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Special-education staff report problems with PowerSchool special programs; district asks state to delay using its data for funding
Summary
Lake Central special education leaders described data reliability problems with PowerSchool special programs at the Sept. 22 meeting and said they have asked the Indiana Department of Education to delay using the program as the primary source of funding and compliance data.
District special education leaders told the board Sept. 22 that Lake Central has encountered data reliability problems after switching to PowerSchool special programs for individualized education program (IEP) and individualized learning plan (ILP) management.
"The training that we had was a little bit lacking," Director of Student Services Miss Girmala said. "A couple weeks ago, all of our teachers of record just disappeared from the program." She described the transition as difficult and said teachers and administrators have worked after school and on early-release days to troubleshoot the system and to crowdsource solutions.
Girmala said the Department of Education plans to use the new program as a source of data for district funding and for some compliance reports. The district's special education directors have requested that the department allow districts to continue submitting data from a second source (Lake Central uses Skyward) for another year while PowerSchool's issues are resolved. "Let's give it another year," she said, summarizing the directors' request to the Department of Education, which the district said is "taking that under consideration" but had not committed to a decision.
Girmala told the board that parents have helped by acting as test users for the program's parent-signature workflow and praised teachers and administrators for persistence. She also announced a Special Education Parent Advisory Committee workshop for supporting struggling readers on Thursday at 6:00 p.m.
The board did not take action on the request to the state; the item was presented as an update and status report from district staff.
