The Connecticut Office of the Child Advocate (OCA) and Disability Rights Connecticut (DRCT) have unveiled the culmination of a multi-year investigation into the operations of the state Department of Education and High Road Schools, a consortium of eight state-approved private special education programs. The findings, released Tuesday, highlight alarming deficiencies and call for sweeping reforms to address what the report describes as “urgent system concerns.”
The joint investigation, prompted by multiple complaints received by OCA in recent years, sheds light on a host of issues within Connecticut’s special education landscape. Among the key findings are serious shortcomings in staffing, individualized educational programming, school district monitoring, and State Department of Education (CSDE) oversight.
“We discovered an alarming lack of oversight, systemic failings and often flagrant disregard for statutory requirements and state standards that protect the educational rights and safety of children placed at High Road Schools,” said Connecticut Child Advocate Sarah Eagan. “Practices routinely fall short of state laws, education regulations, best practices, or all three. Changes need to be put in place without delay.”
High Road Schools, a provider of special education services in the state, serves over 300 students from 38 local school districts across Connecticut. Despite receiving substantial public funding – some districts paying in excess of $500 per day per student – the investigation uncovered significant lapses in oversight, particularly at High Road Schools, leaving students “grossly underserved.”
“Connecticut school districts overly rely on for-profit, special education schools to serve students with disabilities – particularly those with mental health disabilities – in an environment that is segregated from students without disabilities, lacks equal educational opportunities, and are characterized by a stunning absence of sufficient oversight, such as High Road Schools demonstrate,” said Deborah Dorfman, Executive Director of Disability Rights Connecticut. “Children – including children with disabilities and children of color – all deserve and have a right to receive quality education in the most integrated setting.”
The 57-page report paints a distressing picture of the situation, noting that many of the children enrolled at High Road Schools, some as young as five years old, are among the state’s most vulnerable students. These students, predominantly low-income children of color, have been found to be disproportionately affected by the deficiencies in oversight and service delivery.
High Roads Schools said in a statement that they welcome the opportunity to have a more comprehensive forum and dialogue with CSDE to “demonstrate our quality programming and ongoing compliance with state and federal regulations.”
The statement goes onto say, “Our decades-long relationship with both the CSDE and our local LEA partners has provided us effective supports for nurturing our students along their educational journey.”
One of the most alarming revelations from the investigation is the widespread use of restraint and seclusion practices, with over 1,200 instances reported at High Road Schools during the 2021-22 school year alone. The report highlights the dangers of such practices, particularly for students segregated due to their disabilities, and calls for immediate action to address this issue.
The investigation exposed deficiencies in staffing, with almost half of the teachers employed lacking state certification. High Road Schools failed to ensure that physical education, art, or music, as required by state law, were provided to students.
In response to the findings, recommendations have been proposed to overhaul the oversight and monitoring of state-approved private special education programs. These recommendations include legislative changes to strengthen CSDE oversight, mandate transparency regarding the placement of children with disabilities in separate schools, and enhance monitoring and enforcement of restraint and seclusion laws.
The report has been shared with the leadership of the state Education Department, High Road Schools, and Hartford Public Schools, among others. While High Road Schools and Hartford Public Schools have responded with action steps, state Education Department has expressed disagreement with the report’s conclusions and recommendations.
“The report’s claims regarding the CSDE do not comport either with the actual steps the CSDE took or with the performance of our oversight responsibilities for students whose local or regional school districts have placed them at Approved Private Special Education Programs, or “APSEPS,” of which High Road is one,” a spokesman for the Education Department said in a statement.
The statement goes onto say the report complains about the three-to-five year statutory timeframe for the review of these programs has nothing to do with the Education Department.
“The fact that OCA may disagree with these statutory timeframes does not mean that the CSDE’s compliance with the law is somehow inappropriate,” a spokesman added.
The Education Department said it offered to include a response as part of the report, but that the Office of Child Advocate declined the offer.
