The Bridgeport School District Board of Education voted June 9 to renew a contract with Effective School Solutions (ESS) for $1,363,000 to continue providing high‑acuity mental‑health, emotional and behavioral services in district schools.

The contract renewal, presented by Duncan Young, chief executive officer of Effective School Solutions, replaces last year’s agreement and, Young said, “actually represents a reduction versus our contracted rate for this year. Apples to apples, it's actually a reduction of $200,000.” He told the board ESS applied a $100,000 state grant and expects about $100,000 in Medicaid billing to lower the district’s net cost; the district’s contract was increased by $163,000 for expanded professional development supporting special education programs.

Why it matters: ESS provides intensive, wraparound care aimed at the district’s highest‑acuity students and says those services can reduce out‑of‑district placements that are costly and disruptive. Board members questioned whether the private provider duplicates or supplements district social‑work services and whether the district can afford outside providers while reducing internal staffing.

Young said ESS has been working with Bridgeport for four years and that “we provided direct clinical care to over 425 of the district's highest acuity students.” He said ESS’s 10‑person multilingual clinical team delivered 8,733 services this year at schools including Harding, Barnum, Central High School, Waltersville, Marin, the Bridgeport Learning Center and BLC. Young and project director Jessica Gaffney described a four‑part contract that includes tier‑3 clinical care, coaching for behavioral learning‑center staff, outplacement‑reduction consultation and professional development for self‑contained and special education programs.

ESS told the board its internal review of collaborative work with the district identified roughly $2,000,000 in potential cost avoidance tied to reduced outplacements. The vendor also reported survey results it said were positive: a 97 percent staff satisfaction rate in the schools served, 94 percent saying services positively impacted student mental health, and 92 percent of responding parents “very satisfied” with the services and clinicians who worked with their children. ESS provided an incident summary for the year that included 23 physical‑aggression incidents, six DCF (DCPP in the vendor’s presentation) reports, eight police contacts, one suicide threat and three incidents of self‑directed violence.

Board members pressed ESS on overlap with district employees and on budget impacts. Board member Rob Chamber asked whether the contract was paid from grants or the operating budget; ESS replied the contract is paid from the district operating budget but reduced this year by the vendor’s grant and Medicaid billing offsets. Board member Samantha asked how much Medicaid reimbursement the district should expect; Young said ESS now holds state outpatient clinic licensure and estimated collected Medicaid revenue of about $100,000 for the coming year and said the vendor had reduced its requested district fee accordingly.

After the discussion, board member Andre Woodson moved to approve the contract renewal; the motion carried with at least one abstention recorded. Betsy Perez is recorded in the meeting transcript as having abstained.

Board documents and ESS materials distributed to the board list program outcomes, the clinical team roster and school placement recommendations. ESS staff who spoke at the meeting included Duncan Young (CEO), Jessica Gaffney (project director), Joanne Buena (clinical administrative oversight) and Hannah Whitley (assistant director of grants development and management). Board members who participated in the discussion included Andre Woodson and Rob Chamber. The contract term and effective date were not specified in the presentation packet provided at the meeting.

The board’s approval does not create a district staff substitute requirement; rather, it continues a vendor partnership the district has used for intensive clinical support and for provider‑led professional development in special education settings.