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Special‑education director: ADE auditing, corrective action timeline and parent feedback efforts
Summary
The district's Exceptional Student Services director reported that ADE is conducting year‑4 monitoring visits and has set a corrective action plan with items to be completed by October 2026; the board discussed parent feedback channels and professional‑development plans to address compliance gaps.
Valerie Valdez, the director leading Exceptional Student Services (ESS), told the Baboquivari Unified School District board on July 13 that the district is in year 4 of ADE monitoring and working through a corrective action plan with milestones to complete by October 2026.
Valdez summarized three monitoring phases already completed: an initial file review in November (14 student files reviewed), follow‑up on 60‑day corrective items that ADE marked compliant in February, and ongoing work on IRON (report of noncompliance) items and procedures. “We are actually in year 4 for our monitoring,” Valdez said, and explained ADE had done classroom walk‑throughs, file reviews and scheduled a September visit to review procedural compliance and professional development.
Valdez said the ESS team is preparing a procedure guide, building required documentation in Synergy, and scheduling targeted professional development (one session referenced for July 21) to address IEP and procedural gaps identified by ADE. She also described outreach efforts to gather family feedback through the ADE parent survey window, which she said typically opens at the end of February and closes at the end of May; Valdez reported limited survey take‑up in recent cycles and said the district sends letters, emails and hard copies and encourages teachers to offer the survey to families.
Superintendent Diaz and board members thanked Valdez and staff for work on compliance and professional development; Diaz emphasized continued monitoring and district supports to close findings and improve services. Board members asked about accessibility and participation in the ADE parent survey; Valdez said she would explore making the survey easier for families to access.
Why it matters: ADE monitoring and corrective action plans are formal oversight mechanisms that can require policy and operational changes to maintain compliance with special‑education rules; the district must complete ADE's corrective items to avoid further enforcement steps.
Next steps: ESS will continue work on the CAP, deliver the scheduled professional development, ensure Synergy documentation meets ADE requirements, and report progress to the board before the district’s September ADE revisit.
