Supt. Murley, School Board Pres. Chris Lynch Should Go

Caption: 1. Supt. Steve Murley, Iowa City Community School District, recently found noncompliant in special education by the Iowa Department of Education. So is Chris Lynch, school board president (no photo available at this time).

The most amazing thing about the Iowa City Community School District’s failure to comply with Iowa’s special education requirements is this: Superintendent Steve Murley, who is paid $255,000 a year, including benefits, did not know that the Grant Wood Area Education Agency is the district’s compliance supervisor for special education.

The ”Iowa Department of Education[’s] Accreditation Final Report [on the] Iowa City [Community] School District,” dated June 13, 2016, states that “Letters from the district to both Grant Wood AEA [Area Education Agency] and the Iowa Department of Education suggest that the district does not understand that the AEA has general supervision responsibility in the area of special education.”

So when the district did not respond to AEA’s concerns in a timely manner, the Grant Wood AEA went up the ladder to the Iowa Department of Education, ensuring vigorous enforcement by the state to make sure that the ICCSD takes compliance issues seriously. Noncompliance triggered the state’s report on the district’s violations in 32 pages.

The main problem with the mandated Individual Education Plans (IEPs) for special education students are

1. “Failure to invite parents in a timely manner.

2. “Failure to notify parents of changes in services.

3. “Failure to fully describe the support services that are be provided.

4. “Failure to adequately describe why a student needs separate services.”

Another violation was staff’s tendency to decide what a student’s IEP was going to be before meeting with the entire IEP team, which is supposed to include parents, and, when appropriate, the students themselves.

Additionally, “numerous interviewees described the district culture as ‘retaliatory.’ Several people interviewed expressed reluctance to express opinions or make requests that were known to be different than those of district administration.”

Stephanie Van Housen, who was a liaison to homeless students in the Iowa City Community School District, was fired. Since Van Housen was a whistleblower in special ed., it’s not much of a stretch to see her firing as retaliatory. She is filing a grievance to get her job back.

In addition, there are violations in financing special education. According to the report, “additional training and/or oversite [sic] is [sic] needed at this level [building principals] to ensure proper account coding. Of particular need is increased awareness of appropriate use of special education categorical funding and the need to supplement, not supplant [the] General Fund. Not all purchases, regardless of whether special education students are solely being served, are special education expenditures.”

In sum, Supt. Murley didn't know that the Grant Wood Area Education Agency had official oversight of the school district's special ed. program. He thought their input was casual and his response could be delayed. His lack of a timely reponse and immediate corrective action escalated the AEA reports of ICCSD violations to the state level.

In addition, the report noted that "changes in procedures are necessary to ensure all contracts and agreements are signed by the [school] board president as required by Iowa Code." School board president Chris Lynch has not signed all the contracts and agreements he was supposed to sign. In particular, "information regarding the district's participation in the Wisconsin Early Autism Project (WEAP) included invoices for 'consultation.' No contract or agreement describing the type and duration of this service was found during the review; thus it is unclear whether the participation by the district was approved by the board."

It would seem appropriate to review at this time Supt. Murley's continued employment with the Iowa City Community School District. He is currently being evaluated by the board, which is obligated to provide annual performance reviews.

Perhaps it's also time for Chris Lynch, who the Iowa Department of Education cited as failing to maintain proper financial oversight of special education funds by signing all contracts and agreements as required by Iowa Code, to step aside as well.