Superintendent Dr. Robert D. Cronin has announced a public meeting to address recent reports that a number of North Haven special education teachers could face lay-offs or internal reassignments.

Cronin’s meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, July 21 at 6 p.m. in North Haven High School’s auditorium.

According to his office, Cronin will host a presentation which explains his suggestion to reduce or reassign local special education instructors. No teacher layoffs or reassignments will occur before his NHHS forum.

News of Cronin’s concept first appeared early last week on several resident-run Internet sources — Chris Kirby’s video reporting site NorthHavenNews.com and Chris Peterson’s town blog The North Haven Way.

During Kirby’s video entry of June 12, he said that he contacted Cronin after hearing rumors of special education teacher layoffs. In an email response to Kirby, according to the video, Cronin wrote, “The 2011-2012 education budget funds 35 special education teaching positions. After careful review, I believe we can meet the needs of our special education students using 26 of the 35 positions for special education without compromising services.”

“This will allow us to move the nine remaining teaching positions from the group of 35 for special education to other areas where teaching staff is needed next year using the same budgeted dollars,” Cronin added to Kirby. “What I am attempting to do is make the most of the resources we have available, and at the same time address as many of the district’s instructional needs as possible. As long as a teacher possesses the proper certification, we will place all our current teachers in positions for which they are certified.”

However, if a teacher is certified only in special education, and thus is not qualified to teach a different curriculum, those individuals could face an uncertain employment future in North Haven. “It is possible that if a teacher is only certified to teach special education, there might not be a position for them,” Cronin wrote.

Cronin’s ideas formed in part after two April 2011 reviews of North Haven’s special education services by the Connecticut Department of Education and the Capital Region Education Council.  North Haven’s superintendent office organized the July 21 meeting after First Selectman Michael Freda’s involvement.

“This past weekend, I was approached both in person and through email by many parents who have special education children in the school system here,” Freda said Wednesday. “Many parents were angry. They were not happy with the way that this was brought forward, in a sort of surprising fashion. I began to realize that a different course of action was probably needed, which I recommended to the Board of Education.”

“I suggested a public forum, where the superintendent could publicly discuss his findings based on the reports to Board of Education members, with the public present, of course,” he added. “To Dr. Cronin’s credit, he was willing to do that.”