Legacy Academy opens in Middletown; district reports early enrollment and staffing steps for alternative and special-education tracks

Middletown finance and operations officials reported Sept. 15 that Legacy Academy has opened and is enrolling students in its alternative-education and special-education classrooms, and the district has hired several support staff to operate the program. The district said Legacy Academy currently has nine students enrolled in the alternative-education program with four additional pupils in the enrollment process (13 total if all enroll). In the special-education classrooms the district reported four students enrolled and five pending, four of whom are in-district and one of whom is from out of district. The nut graf: the district presented enrollment head count and staffing as early indicators that the new program is operational while officials continue hiring to reach planned capacity. For staffing, officials said the district has hired two social workers, one special-education teacher, three registered behavior technicians (RBTs), one community support officer (CSO) and one long-term general-education substitute. The district listed a board-certified behavior analyst (BCBA) as a pending hire and said coordinator interviews concluded recently with no final public decision reported at the meeting; one special-education teacher and one general-education teacher remained to be hired. Officials said bringing some students back from out-of-district placements has produced savings and is educationally preferable because students receive services in-district. Finance director Natalie Forbes said two students — one at the elementary level and one at the middle-school level — returned from out-of-district placements, reducing tuition and transport costs. The district also reported another student has exited the out-placement roster. District leaders said expanding Legacy Academy to accept tuition-paying out-of-district students would likely be at least a year away and tied to the completion of the McDonough renovation and subsequent moves that will free additional classroom space at Kegwin. No formal board votes were recorded on Legacy Academy at this meeting; the committee requested updates on pending hires and student enrollment as the school year continues.