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Stamford district to centralize registration at new welcome center; proposes net reduction of five office support specialist positions
Summary
Stamford officials proposed centralizing student registration at a new welcome center and shifting OSS duties there, reducing OSS staffing at many schools and adding two positions at the center; the district said the change should improve consistency while saving FTE and preparing for a July implementation.
Stamford School District leaders told the Teaching & Learning Committee they will centralize most student registration at a new welcome center and recommended changes that would reduce office support specialists (OSS) across buildings while adding staff at the new center.
Michael Fernandez, chief staff and family resource officer, said the district averaged about 4,000 registrations in 2023–24 and that most registration workload will move to the welcome center. “Our grand opening for the welcome center is January 30,” Fernandez said, adding that centralized registration will change how schools allocate OSS time.
Under the proposal, elementary schools would move from 2.0 OSS FTE to an average of 1.5 FTE (paired schools sharing half‑time OSS), K–8s and middle schools would remain at two OSS, and the district would reduce one OSS at each large high school. Fernandez told the board this results in a system‑wide net reduction of five OSS positions (reduce seven and add two at the welcome center).
Fernandez described registration volumes that drove the recommendation: about 1,200 kindergarten registrations in a year, roughly 200 registrations per elementary school annually (spread unevenly across seasons), ~60 per middle school and about 300 per large high school. He said some registration tasks (assigning counselors, releasing records, creating hard folders) will remain at schools while customer‑service and much of the data processing shifts to the center.
The district plans to train OSS staff in the schools initially, then train welcome‑center staff in May–June, with the staffing model expected to start July 1 and on‑site coaching during initial roll‑out. Fernandez said the district has communicated this plan to unions and will meet with OSS staff to explain changes.
Board members asked whether the reductions would leave schools short during peak seasons; Fernandez acknowledged seasonal surges and said the district will monitor workload and may allocate temporary staff for busy periods. The welcome center ribbon cutting invitation and the July start date were presented as the next public milestones before the formal budget proposal from CFO Ryan Feeley next week.
No formal vote was taken on the staffing changes during the committee meeting; board members were offered additional one‑on‑one briefings before the budget presentation.
