Largest Ohio school district gets ethics hotline

COLUMBUS (AP) — Ohio’s largest school district is introducing a hotline enabling workers to anonymously report wrongdoing.

The system is a result of the investigation into manipulation of attendance data in the Columbus school district. The state auditor hasn’t released his report on that investigation yet.

The Columbus Dispatch reports the district’s internal auditor expects the new hotline system to be rolled out before March. She says it’s a tool to help workers report ethics concerns by phone or online. Employees also could choose to notify their supervisors directly about concerns.

Columbus school employees have been accused of altering attendance records for struggling students to improve performance ratings. Federal authorities joined the investigation, which is separate from a review that found attendance-data reporting problems in other districts.