WALLINGFORD — The school district will start a new program next month for children in grades K-2 with severe social and emotional needs.

The program will place children in a smaller classroom environment with support from para-educators, social workers and psychologists. It is meant to help children dealing with anxiety, trauma and other issues, said Laura Klimaszewski, the school district’s director of pupil services.

“The biggest problem is the inability to self regulate their emotions and behaviors, regardless of what's causing it,” Klimaszewski said.

School Superintendent Salvatore Menzo spoke about the new program at a school board meeting last week.

“We have so many students that have either experienced trauma or have experienced emotional issues that they’re coming to us with, and we have to help them,” Menzo told the board. “They’re not (able) to learn without having this support.”

The goal is to eventually return the child to a regular classroom.

For many years, the district has offered a similar program for children in grades 3-5. But school officials said they’ve seen an increasing need at the K-2 level.

“The needs have previously been able to be met within our K-2 buildings,” Menzo said, “but I think the needs have just reached a level where... it’s best to provide an alternative setting.”

The K-2 program will start Feb 15 in Mary G. Fritz School, where the

existing 3-5 behavioral program is located. Students will spend most of their time at Fritz School, but will also be bussed to Highland School, a K-2 school, to spend time with grade level peers.

The school district needed to create two new positions for the K-2 program — a full-time teacher with a salary of around $70,000 and a part-time school psychologist with a salary of about $45,000, according to Dominic Barone, school business manager. The program will have other staff, including existing paraeducator positions.

Money for the positions wasn’t included in the Board of Education’s $100.5 million budget for this school year, but Menzo said leftover money in the personnel account will be used to fund the new positions until the end of the school year. The positions are included in Menzo’s $102.5 million sustained services budget for next year. That plan still needs approval from the school board, mayor and Town Council.

The school board voted this month to hire Nathan Winstanley to teach the K-2 program. Winstanley previously helped run a similar program for Naugatuck public schools.

The decision to place a child will be made by a “pupil placement team,” made up of parents, a special and regular education teacher, a psychologist or social worker and an administrator.

“None of our specialized programs are meant to be the last destination for a student,” Menzo said. “They’re meant to be a place where they can grow, they can develop the skills necessary...and then over time, actually re-engage themselves back into the traditional classroom setting.”

Menzo also included three new psychologist/social worker positions in his 2018-19 budget proposal. Those mental health professionals will work in elementary schools helping students that are not in the new program, Menzo said.

“I know that nobody wants to add staff to any budget, I get it,” Menzo said when presenting his budget to the Board of Education last week. “But the challenge is that we have a tremendous need...The mental health professionals at the elementary level are so, so, so needed.”

The three mental health positions were included in Menzo’s proposed “strategic plan budget” — which is a list of items aimed at the district’s long-term goals and is separate from the sustained services budget. Each item in the strategic plan budget is ranked based on priority — the three mental health professional positions are ranked as the number one priority.

Klimaszewski said it’s hard to pinpoint a reason for the rise in K-2 students with severe social and emotional needs.

“There are theories out there, but I don’t think they've come up with any definitive conclusion that any one thing has caused the increase,” she said.

Klimaszewski said younger children, “many of whom have never been in school,” have a hard time adjusting to having demands being placed on them.

“I wouldn't say (the lack of available counseling) is the cause of what's happening, but I would say it doesn't make it any easier for the child coming in with different mental health issues,” she said.

mzabierek@record-journal.com

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Twitter: @MatthewZabierek