Teacher of the Year Ceremony
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Waterbury 26-0022

Complaint Summary

Date Findings Report Sent:

September 04, 2025

Case Number:

26-0022

Grade Level:

Elementary

Person filing complaint:

Parent

School District:

Waterbury Public Schools

Allegation(s):

  • Failure to provide special education and related services in conformity with the IEP (34 CFR § 300.17(d))
  • Failure to provide the Student with periodic reports on the progress the Student is making towards annual goals in accordance with the Student’s IEP (34 CFR § 300.320(a)(3))
  • Failure to provide a free appropriate public education (FAPE) to the Student by offering an IEP that is reasonably calculated to enable the Student to make progress that is more than de minimis and is appropriate in the light of the Student’s circumstances (34 CFR § 300.101)
  • Failure to ensure that, to the maximum extent appropriate, children with disabilities, including children in public or private institutions or other care facilities, are educated with children who are nondisabled; and special classes, separate schooling, or other removal of children with disabilities from the regular educational environment occurs only if the nature and severity of the disability is such that education in regular classes with the use of supplementary aids and services cannot be achieved satisfactorily (34 CFR § 300.114)
  • Failure to provide a full copy of the individualized education program (IEP) shall be sent to the parents within five days after the planning and placement team meeting to develop, review or revise the IEP (RCSA § 10-76d-13(a)(6))

Conclusion(s):

  • The PPT meeting held on January 17, 2025, recommended that the Student be provided with 5 hours per week of homebound instruction for 30 days. The Student continued to receive homebound instruction for the remainder of the 2024-2025 school year. From the timeline of February 20, 2025, to July 6, 2025, the District indicated that the Student missed a total of 51 hours of instruction for various reasons including a delayed start to the services and cancellations by the tutor. Because the Student was not provided with the recommended 5 hours per week of homebound instruction, the District is in violation of 34 CFR § 300.17 and RCSA § 10-76d-1(a)(1). Corrective action is required.
  • The recommendation for homebound instruction for the specified reason is not a sufficient reason for homebound instruction. A PPT may recommend instruction in the home in accordance with 34 CFR § 300.115(b)(1) which identifies home instruction as an alternative placement listed in the definition of special education under § 300.38, as the Student’s least restrictive environment (LRE). It is determined that the District violated RCSA § 10-76d-15 as the Student was not unable to attend school due to a verified medical reason which may include mental health issues. Instruction in the home was however available to the Student pursuant to the IDEA’s obligation for a District to provide a continuum of alternative placements in the Student’s LRE. Corrective action is required.
  • The Student’s IEP states that progress reports on IEP goals and objectives must be provided to the Parent consistent with general education grade-level report cards. The District did not provide the Student with progress reports on IEP goals and objectives consistent with general education grade level report cards in accordance with the Student’s IEP. Therefore, the District is in violation of 34 CFR § 300.320(a)(3). Corrective action is required.
  • There are no progress reports for the timeline of the start of the 2024-2025 school year to the date of the complaint. For the time the Student was attending school in person, the IEP revisions for increased service time with peers suggests that the Student was making progress, but this is not clearly noted in the Student’s IEPs for academics. For the time the Student was provided with homebound instruction, the Student was not provided with 51 hours of service for various reasons. For the 2024-2025 school year, the Student received an 85 in all subject areas which is unclear as all of the grades were noted as the same.
  • Despite the PPT’s efforts to create an IEP that provides FAPE when the Student was attending school in person, it cannot be determined if the Student made progress in academics that is more than de minimis and appropriate in light of the Student’s circumstances throughout the 2024-2025 school year. Due to the lack of evidence of progress and the missed services during the homebound instruction, the District is in violation of 34 CFR § 300.101. Corrective action is required.
  • Throughout the 2024-2025 school year while the Student was attending school in person, the District made efforts to transition the Student to access the general education classroom with nondisabled peers. The District held monthly PPT meetings where the PPT reviewed and revised the Student’s IEP to increase the Student’s school day, increased services from a 1:1 setting to a self-contained classroom with peers, and increased time in the general education classroom. The District completed the Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) Checklist at the PPT meetings. From January 2025 to present, the Student was provided with homebound instruction. Because the District made efforts to ensure that the Student was educated with nondisabled peers to the maximum extent appropriate, the District is not in violation of 34 CFR § 300.114. Corrective action is not required.
  • The District is required to provide the Parent with a full copy of the Student’s IEP within five days after the PPT meeting. The IEP from the PPT meeting held on March 11, 2025, was created in CT-SEDS on July 9, 2025. The District provided an email that shows the District sending the Parent’s the documents from the PPT meeting held on March 11, 2025. These documents were provided to the Parent on July 9, 2025. The District provided an email that shows the District sending the Parent’s the documents from the PPT meeting held on May 16, 2025. These documents were provided to the Parent on July 11, 2025. The IEP from the PPT meeting held on June 16, 2025, was created in CT-SEDS on July 14, 2025. For the timeline of the complaint (July 6, 2024, to July 6, 2025), there were many other instances when the IEP was started in CT-SEDS months after the date of the PPT meeting. The District is in violation of RCSA § 10-76d-13(a)(6) for not providing the Parent with a full copy of the Student’s IEP within five days after the PPT meetings on multiple occasions. Corrective action is required.

Corrective Action(s):

  • On or before October 31, 2025, the District must develop a compensatory service plan to provide the Student with 51 hours of instruction to compensate for the missed homebound instruction. Should all parties feel that the total number of owed compensatory services hours will be overly burdensome to the Student, the parties may determine a mutually agreed upon alternate number of hours and inform the State of that agreement. The full measure of missed service hours must be delivered to the Student no later than June 30, 2026. On or before October 31, 2025, the District must send a copy of the compensatory service plan to the CSDE. Immediately upon delivery of the Student’s full measure of compensatory services, the District shall inform the CSDE.
  • The District must provide the building and special education administrators at the Student’s school during the 2024-2025 school year with training on RCSA § 10-76d-15 focusing on a Student’s eligibility for homebound instruction, the appropriate and intended use of homebound instruction as outlined in state and federal regulations as well as the difference between homebound instruction and instruction in the home as an alternative placement in the Student’s LRE. An overview of the training including materials as well as staff signatures, titles, and date indicating the completion of the training must be submitted to the CSDE no later than October 31, 2025.
  • The District shall provide training to special education case managers assigned to Students on homebound instruction in the documentation of Student progress on IEP goals and objectives in accordance with the Students’ IEPs. Such training may be in a form chosen by the District (e.g., memorandum, video, live, etc.). Such training shall include how to input progress reports into CT-SEDS. The District may determine the appropriate personnel to participate in such training. Such training must take place no later than October 31, 2025. No later than October 31, 2025, the District shall provide the CSDE with an attestation that the training has occurred.
  • On or before October 31, 2025, the District must conduct a PPT meeting to update the Student’s IEP to address the Student’s limited progress on IEP goals and objectives and determine the Student’s least restrictive environment. On or before October 31, 2025, the District must provide evidence that the PPT meeting has occurred to the CSDE.
  • On or before October 31, 2025, the District must review with special education case managers assigned to Students on homebound instruction the timeline requirements of RCSA 10-76d-13(6) and best practices to ensure the full IEP is sent to Parents within five school days after the PPT meeting. The content of the review and staff signatures and date must be sent to the CSDE no later than October 31, 2025.