Worthington City presents multi‑year plan to address special education audit

Worthington City Board of Education staff on Jan. 27 updated the board on work done to implement recommendations from an external special education audit, outlining a multi‑year, data‑driven effort that the district intends to expand in coming years.

The presentation, delivered by Kim Marani, director of special education, summarized work that began in fall 2023 with consultants from New Solutions and a multi‑member guiding coalition that includes district administrators, principals, teachers, related‑service staff, and parent mentors. Marani said the audit’s goals were to improve workload management for special education staff, improve outcomes for students with disabilities, and do so cost effectively.

Those goals drove five work areas: secondary interventions, staff workload and efficiency, instructional coaching (focused on secondary grades), a preschool entry/exit evaluation pilot at Sutter Park, and a district leadership role to coordinate behavioral and mental‑health work. The district reported it has implemented the preschool evaluation pilot, hired a leader for behavioral and mental‑health initiatives, developed a workload‑tracking tool for staff and expects full implementation of that workload process in fall 2025, and is planning phased shifts in service delivery models…