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Stamford expands early‑childhood special‑education services with Oakwood partnership and KT Murphy bridge classroom
Summary
The district reported expansions in specialized early‑education: KT Murphy opened a 10‑student Bridge classroom and Oakwood Collaborative (in partnership with CES) is serving 27 of a possible 36 PreK–2 students with high therapeutic needs, keeping more students in‑district.
Stamford School District presented progress this week on expanding specialized early‑education services so more students with higher support needs can remain in district schools.
Amy Baldotti summarized the district continuum for students with special needs, saying the district identifies nearly 2,300 students with IEPs across preK–12 and currently educates about 94% of them in Stamford schools. "These programs are successful really because of the teachers and the paras and the administrators," Baldotti said, noting recent budget decisions to expand the continuum.
Jamie Fisco, principal at KT Murphy, described the new Bridge classroom for kindergarten students: the class started with 10 students (nine new placements plus one student moved from general education), supported by three paraeducators and related‑services staff including speech, occupational and physical therapy, social work and school psychology. Fisco reported that six students are now mainstreaming for parts of the day including academics and nonacademic routines, and that fall routines and data review have helped the transition: "We have, 6 of our students going in for magnetic reading... So that's really exciting," she said.
Carrie Ann Duffy Boucher, assistant director of special education, and Cheryl Cordone, Oakwood Collaborative program administrator, described the Oakwood partnership with Cooperative Educational Services (CES) that places specialized programming at Toquam for PreK–2 students with greater therapeutic needs. Cordone said Oakwood currently serves 27 students, uses a developmental therapy teaching model, and has high staff‑to‑student ratios (typically one special‑education teacher and four paraeducators for every six students). The program will perform fall reviews for families and regularly assess students' developmental progress three times a year.
District staff said the additions reduced the need for out‑of‑district placements and highlighted positive family feedback so far. No formal decisions were taken at the meeting.
