Stamford, CT: Schools to get "assistant principal for special education" this fall
- Jul 25, 2025
- 2 min read
July 22, 2025, CT Post: Stamford schools hire 11 new special education administrators as part of staff reshuffling
Almost every school in Stamford will be getting a new assistant principal for special education for the upcoming school year, as part of the school district's staffing reorganization.
Eleven new positions were created to better assist building administrators in implementing special education instruction for the approximately 2,800 students in the district with disabilities, as well as hiring and supervising all special education teachers and related staff, according to a press release from Stamford Public Schools.
This week, the school district announced that all 11 positions had been filled, with all but one coming from within the school system. . . .
The new assistant principals for special education will also be tasked with case management as well as ensuring compliance with local, state, and federal special education requirements.
At a Jan. 14 meeting of the Board of Education's Teaching, Learning and Community Committee, Chief Academic Officer Amy Beldotti presented the plan to bring in the new positions as a way to address ongoing special education challenges.
The percentage of students who qualify for special education has been on the rise both in Stamford and across the country. For example, 17% of students in the district qualified for special education services in the recently completed school year — a dramatic jump from 12% in the 2015-16 school year. . . .
She said the new assistant principals will also look at ways to ease the transition for special education students from one school to another or from one grade level to another.
"Those transitions from pre-K to K, fifth grade to sixth grade, eight grade to ninth grade, are such crucial times for all of our students but even more so for our students with special needs," Beldotti said at the meeting.
The 11 new positions will be divvied up among all district schools, with most splitting their time between two schools and a few stationed at one school.
The lone exception is Stillmeadow Elementary School, which will have one full-time assistant principal dedicated to special education due to the large special education population at the school. Rachael Wiggins, who was the multi-tiered system of support specialist at the school, will take over that role. . . .
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