A lawyer for the state Department of Education confirmed Wednesday that an admissions process at Connecticut’s career and technical education system, which denied admission to nearly 160 students in the 2024-25 school year, was a “clear violation of federal and state law.”
Former leadership at the Connecticut Technical Education and Career System, known as CTECS, used what they called “safety review panels” in the admissions process, which assessed potential students and gauged whether they posed a safety risk.
An investigation by the state Department of Education found the panels denied admission to students who received disciplinary infractions at their previous schools — including for things like vaping — and disproportionately kept students with disabilities out of the CTECS system.
“These students were being excluded, not based upon conduct that occurred while they were at CTECS, but what occurred prior to them coming to CTECS,” said Mike McKeon, the education department’s legal director, at a state Board of Education meeting Wednesday morning.
“An argument could be made that they were deprived of due process because CTECS is a public school system,” he added. “They are subject to the same rules as any other school district and any other local educational agency in the state of Connecticut.”
More than a quarter of the students who were denied admission were receiving special education services in their home districts, McKeon said, adding that leadership within CTECS also violated several discrimination laws because they denied admission to students with disabilities prior to holding a Planning and Placement Team, or PPT, meeting with the student’s local district.
The purpose of the PPT meeting was to determine whether CTECS would be able to provide a free and appropriate program for that student and their learning needs. The meeting also would clarify whether any behavioral issues were a “manifestation of their disability,” which under federal law prohibits a student to be punished for behaviors caused by a disability.
“These students never had a PPT meeting,” McKeon told members of the Board of Education. “The safety review panel would review and if they decided they were not taking the student, the PPT never met. The student never received an [individualized education plan], which I think, arguably, is a clear violation of federal and state law.”
McKeon’s update Wednesday followed a five month long investigation launched in October after the state Department of Education received a copy of an email from former Interim Superintendent Justin Lowe that was sent to the heads of counseling across all 17 schools in the system.
Lowe’s email said the school system was in a “tricky spot with admissions and how we meet the vision of the district, navigate the tremendous cost that comes with our ballooning special education population, and most notably, make the necessary changes to our admissions that will help stop the unsustainable level of admitting students that have significant disciplinary histories, require nurses/paras/behavioral therapists, and so on.”
Lowe also wrote that he had “reinstituted the safety review board, which by our current numbers, right or wrong, has disenrolled a large number of students from our buildings, 73% of which are special education.”
“The state believes we are in violation of federal laws by continuing on with the safety review board,” Lowe said in the email. “I was able to buy us a year, but if I didn’t, we would have over 2,100 special education students in our schools, with no increases in funding to support our teachers, and especially you, the counselors, who often are on the front lines with families and these high need students.”
Shortly after the investigation was launched, Lowe was removed from the CTECS website. A spokesperson for the district said Lowe is currently on administrative leave pending the investigation’s conclusion.
“CTECS has eliminated the safety review board and has implemented a lottery-based admissions system. The new lottery system ensures equitable access, with all applicants having an equal chance based on available seats,” system spokesperson Kerry Markey, said in an emailed comment Wednesday. “Regarding next steps, we are awaiting a report from the State Department of Education,” Markey added.
In late November and early December, the system announced two leadership changes, including Gov. Ned Lamont’s appointment of Alice Pritchard as the system’s new executive director.
Freeman Burr, a former superintendent in Shelton and former Hartford educator, was then appointed by Pritchard as the new interim superintendent of CTECS.
McKeon said the system’s new leadership has been cooperative.
“The bad news is what was happening was extraordinarily problematic, but what’s happening now is very positive, a positive step,” McKeon said.