School district flags lack of documentation for ESE services provided
An internal audit detected problems with how the School District of Lee County documents its provision of services to students with special needs.
As a result of high ratings in two areas serious enough to require immediate action, the district is looking into its Exceptional Student Education services to find opportunities for improvement.
“The really good news is this has been identified. Management has a response. Anything we can take off our teachers’ back is really important,” Superintendent Dr. Denise Carlin said, adding their most important job is to teach.
The audit presented to the Lee County School Board Tuesday afternoon showed “high” ratings for two observations – development and delivery of ESE services or accommodations and ESE delivery consistency and maturity.
According to RSM, a high rating presents a high risk to the district and action should be taken immediately.
For the first observation – development and delivery of ESE services or accommodations – RMS reviewed a sample of 40 individualized education plans, which identified 467 district services and accommodations.
For services – 107 had documentation to support delivery and 71 had no documentation to support delivery. There were six documentations to support delivery for accommodation, and 283 that had no documentation.
In other words, 76% had no documentation to support delivery of services.
RSM Manager Weiss Campbell said the primary action taken by the district was the development of a handbook, which targets training, roles, and expectations.
The second observation – ESE delivery consistency and governance – also had a high rating. According to the audit, “our review identified the absence of a clearly defined and consistently enforced districtwide framework for ESE service documentation and oversight, including standardized procedures, training, tools, and monitoring mechanisms.”
Again. the development of the handbook was established to define expectations, so documentation challenges remediate.
The ESE exceptionalities and programs for the district include sensory impairments, communication impairments, developmental disabilities, physical and health impairments, emotional and behavioral disabilities and learning disabilities.
For the 2024-2025 school year, there were 8,073 students with communications impairments, 4,097 students for learning disabilities, 4,225 students for developmental disabilities, 2,131 for physical impairments, 362 students for emotional and behavioral disability, 228 students for sensory impairments and 134 students for medical/placement related.
The district provides a variety of specialized programs for these students – consultative/instructional support, behavioral intervention, life skills, social emerging, social functioning, functional skills, deaf and hard of hearing and hospital homebound.
The objective of the audit was to “access the district’s ESE program, focusing on regulatory compliance and the effectiveness of IEP development and implementation of the program. The internal audit also evaluated the timeliness and accuracy of IEP documentation and the alignment of ESE services with federal and state mandates.”
Board member Melisa Giovannelli said the district receives funding for ESE students and they need to be putting those dollars to those students. She said they have not been holding anyone accountable.
“We are paying close attention to this matter,” Carlin said. “It’s very important to us. All of our students matter. We have a plan.”
Giovannelli said there is a lot of documentation and paperwork associated with IEPs and 504 plans.
“That process needs to be simplified and streamlined to where it is almost a click of a button,” she said. “The work might have been performed, but there is no documentation to back it up.”
To reach MEGHAN BRADBURY, please email news@breezenewspapers.com