.
That’s because even though those jobs are in
the school board’s budget, the positions are technically controlled by the city and fall under one of two city unions — UAW Local 2377 and MAA — which recently agreed to concessions in order to ensure no layoffs.
The money needed to cover those positions, however, has created a small deficit of roughly $200,000 in the school district’s budget for the recently started fiscal year, according to Ryan Fealey, director of finance for the district. School board members asked this week how the school district could fund the positions considering how strapped for cash the system is due to the effects of Covid-19.
Fealey said the district’s reallocation plan included eliminating roughly $1.4 million in grant-funded positions — such as pre-K teachers and para-educators and the co-principal at Roxbury Elementary School. The plan was to create new grant-funded positions to address needs that are sure to surface as the district decides on a re-opening plan for the fall.
But he said there is some maneuverability with that particular pool of money that will allow the district to cover the cost of the 22 positions that are being salvaged.
“We are still working through our grants budget and will continue to revisit the allocation as we work through our re-opening plan,” Fealey said.
Superintendent Tamu Lucero said she would approach the board with a recommendation for how to account for that amount in the budget.