Audit finds inconsistent special-education practices; district, EFC outline three-year fix

The Marion City Schools board heard a detailed special-education systems audit on May 18 that identified strong staff commitment and pockets of effective co-teaching but found a district-wide lack of clarity and consistency that is harming student access to instruction.

"Our goal was to provide you some actionable recommendations that support better outcomes for students with disabilities," said Jen Stewart, project lead for the audit and member of the EFC of Central Ohio's specialized on-site support team. Stewart told the board the audit examined service delivery, staffing and workload, instructional quality and systems coherence through observations, surveys, interviews and document review.

Why it matters: The district's special-education graduation and dropout indicators were flagged in state data, and inconsistent practices across buildings can mean very different experiences for similar students. The audit linked those inconsistencies to variable implementation of co-teaching, uneven progress monitoring and misaligned staffing and schedules.

Key findings and examples: Stewart said the team conducted 44 classroom observations across eight buildings, received 213 staff survey responses and reviewed IEPs, ETRs and state data. Strengths included documented monitoring processes and a "positive culture and relationships" among staff. But Stewart said there is "inconsistent implementation across settings" that produces variability in student experiences, and she called out misalignment in staffing and scheduling as a factor that reduces consistent delivery of services.

On family engagement and data: The audit included 41 family survey responses; board members pressed Stewart on the low response rate. Stewart acknowledged the limitation, saying the report notes the sample-size constraint and that engagement will be part of the districts three-year approach. The audit recommends clearer progress-monitoring expectations so families receive consistent updates and can track student progress.

Recommendations and next steps: The EFC recommended an immediate, year-1 program of work to: (1) define and adopt a district service-delivery model with common language for co-teaching and placements; (2) strengthen instructional practices and embed evidence-based, high-leverage strategies across classrooms; (3) establish consistent progress-monitoring data points to communicate to families; and (4) realign staffing and schedules to protect collaborative planning time and match staff capacity with student needs.

Implementation support: Stewart said the EFC will work with the district throughout year 1. "As we develop that service delivery model and we start to share that information out among staff, be familiar with it, understand the different settings that Marion City Schools offers," Stewart said, urging board members to use consistent language when answering parent questions.

Board response and operational notes: Superintendent Murphy and district leaders told the board they have already begun rewriting the continuum of services and have scheduled a June 1 administrative workday to align leaders around service-delivery definitions and year-1 priorities. Administrators also said some scheduling and program changes may follow as the district reviews caseloads, but they emphasized that IEPs and least-restrictive-environment (LRE) determinations would remain team decisions.

What comes next: District staff and the EFC plan training for co-teaching and paraprofessional onboarding in the fall, protected planning time, and clearer progress-monitoring protocols. The board asked for regular updates; EFC representatives said they expected to remain engaged through the first year of implementation.