Norwalk parents, staff urge district to keep NECC classrooms together amid proposed move to elementary schools

Parents, staff and union leaders at the Norwalk Board of Education meeting on Jan. 14 urged the district to keep the Norwalk Early Childhood Center (NECC) classrooms together at 11 Allen Road, saying moving preschool special-education classrooms into multiple elementary schools would harm students and families.

The most direct plea came from Jason Christopher, who introduced himself as speaking on behalf of NECC and said his daughter attends the program: “Keeping NECC at 11 Allen Road with its 6 classrooms intact is in the best interest of students, families, and staff,” he said, asking that two additional pre-K classrooms be placed elsewhere rather than splitting NECC.

Union and parent speakers amplified those concerns. Lynn Moore, who identified herself as president of NASA and president of the Board of Education Coalition of UNITS, said administrators notified employees by email about June terminations and asked the board to adopt “humane and respectful practices when making personnel changes related to budget cuts,” including in-person notification with union representation.

Multiple parents described NECC as a centralized site that houses therapy services, specialized playground equipment and coordinated staff, all of which they said would be difficult to replicate in dispersed elementary-school rooms. Melissa Matuska said her son progressed from developmentally delayed to “more or less on-schedule kindergartner” because of NECC’s centralized services; she added that moving classrooms would require nearly $1,000,000 more in special-education instructor costs districtwide and could force nurses to be split between schools, a change she called “wildly irresponsible.” Elise Williams and Abby Shiner described the difficulty of placing 3‑year‑olds in buildings with hundreds of older children and raised questions about ADA access, certified preschool providers, and continuity of therapies that are part of students’ IEPs.

Several parents asked why the senior center in the NECC building could not be relocated so NECC could expand into the existing school facility. District leaders said the town/senior center relationship has been explored in the past and that the senior center’s space was not available to the district.

Superintendent Zuri Estrella said the plan to move some pre‑K classrooms into elementary schools is not a last-minute budget-only measure but part of a longer process the district has been discussing for years. Estrella noted that when the district previously established universal pre‑K, space constraints required placing classes at NECC and that many elementary schools now have capacity: “Part of our goal has been to retransition back these classes into our school community, particularly because as a district, we have changed our philosophy around how we think about special education services and providing services for our students,” she said. Estrella added the district is “very intentional about how we place students across the organization” so families and students have continuity of services.

Cranberry Elementary principal Jenna Massone described the school’s experience running a pre‑K classroom and said services and staffing can be provided in elementary buildings: “We have OT, PT, speech, BCBA, everything they need at Cranberry,” Massone said, adding that schedules and physical separation can limit interactions between preschoolers and older students.

Estrella and other district staff said they will continue family engagement and communications about the transition. The superintendent announced an information meeting for families at 6:30 p.m. Thursday (date provided in district communications) and said the district will work with families to place students and preserve continuity of related services as much as possible.

Public commenters asked for a one‑year pause (keep the six NECC classrooms in place for 2025–26) while the district relocates the senior center or identifies a permanent, single-site solution. Parents also requested clarity on certification of preschool providers, guarantees that IEP services will be preserved, ADA‑compliance upgrades to elementary playgrounds where preschoolers would move, and data on costs and staffing assumptions.

District staff said many of those details will be addressed in planning and that related service providers (therapists, paraeducators) would be transitioned with students where feasible and caseloads reassessed at each building. The superintendent reiterated that some grant‑funded positions and programs have ended or are expiring, which is driving parts of the operating-budget discussion that also intersect with the NECC decisions.

Ending: Parents and staff said they will attend the district’s follow‑up sessions and continue to press for either keeping NECC consolidated for another year or for a clear, funded plan that preserves services and accessibility for the district’s youngest learners.