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Gilmer County board reviews special-education audit, orders clerical corrections and follow-up
Summary
Michelle Mason presented a LEA compliance monitoring report identifying multiple clerical and documentation errors — including misclassified IEP minutes, a math class with high special-education percentage, and discipline entry errors — and the board agreed to file corrections and meet the state's May 29 follow‑up deadline.
Michelle Mason, the district's special-education presenter, told the Gilmer County Board of Education that a recent LEA compliance review found multiple noncompliance issues, most of them clerical, that the district must correct.
Mason said the audit flagged AF4 (instructional grouping) and AF8 (service verification minutes) findings, noting instances where master schedules or IEP entries did not match — for example, a class listed as “learning skills” on one document and “living skills” on an IEP, and split-course scheduling that produced an understated time block. She said one math class reviewed had 38% special-education enrollment when the policy threshold is 30%, and administrators have submitted explanations to the state to address that finding.
Mason also described discipline-record errors (entries using 365 days where policy requires 180 school days), missing attendance data for alternative-learning-center (ALC) students, and incomplete documentation of PBIS at the high school level. "A lot of those was an input in LEAs and it's just human error," Mason said, adding that the team will submit rosters, corrected IEPs and other supporting documentation to show compliance.
Superintendent Dr. Min confirmed the district will correct the listed items and noted the discipline finding requires corrective action and additional review. The board asked follow-up questions about sample sizes used in file reviews and whether the May 29 timeline provides sufficient time for corrections; Mason said the district will submit materials and the state will request additional sample days if needed.
Board members thanked staff for their work and for addressing the issues. The board did not take separate action beyond directing staff to file the correction materials and comply with the state's corrective-action process.
The board's next step: submit the documented corrections to the West Virginia Department of Education and respond to any state follow-up requests; the discipline corrective action remains an outstanding item requiring monitoring.
