Citing concerns about student safety, a state audit found that several private special education programs failed to perform criminal background checks and employee history verification requirements.
“Local education agencies placed students at private providers that did not meet all standards, statutory requirements, and regulations,” the audit stated. “The nature of noncompliance increased student safety risks and could prevent students from receiving a free and appropriate public education.”
The audit also found that the schools did not deliver certain services required by student individualized education programs (IEPs).
“Children who are placed outside of the district are generally children with the most significant needs and the most vulnerable children in our student population,” said Acting Child Advocate Christina Ghio. “The report is deeply concerning.”
The audit, conducted during the 2022-23 school year, reviewed four private special education programs approved by the state Department of Education including Adelbrook Academy-Cromwell, American School for the Deaf, Grace S. Webb School and the High Road School of Wallingford. Further, University School JPE, a non-approved private provider was also audited.
“We need to be deeply concerned if these programs can’t demonstrate compliance with the most basic elements of state law that are there to protect the safety of children,” said Sara Eagan, former child advocate and executive director of the Center for Children’s Advocacy, a nonprofit civil rights law firm for children. “It is indicative of a lack of oversight at the state and local level. Kids are paying the price.”
The state Department of Education said in a statement that it is carefully reviewing its findings and recommendations to determine appropriate next steps.
Eagan said the report should scare people and that the Education Committee should hold hearings to review its findings.
State Rep. Jennifer Leeper, co-chair of the Education Committee, declined to comment, stating that she had not yet read the report.
Eagan said the findings were similar to the findings that the Office of Child Advocate and Disability Rights reported in an investigation of High Roads schools from March 2022 to March 2024, which found that “many of the students .. were grossly underserved both in terms of educational planning and service delivery.”
The report also found that the schools failed to “ensure and/or document that staff had undergone employment checks and criminal and child welfare background checks.”
Ghio also cited the same report, adding that “they couldn’t demonstrate that they had conducted the statutory requirement verification form on 60 staff employed those four years.”
Background check failures
State law requires that each job applicant of a private provider must submit to a Department of Children and Families Child Abuse and Neglect Registry records check, the audit states. An applicant must also submit to a state and national criminal history records check, the audit stated.
In reviewing staff records at the American School for the Deaf, the audit found that one of 13 staff records “reviewed lacked evidence of a completed DCF Child Abuse and Neglect Registry check.”
Further, auditors found that one staff record reviewed “had a criminal record on their national criminal history records check at the time of hire.”
At Grace S. Webb school auditors found two of 12 staff records that lacked evidence of the registry check and at University School JPE nine staff records reviewed “lacked evidence of a national criminal history records check” and any completed background checks prior to April 1, 2024, the report stated.
“Inadequate background checks increased the risk to student safety,” the report stated.
“American School for the Deaf and Grace S. Webb School did not have sufficient internal controls to prevent or detect instances of noncompliance,” the audit stated. ”University School JPE was not aware it needed this training.”
Both the American School for the Deaf and Grace S. Webb school agreed with the auditor’s findings, according to the audit. Grace S. Webb stated in the audit that a process has been established to ensure there are no gaps with the requirement moving forward.
“ASD has policies and procedures in place to ensure background checks are completed in Private Providers of Special Education 2022-2023 a timely manner, but in this single circumstance, HR management joined the organization in April and September of 2023 and were getting acquainted with processes,” the American School for the Deaf said in the audit report in response to the findings.
University School JPE said in its response that it had purchased the already existing school in August 2023 and kept the existing contract … “staff and overall structure in place as part of the sale and that all employees barring the director, administrator, school psychologist, and art therapist were exempt from the requirement.”
Further, in their review auditors found that “no private provider had policies or procedures for conducting national or state criminal history records checks for staff hired prior to July 1, 2019 or policies and procedures for recurring checks for relevant staff.”
In its response to the audit, Ädelbrook Academy – Cromwell acknowledged that they do not perform recurring background checks and that “best practice would support conducting routine background checks.” The other schools also said they would implement the background checks, according to the audit.
Ghio said the state has an obligation to ensure there are systems in place that protect children and that there is adequate oversight infrastructure which falls on CSDE and on local education agencies.
“Given that the audit found deficiencies in terms of these background checks, there really needs to be a clear system for ensuring that they happen,” she said. “Ultimately the state Department of Education needs to have a system in place where they are checking on a regular basis to ensure that it is happening.”
This past July, Education Commissioner Charlene Russell-Tucker announced the “launch of a comprehensive, independent evaluation of the CSDE’s special education infrastructure, processes and support and accountability systems, including how complaints are received, tracked and resolved,” according to a press release from CSDE.
Deficiencies noted
The audit also reviewed seclusion rooms finding that one of five seclusion rooms at Grace S. Webb school had “a mechanism that stuck in place and did not readily release, thus becoming a locking mechanism that did not comply with regulations.”
“Failure to comply with regulatory requirements increased the risks to student safety,” the audit stated. “In the case of an emergency, an unattended student could be trapped in the room.”
In response, the school said it would fix the issue. The audit stated the school was unaware of the “lacking mechanism problem.”
At University JPE, the audit found that the school “did not have a formal documented procedure for reporting emergency physical restraint or seclusion incidents to Bridgeport Public Schools (its only LEA).”
“Because University School JPE lacked policies and procedures and staff training on the emergency use of physical restraint and seclusion, there was increased risk to student health and safety,” the audit stated.
Auditors also found instances when several schools did not perform emergency drills.
Also, the “private providers reduced their ability to ensure compliance with training requirements and increased the risk that they did not adequately prepare their staff,” the audit also found.
“Private providers did not have centralized and fully implemented tracking systems to document training,” the audit found.
The audit also noted that the programs had an excessive reliance on non-certified staff.
“Utilizing non-certified instructional staff increased the risk that students did not receive high-quality instruction to ensure a free appropriate public education,” the audit stated.
Legislation
Ghio said legislation passed this year included some of the recommendations of the Office of the Child Advocate regarding private special education programs.
The law did create a requirement that the CSDE conduct annual unannounced site visits of randomly selected sites.
“We would like to see a bit more robust oversight and follow up in terms of identifying issues,” Ghio said.
She added it was also important to look at the quality of education and whether the services in the IEP are being delivered.
https://www.courant.com/2025/09/12/ct-special-education-programs-put-children-at-risk-audit-shows/
