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Special education briefing: district reports rising special-ed enrollments, $2.5M SEED grant and staffing progress
Summary
The special education and pupil services department told the board special-ed enrollment increased (3,925 current count reported), vacancies were reduced from 37 to 25, and Waterbury received a $2.5 million SEED grant for new classrooms and services; the board asked for demographic breakdowns and prevalence data.
Wendy Johns (S26) and staff presented the special education and pupil services update, laying out enrollment changes, hiring progress and grant-funded expansions.
Johns said special-education enrollment rose to 3,925 since Oct. 1 as students transitioned into the district and through initial evaluations, an increase of 258. She said the department reduced teacher vacancies from 37 to 25 through recent recruitment, and is prioritizing onboarding and supervisor support to improve compliance and services.
Johns described a $2,500,000 SEED grant that the district is using to open classrooms, hire staff and obtain curriculum and pupil services resources; the grant will support Special Education Expansion and Development (SEED) work and transition to pupil services models.
She outlined mental-health partnerships — Connecticut Junior Republic (CJR) clinicians, Klingberg partnerships and Smart Recovery groups in comprehensive high schools — and noted the Connect 4 federally funded initiative to build trauma-informed, no‑wrong‑door systems.
Commissioners asked for demographic and prevalence breakdowns, including the distribution of special-education students by race/ethnicity and how many teen parents the district serves. Johns and the superintendent agreed to supply requested data and clarified preschool special-education services fall under pupil services.
No board action was taken; commissioners requested follow-up reporting and specific counts to better understand prevalence and drivers of special-education needs.
