Middletown opens Legacy Academy; district aims to bring some outplaced students back in-district

MIDDLETOWN — Middletown Public Schools opened its Legacy Academy at the Kegwin site this fall as a small, wraparound program for secondary students, the superintendent told the board.

Superintendent Alberto Vasquez Matos said the program offers a smaller setting, daily social-emotional learning blocks, one-to-one and group counseling from two social workers, and specialty staff to deliver supports previously provided in out-of-district placements. The district reported 14 enrolled students with five pending and said manual processes remain for some intake steps.

Administrators described the Academy’s aim to provide services that would make it possible for some students who had been placed outside the district to return to their home schools or to the Legacy program. The board heard that two previously outplaced students have already returned to their home schools and one student returned to Legacy; additional returns are pending and require planning through the student’s planning and placement team (PPT).

Board members asked for a fiscal update and for a report on wraparound services and whether the program could be offered to neighboring districts on a tuition basis; administrators said conversations are under way but no tuition arrangement has been finalized. The district said social workers are fully engaged with the current caseload and that psychologists from home schools will provide testing as needed.

Ending: The board asked for a follow-up fiscal analysis and enrollment update later in the fall to track the program’s capacity to reduce out-of-district placement costs and to determine whether neighboring districts might be offered services under a tuition model.