Greenville County trustees review internal and external special education reports; call for clearer communication and staff training

The Greenville County Schools board on Feb. 10 received two reviews of special education services — an internal stakeholder-led report and an external evaluation by the American Institutes for Research (AIR) — that together identified strengths in IEP quality and graduation outcomes but flagged gaps in policy consistency, progress monitoring and staff capacity.

Terry Brinkman, who led the district’s internal review and summit process, told the board the work began with roughly 1,800 survey responses in both English and Spanish and continued with multiple forums and a two‑day summit that included about 80 stakeholders. “We had about 1,800 responses,” Brinkman said, noting forums and the summit were organized to capture representation across school levels and disability categories. She described summit recommendations such as a local “measure of inclusivity” for schools, a menu of inclusion practices, annual family surveys and intentional pairings of students with and without disabilities to support social inclusion.

The external review presented by Tamara Davis of AIR found IEPs were generally adequate and in many cases high quality, but identified inconsistent application of policies at the school level and variability in progress‑monitoring methods. Davis said AIR’s IEP sample (101 records) was chosen to be representative across disability categories, grade levels and schools, but acknowledged the size is a limitation. “That was agreed upon between AIR and the GCS team,” she told trustees when asked about the sample size.

Across the two presentations, common themes emerged: the need for more consistent district guidance, clearer plain‑language materials for families, protected collaboration time to align general and special education, and staffing guidance that accounts for caseload complexity as well as headcount. AIR recommended a district‑level MTSS review, protected monthly co‑planning time, peer observation programs and a trainer‑of‑trainers model for professional learning. The external report also noted that while GCS largely meets state teaching‑load standards, current workload practices do not always reflect the complexity of student needs and contribute to burnout.

District leaders described two immediate actions. Dr. Royster said staff will issue a request for proposals to replace and consolidate the district’s parent portal so families can more easily find special‑education resources, and the district will post for a parent resource representative to guide families through processes and follow up on questions. “We’re gonna post for a parent resource representative to help parents as a guide through this,” Dr. Royster said.

Board members asked for clarity on timelines and budget implications. Trustees were told some items could be implemented quickly (for example, improved website navigation and a parent‑resource hire) while large‑scale training or hiring will require longer planning and possible budget proposals. The district said elements of the reports may appear in budget recommendations and that staff will return with a combined, prioritized implementation plan after finishing a joint review of the internal and external findings.

The presentations concluded with a pledge to continue engagement: the district will share more detailed steps with summit participants and the board as the administration develops concrete action plans and cost estimates.