Special Education Action is a 501(c)3 nonprofit publisher covering special education.
Its mission is to ensure parents, educators, and students have the information and tools necessary to fully understand, address, and safeguard the unique needs of all students who require special education.
Recent Articles
Students with Disabilities Arrested and Referred to Police at More Than Double the Rate of Students without Disabilities
Office for Civil Rights Finds Colonial School District Failed to Provide Equal Access to High Rigor Coursework to Students with Disabilities; Discrepancy in Data Reporting Identified
Office for Civil Rights Addresses Cancer, Epilepsy, Sickle Cell Disease; Issues Guidance on Medical Conditions Triggering Protections Under Section 504
In addition, they provide descriptions of the medical conditions and examples of how the conditions can affect a student’s experience in school.
Justice Department Finds Fulton County School District Failed to Prevent and Respond to Sexual Assault of Students Who Have Disabilities
DOJ determined Fulton County Schools “failed to adequately train its employees on responding to student-on-student Sexual Misconduct and lacked clearly defined policies and procedures (including with respect to roles and timelines) for investigating student-on-student Sexual Misconduct and for considering the impact of a student’s disabilities on their ability to consent to sexual activity during such investigations; and failed to offer students adequate supportive measures, ensure that students’ disabilities are effectively accommodated, and effectively communicate with students and their families.”
Justice Department Finds Utah at Fault for Failing to Provide Effective Transition Services
DOJ determined Utah is violating ADA “by unnecessarily segregating youth and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) during the day, instead of helping them find work and spend their days in their communities.” In addition, it found that gaps in Utah’s transition service system put students transitioning out of children’s services “at serious risk for unnecessary segregation in these settings”, because the students “enter adulthood without the experiences or the services they need to live fully integrated adult lives.”
VDOE Finds FCPS at Fault for Systemic Failure to Implement IEPs; FCPS Must Address Delays in Providing Compensatory Education and Reimbursable Expenses
A Letter of Findings (LOF) released today by Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) cites FCPS’ failures to provide compensatory education and reimbursable expenses in a timely manner consistent with IEP implementation regulations.
What Do Parents Need to Know?
In both cases, the reimbursable expenses and compensatory education are related to FCPS’ November 30, 2022, resolution agreement with Office for Civil Rights (OCR).
Although the findings address the families who joined the systemic complaint, neither VDOE nor FCPS can ignore noncompliance faced by other families.