2023 Connecticut General Statutes › Title 17a - Social and Human Services and Resources › Chapter 319 - Department of Children and Families › Section 17a-3b. - (Note: This section is effective October 1, 2022.) Department-operated education unit. Children residing in juvenile justice facilities who are incarcerated.

(a) The Commissioner of Children and Families shall implement the operational plan developed pursuant to section 2 of public act 21-174* to establish an education unit within the Department of Children and Families, for the education of any child who resides in any juvenile justice facility and any incarcerated child. The Commissioner of Children and Families shall administer, coordinate and control the operations of the unit and be responsible for the overall supervision and direction of all courses and activities of the unit.
(b) The commissioner, or his or her designee, shall:
(1) Have the power to employ and dismiss staff and, as a board of education would in accordance with the applicable provisions of section 10-151, such teachers as are necessary to carry out the intent of this section and to pay their salaries, or to contract with local or regional boards of education or educational service providers for the purpose of providing educational services to children being served by the unit;
(2) Develop and review quarterly reports, which shall be available to the Juvenile Justice Policy and Oversight Committee established pursuant to section 46b-121n, on academic performance, school discipline, attendance and other similar issues concerning students educated by the unit;
(3) Have the power to contract with providers of educational services for compilation, at least semiannually, of performance data to ensure that reporting measures are tailored to experiences of students in short and long-term placements in juvenile justice facilities;
(4) Require providers of educational services to develop partnerships and programs with local educational agencies, private educational providers and local industries and businesses;
(5) Report student performance data, attendance and rates of participation for all education programs and document transition activities and outcomes and collaborations with community service providers and parents to the Juvenile Justice Policy and Oversight Committee established pursuant to section 46b-121n;
(6) (A) Ensure that students have access to earn credits toward high school graduation and have access to arts and career and technical education courses, state-wide and college preparatory testing, and (B) provide alternative options for high school equivalency certificates for students who are twenty years of age or older with insufficient credits to meet graduation requirements pursuant to section 10-221a; and
(7) Enable students to have access to web-based content including credit recovery programs to allow students to earn a credit for a course he or she did not satisfactorily complete.
(c) The commissioner may employ within the unit transition specialists whose primary responsibility is to facilitate the successful transition of children from their communities to secure facilities and then back to their local educational program upon release. Transition specialists shall:
(1) Collaborate with local and regional boards of education, governing councils of a state or local charter school, interdistrict magnet school operators and agencies that serve the needs of children, employers and other community supports for reentry to plan and manage successful transitions between the unit, the student's previous school and the school the student will enroll in upon leaving the unit;
(2) Manage and track the educational credits of a student who is in an out-of-home placement and document the success of a placement following a student's reentry into his or her community; and
(3) Be responsible for communicating with the reentry coordinators who appear on a list pursuant to section 10-253a, whose primary responsibility is to support educational success in students returning to the community from juvenile justice system custody and who shall ensure all information regarding the education of a child under the oversight of the unit is communicated to the school the student will enroll in upon leaving juvenile justice system custody.
(d) The education unit shall ensure that the school the student will enroll in, after the unit's obligation to provide services to the student ends, provides services and supports that maximize the student's success.
(e) The education unit shall employ a uniform system of state-wide electronic record transfers for maintaining and sharing educational records for any child who resides in a juvenile justice facility and any incarcerated child in an educational program to be overseen by a directory manager as designated by the commissioner. Such system shall be aligned with recommendations by the Individualized Education Program Advisory Council established pursuant to section 10-76nn.
(P.A. 21-174, S. 3.)
*Note: Section 2 of public act 21-174 is special in nature and therefore has not been codified but remains in full force and effect according to its terms.
History: P.A. 21-174 effective October 1, 2022.