Simsbury Board reviews plan to open in‑district behavioral program near high school

The Simsbury Board of Education on Dec. 10 heard a detailed proposal to develop an in‑district behavioral program intended to serve students with complex emotional and behavioral needs now placed in private out‑of‑district programs.

District presenters said the preferred location is a Farms Village Road property adjacent to Simsbury High School that is currently in active price negotiations and would require approvals from the Board of Selectmen and Board of Finance before purchase. Katie Crisula, introduced by the board as the program presenter, outlined a three‑phase build‑out aimed at returning students to the district while building internal capacity.

Phase 1 would use current staff and existing Pathways programming with minimal change to the special‑education gross operating budget in year 1. Presenters described a placeholder of about $50,000 in annual building operating costs and noted a projected loss of roughly $14,000 in tax revenue if the property is taken off the tax rolls. Amy (finance) said “our year 1 cost will be about $1,600,000 under this scenario,” and stressed that figure is an initial estimate tied to ongoing negotiations.

Phase 2 anticipates two classrooms (one secondary, one elementary) and the possibility of accepting tuition‑paying students from other districts; presenters used a $70,000 tuition estimate as a competitive placeholder against current approved private placement tuition rates in the region (presenters cited examples around $96,200 including transportation). Phase 3 would expand to four classrooms with enrollment target between 20 and 25 students and capacity for up to 10 tuition students from outside districts.

Presenters said the model follows the Farmington Valley Transition Academy approach and emphasized phased, conservative roll‑out tied to individualized Planning & Placement Team (PPT) decisions. Board members asked about student counts (staff said roughly 12 students are in the Simsbury High School Pathways program and about 15 students are currently placed out of district), potential expansion, and whether the property can be modified; presenters replied that the site appears to have “good bones” for classrooms and multipurpose space but that specifics and capital costs remain under negotiation and engineering review.

Next steps described to the board were continuing negotiations with the landowner, sharing the proposal with the Board of Selectmen and Board of Finance (both must approve purchase and funding), and returning with detailed cost and staffing plans if the other boards advance the purchase. The presenters emphasized individual student decisions would proceed through the PPT process and that bringing students back would be gradual.