State audit finds Marshall Public Schools meets core Title I requirements; two district‑level findings and several school‑level improvements required

Kelly Fitzpatrick, the district's Title I lead, briefed the board on a Michigan Department of Education audit the district received this spring. Fitzpatrick said auditors reviewed districtwide materials and performed an on‑site review at Harrington Elementary and that the audit concluded the district met the three core areas of curriculum, instruction and assessment with no findings.

"We either met the requirement or we didn't," Fitzpatrick said, summarizing the audit process and the binary nature of the state review. She said the district completed 54 district indicators for the audit and that the Harrington school review covered 26 indicators.

Fitzpatrick said there were two district findings. The first was a wording issue: the district had not separately listed homelessness as a population for which it sets specific goals; Fitzpatrick said the language has been corrected. The second was an operational scheduling item: two paraprofessionals funded by Title I were reported to be supervising students during lunch rather than providing direct instructional services; auditors said that use is outside the funding intent and the district will realign schedules for those staff.

At Harrington Elementary the on‑site audit yielded several improvement needs. Fitzpatrick said the school received no findings in curriculum, instruction or assessment, but auditors asked the school to formalize processes for analyzing disaggregated data (for instance, by subgroup), strengthen and sustain a new intervention schedule, and document staff input and parent‑family engagement more consistently. She described several items as documentation and monitoring recommendations tied to recently established practices that the state expects to see over multiple years.

Fitzpatrick said an action plan will be submitted to the Michigan Department of Education and that the state will revisit the district in one year to confirm progress on required documentation and procedures.

Board members and staff praised Harrington leadership. Trustee Amanda Lankard commended site principal Beth Brownell by name after multiple parent and staff interview comments singled out the school's leadership.

Fitzpatrick said the audit's result was largely positive: the district met federal and state expectations in major instructional areas and the findings identified a small number of operational corrections. She asked the board to view the audit as a foundation for continued work and for the district to submit an action plan to address the improvement items.