Board denies grievance that virtual high-school coordinator should have been posted

The Stamford School District board denied grievance 9-22 on Aug. 20, concluding the virtual high-school (VHS) coordinator duties in this case were part of a teaching assignment rather than a separate posted stipend role.

Guy Simone, representing the union, argued the VHS coordinator was effectively an SCA job that should have been posted under Article 18 because the coordinator role does not align with the multimedia specialist's explicit teaching and technical duties. "If it wasn't going to be a continuation of Mr. Milo's job, then it should have been posted accordingly," Simone said.

Dr. Fernandez and Ms. Rivera (the school official) told the panel that a shift from an eight-period day to a seven-period day made offering VHS during regular periods impractical and that the district instead planned to have the multimedia specialist coordinate VHS duties without creating a separate posted position. Dr. Fernandez said the coordinator task has historically been assigned within teachers' workloads and could be implemented as a teaching assignment or, if later converted, as a stipend.

Union members urged posting the role so SCA members could bid for a stipend, while administration said principals have discretion to assign certified teachers and that the new schedule and job descriptions justified this assignment. The panel voted 3-0-0 to deny the grievance, noting the grievance more properly raises questions of job description design and implementation rather than a posting violation given historical practice in the district.

Board members directed HR and the principal to collect data during implementation and report back if the workload proves to be unmanageable or if the duty should be converted to a posted stipend position.