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Stamford Public Schools Prepares to Welcome More Than 15,500 Students for the 2025–26 School Year

Stamford School District
Stamford Public Schools Prepares to Welcome More Than 15,500 Students for the 2025–26 School Year

Stamford Public Schools (SPS) will open its doors to more than 15,500 students in grades PreK through 12 on Wednesday, August 27 for the 2025-26 school year. Last week, more than 2,000 certified educators and paraeducators returned to work for the 2025-26 school year. Teachers and paraeducators spent the last few days preparing their classrooms for the new year, completing district-, state-, and federally-mandated training, and participating in more than 40 professional development sessions.

Following is a look at what’s new and newsworthy as the 2025-26 school year begins. 

Oakwood Collaborative School Opens at Toquam Elementary

Stamford Public Schools is partnering with Cooperative Education Services (CES) to offer a self-contained special education program for students with disabilities who otherwise would have required out-of-district placement. The Oakwood Collaborative School at Toquam Elementary consists of six classes for students in PreK-2. The Program Administrator was placed by CES, while the teachers and paraeducators are SPS employees. 

The percentage of students with disabilities (SWDs) who qualify for special education and related services is increasing statewide and nationally. In Stamford, more than 17 percent of PreK-12 students qualified for special education and related services in 2024-25, up from about 12 percent in 2015-16. Of the 2,824 students who qualified for special education and related services in 2024-25, 94 percent were educated in-district. 

New Bridge K Program to Support Students with Disabilities

Stamford Public Schools is offering a new Bridge K program for up to 48 students with disabilities who are transitioning to Kindergarten from the APPLES Pre-K Program. Bridge K classrooms are located at Davenport Ridge, Julia A. Stark, K.T. Murphy, Northeast, and Roxbury Elementary Schools. Students will be assigned to Bridge K as well as a general education classroom. The goal of the Bridge K program is to have students move full-time into a general education classroom when they begin first grade. 

District Welcomes 113 New Teachers

This year, SPS is welcoming 113 new teachers to its classrooms.

  • 43 are first-year teachers, including 8 former SPS paraeducators beginning their teaching careers in the district.

  • 25 are SPS graduates (18 from Stamford High School, 5 from Westhill High School, and 2 from the Academy of Information Technology & Engineering).

  • 2 first-year teachers were part of the first cohort of the SPS Educators Rising Program that was introduced during the 2019-2020 school year. 

  • Newly-hired teachers represent 7 percent of all certified educators working for Stamford Public Schools.

SPS Remains a State Leader in Advanced Coursework 

SPS continues to be a state leader in ensuring students have access to college-level coursework while in high school. In 2025–26, the district’s high schools will offer 139 Advanced Placement, CT State Norwalk Early College Studies, International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme, and UConn Early College Studies courses as follows:  

  • AITE: 25 AP and ECE courses.

  • Stamford High School: 76 AP, ECS, IB, and ECE courses. 

  • Westhill High School: 38 AP and ECE courses. 

Specialized Academic Programs at SHS & WHS Enroll Nearly 800 Students

Of the 4,098 students currently enrolled at Stamford and Westhill High Schools, 781 (19%) are participating in one of five rigorous, intradistrict specialized academic programs open to all Stamford resident students regardless of zoned high school:

Tango Flight Program Takes Off at AITE 

One of this year’s most unique offerings is the Tango Flight Program at AITE, where 20 students are beginning a two-year journey to build a fully FAA-certified Vans RV-12iS airplane. This immersive STEM experience allows students to apply classroom knowledge to real-world engineering and aviation challenges. 

Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) Program Offered at WHS 

SPS’s rapidly expanding Career Pathways program introduces students to more than a dozen high-demand fields, including public safety, construction management, information technology, and education. This year, Stamford Public Schools is partnering with Excel Academy to offer the Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) program at Westhill High School as part of the district’s Career Pathways Program. Students in the healthcare pathway will be able to complete all coursework for CNA certification during high school, including clinical hours. The new CNA course is fully enrolled with 25 students for its inaugural year. 

Flexible Schedule Debuts at High Schools

The new flexible schedule will be in place at all three high schools when school opens on August 27. The flexible schedule is a block schedule in which some courses meet daily for a quarter (0.5 credit), semester (1.0 credit), or full year (2.0 credits), while others meet every other day for a semester (0.5 credit) or the entire school year (1.0 credit). Most students will be scheduled for 4-6 courses in the fall semester and 4-6 courses in the spring semester based on their academic program, grade level, and credits needed to meet graduation requirements. Teacher caseloads will be reduced from up to 150 students for the entire school year to no more than 90 per semester.  

Enrollment 

As of August 25, 2025, PreK-12 enrollment was 15,549, not including pending registrations with incomplete paperwork. As part of the FY26 budget process, SPS projected an October 1, 2025 enrollment of 16,107 students. Enrollment as of October 1, 2024 was 16,239. Historically, approximately 250 new students register for school between mid-August and September 30. The district is monitoring enrollment closely and will share an update after Labor Day.  

Leadership Updates 

Several SPS administrators are stepping into new roles for the 2025-26 school year: Lisa Saba-Price – Interim Associate Superintendent for Elementary; Sandra Carlton—Principal, Hart Magnet; Sandra Ehlers—Principal, Davenport Ridge; Iuliana Roata—Principal, Roxbury; Keriann Maxelix—Interim Principal, Westover; Sharyl Cordone—Program Administrator, Oakwood Collaborative School, Kathy Cibulkas Lane—Assistant Principal, Newfield; Cynthia Manifold-Dougherty —Assistant Principal,  Toquam; Corine Matarasso—Assistant Director, APPLES PreK; Marshell Medley—AP for Specialized Instruction at Davenport and Hart; and Christie Robinson—Assistant Principal (AP) for Specialized Instruction (Special Education) at AITE and Rippowam. 

SPS is also pleased to welcome the following new administrators to leadership positions, including 15 (*) certified educators who were promoted from within SPS: Paolo Ochoa*—Coordinator of Access & Opportunity; Catherine Albrecht*—AP for Specialized Instruction at Stamford High; Lee-Ann Baranowski*—AP for Specialized Instruction at Cloonan and Roxbury; Dr. Rachel Bria*—AP for Specialized Instruction at Turn of River and SPS Anchor; Dr. Emily Krol*—AP for Specialized Instruction at Dolan and Springdale; Michael Macchio*—AP for Specialized Instruction at Julia A. Stark and Newfield; Brie O’Bryan*—AP for Specialized Instruction at Northeast and Scofield; Amy Ofiero*—AP for Specialized Instruction at Toquam and K.T. Murphy; Oraina Simmons—AP for Specialized Instruction at Westhill; Dr. Rachael Wiggins*—AP for Specialized Instruction at Stillmeadow; Tim Foley*—Interim Assistant Principal, Westover; Dr. Alfredo Fuentes*—Interim Assistant Principal, Dolan; Kerry Murphy*—Interim AP for Specialized Instruction at Rogers; Jonathan Ortiz*—Interim Assistant Principal, Stamford High; Angela Plateroti*—Interim Assistant Principal, Northeast; and Larissa Weir*—Interim Assistant Principal, Stark. 

In 2024-25, SPS had the highest student-to-administrator (165.9-to-1) and SWDs-to-administrator (26.6-to-1) ratios among public schools in Lower Fairfield County. The addition of the new APs for Specialized Instruction will bring the ratios down to 150.4-to-1 and 24.1-to-1, respectively, still ranking among the highest in the region. 

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