Waterbury 26-0689

Complaint Summary

Case Number

26-0689

Date Findings Report Sent

July 17, 2026

School District

Waterbury Public Schools (single student)

Person filing complaint

Parent

Grade Level

Elementary School

Allegation(s)

Issue 1: The Parent alleged that the District did not provide the Student with her special education services in accordance with her IEP during the 2025-2026 school year. (34 CFR §§ 300.323(c)(2) and 300.17(d) and RCSA § 10-76d-1(a)(1))

Conclusion(s)

Based on the review of the information gathered through communication with District staff members, documentation review, service schedules, progress monitoring reports, and Medicaid reimbursement logs, it is determined that the District did not consistently implement the Student's reading, mathematics, and speech and language services in accordance with her IEP throughout the 2025-2026 school year. While some special education and speech and language services were delivered throughout the 2025-2026 school year, there are substantial gaps in service provision for these areas. While the exact number of missed services cannot be determined with certainty, the special education teacher's offering of additional make-up sessions in the fall of the 2026-2027 school year confirms concern that the Student's reading and mathematics services were not delivered in full or with consistency. It was also noted that site 2a/resource setting services were replaced with push-in instruction (site 1a) which did not align with the designated service site specified in the Student's IEP. The District acknowledged staffing shortages that directly impacted the delivery of the Student's speech and language services and resulted in the Student receiving one weekly session and often no sessions despite the PPT recommendation of two thirty-minute sessions per week. The District reported tracking the Student's missed speech and language services but was unable to provide this investigator with a log of the specific time owed to the Student. While counseling services were provided more consistently, the log of services still demonstrated gaps due to the Student's availability and school closures, although based on those reasons, it is not concluded that the District failed to provide the counseling services in accordance with the Student's IEP. Therefore, the District was in violation of 34 CFR §§ 300.323(c)(2) and 300.17(d) and RCSA § 10-76d-1(a)(1) which require each board of education to provide in a timely way special education and related services in accordance with the student's IEP. Corrective action is required.

Through the course of this investigation, it was noted that at the time of the Student's annual review in February 2026, the Student had not mastered any of her goals and had only mastered one objective in the area of mathematics. While the District had convened a PPT meeting in December 2025, the only revisions to the IEP were to add school-based counseling and add special transportation. In accordance with 34 CFR § 300.324(b)(ii)(A), the District was required to convene a PPT meeting to revise the IEP, as appropriate, to address any lack of expected progress toward the annual goals and in the general education curriculum. Furthermore, the District carried over the Student's communication goals and objectives from the previous IEP at the Student's annual review in February 2026. While inconsistent speech and language services had been provided to the Student, the goals and objectives needed to be updated to reflect the Student's present levels of performance and not just carried over as written into the new IEP. Corrective action is required.

Corrective Action(s)

  1. The District must provide compensatory education to address the services the Student did not receive during the 2025-2026 school year. The Student is to receive:

    1. 15 hours of reading instruction
    2. 15 hours of mathematics instruction
    3. 20 hours of speech and language services

    A copy of the compensatory education plan must be provided to this investigator on or before August 31, 2026. The District must provide this office with first of the month updates on the delivery of services until the compensatory education hours are delivered in full. All services under the compensatory education plan must be delivered on or before January 29, 2027.

    If the Parent feels that such compensatory services would be overly burdensome or stressful to the student, the Parent, in collaboration with the District, through the PPT process, may determine an alternate number of compensatory service hours or identify alternative compensatory service strategies, methods or programs to compensate the Student which must be reported to the CSDE. If the Parent and District cannot reach a mutual agreement regarding alternative compensatory service strategies, then the corrective action item stands as ordered.

  2. The District must provide training to the Student's special education team for the 2025-2026 school year on the following requirements:

    1. 34 CFR §§ 300.323(c)(2) and 300.17(d) and RCSA § 10-76d-1(a)(1) which require each board of education to provide in a timely way special education and related services in accordance with the student's IEP (including site delivery); and
    2. 34 CFR § 300.324(b)(ii)(A) which requires the Planning and Placement Team to revise the IEP, as appropriate, to address any lack of expected progress toward the annual goals and in the general education curriculum.

    A copy of this training with staff signatures and dates must be provided to this investigator on or before September 1, 2026.

  3. The District must maintain monthly logs documenting the delivery of all of the Student's IEP services are delivered at the required frequency, duration, and site location. The logs must be completed by all service implementers and must include the date and time of each session as well as address any missed sessions that may occur. The District must submit these logs to this investigator at the beginning of each month through January 2027.

  4. The District must convene a PPT meeting on or before September 18, 2026, to review and update, as appropriate, the Student's present levels of performance, special education and related services, and goals and objectives. This investigator must be informed of the scheduling of the PPT meeting and upon finalization of PPT documents in CT-SEDS.