Superintendent Dana Giesland told the Granite Falls School Board on June 25 that the Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, or OSPI, has notified the district it will undergo a program review.

Giesland said the review — previously known as a consolidated program review — checks compliance with state and federal regulations and “that we’re using monies as they are intended,” and that the review will examine equity and civil-rights practices, academic supports for multilingual learners, Title I fiscal management and career and technical education (CTE) programs. “We actually got noticed from OSPI that we will be having a program review,” she said.

The superintendent described the process as partly a self-assessment and partly a documentation review. District staff will provide records showing, for example, that home-language surveys are completed at registration and that funding and services align with program requirements. Giesland said OSPI will provide technical assistance after reviewing the submitted documents. She told the board the district will attend a webinar in August to learn specific next steps and then submit the documents OSPI requests.

Giesland, who said she has led multiple program reviews in other districts, noted the reviews historically ran on a five-year cycle before COVID and that many districts have gone longer between reviews because of the pandemic. She told the board the timing “couldn’t be better,” because staff have recently cleaned up and documented special-education, multilingual-learner and CTE work that will be important for the review.

District leaders said they expect most interactions to be virtual: the district will gather requested documentation, meet with OSPI virtually and receive guidance or required corrective actions. Giesland asked board members to be aware the review is forthcoming and thanked staff for early work gathering records and evidence.

The review’s results could include findings that require corrective action or recommendations for program improvements; Giesland described the review as an accountability and technical-assistance process rather than a punitive audit. Next steps the district outlined include attending OSPI webinars this summer and responding to OSPI’s document requests once the agency identifies the specific program areas it will examine.