Special Education Action - Children are our priority. Ensuring their needs are met is our goal. Children are our priority. Ensuring their needs are met is our goal. Providing parents and their children the tools to advocate for themselves is our mission. Improving Public Schools is our goal.

Seven Years and Millions of Children Later, U.S. Dept. of Education Announces Continued Monitoring of Texas

06.09.2023

U.S. Department of Education Office of Special Education Programs announced it will continue its years-long monitoring of Texas Education Agency.

May 4, 2023, OSEP Director Valerie Williams issued a letter to TEA Commissioner Mike Morath, stating OSEP discovered TEA has been investigating Austin Independent School District for more than a year, “due to the district’s years-long backlog of special education evaluations, as required by the child find and evaluations requirements (34 C.F.R. §§ 300.301-306).”

The content of OSEP’s May 4, 2023, letter isn’t a surprise, although the letter being listed as a “DMS Close-out Letter” is an eyebrow raiser. TEA has a long history of failing to address the unique needs of children and providing them a free appropriate public education.

Failing Grades Are Not A Prerequisite For Special Education Evaluations

06.08.2023

Failing grades are not a prerequisite for special education evaluation and/or IEPs or 504s.

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) states that child find must include “Children who are suspected of being a child with a disability under §300.8 and in need of special education, even though they are advancing from grade to grade”. (Emphasis added. See 34 CFR 300.111(c)(1).)

Dear VDOE: Is it Okay for Compliance Specialist to Write “I’m Winging It” in Investigation Letter of Findings?

06.08.2023

“I’m winging it here”.

These are the words of a compliance specialist writing a Letter of Findings in response to a state complaint investigation.

They also are the words that no parent wants to see written by a compliance specialist.

Dear VDOE: Is it Okay for Compliance Specialist to Judge, Joke at the Expense of Parent Advocating for Her Child?

06.08.2023

Yesterday I shared comments from a Virginia Department of Education staff member, which appear in a Letter of Findings (LOF) to which she contributed.

Here’s another curious comment that appears in the same document:

“This is my justification for the length of the narrative in this case—they made me do it!! ? I wanted to separate the three categories of requests that Parent had initiated las summer — IEP, ESY, Reevaluation, Reading inventory testing. Sheesh. It shows the confusing atmosphere that FFX handled professionally. She was making lots of FFX staff work, sometimes in conflict with others. Please edit and make it better, ML.”

U.S. Dept. of Ed. Proposes Rule Change to IDEA; Seeks to Remove Parental Consent Connected to Medicaid; Public Comments Open Until August 1, 2023

06.07.2023

Unites States Department of Education Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services is proposing a rule change under Part B of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, “to remove the requirement for public agencies to obtain parental consent prior to accessing for the first time a child’s public benefits or insurance ( e.g., Medicaid, Children’s Health Insurance Program) to provide or pay for required IDEA Part B services.”

This proposed change is open for public comment until August 1, 2023.

U.S. Dept. of Education to Investigate VA Dept. of Education’s Response to Fairfax County Public Schools Civil Rights Violations; What Actions has VDOE Taken with “Similarly Situated” Districts?

06.07.2023

United States Department of Education Office of Special Education Programs announced its continued investigation into Virginia Department of Education will include examining VDOE’s “response to the Department’s Office for Civil Rights findings that Fairfax County Public Schools failed or was unable to provide a free appropriate public education to thousands of students with services identified in the students’ individualized education programs during remote learning. Specifically, OSEP would like to learn about the actions the State has taken, or plans to take, with similarly situated districts in light of these findings.”

The announcement came in a May 12, 2023, letter from Valerie Williams, director of OSEP, to Lisa Coons, VDOE’s new superintendent of public instruction and is a follow up to OSEP’s February 17, 2023, letter to Coon’s predecessor Jillian Balow, which announced OSEP would be conducting additional monitoring activities, to include an on-site investigation. According to the May 12 letter, the on-site will occur during the week of September 25, 2023.

Fairfax County Public Schools Found at Fault for Systemic Noncompliance: Local Administrative Review/Procedural Safeguards

06.06.2023

June 6, 2023, Virginia Department of Education found Fairfax County Public Schools at fault for systemic noncompliance regarding FCPS’s local administrative review process.

The complaint on which VDOE’s findings are based was filed April 7, 2023, and alleges FCPS for years misled parents about their procedural safeguards, by leading them to believe a local administrative review within FCPS, done by a hearing officer that is an employee of FCPS, is in compliance with IDEA and implementing state regulations. Hence, parents have taken this local administrative review route, at which there is no impartial hearing officer and no hearing in compliance with IDEA or implementing state regs.

In addition, the complaint alleges FCPS believes it can operate outside of federal and implementing state regs by forwarding an appeal option that 1) is not in compliance with IDEA, Sec 504, or VAC, and 2) by its own existence in FCPS’s student rights & responsibility manual, and on the FCPS site, falsely lead parents to believe that they are accessing procedural safeguards under federal and state implementing regs.

VDOE Opens Systemic Complaint on FCPS: Denial of FAPE to Preschool, Honors, Foreign Language, and Day School Students

06.01.2023

May 23, 2023, Virginia Department of Education opened another systemic complaint investigation into Fairfax County Public Schools, in response to a complaint filed May 12, 2023.

The complaint alleges FCPS is at fault for systemic failures to provide FAPE, to include but not limited to failure to address the unique academic, behavioral and functional needs of its students; failures to appropriately place students; and failures to provide services to students who elect to enroll in Honors classes.

The Curious Case of Virginia Dept. of Education’s State Complaint Findings: Determining Nature of Specially-Designed Instruction During Eligibility

05.19.2023

Virginia Department of Education has a long history of engaging in incomplete state complaint investigations, making irregular decisions following its state complaint investigations, and/or ignoring credible allegations of noncompliance altogether.

United States Department of Education Office of Special Education Programs has noted VDOE’s problematic state complaints a few times, in differentiated monitoring support letters dated June 23, 2020, February 8, 2022, March 16, 2022, September 1, 2022, January 17, 2023, and February 17, 2023.

Yet, VDOE’s state complaint process remains as bizarre as ever, with VDOE’s investigation decisions reading as if VDOE didn’t so much a peek at the evidence—more Ace Ventura than Sherlock Holmes.

In this case, VDOE makes a statement of noncompliance, but then finds Fairfax County Public Schools in compliance for that exact action. [Insert “Twilight Zone” theme song here.]

Virginians: $1,500 and $3,000 Grants are Available to Help Your Children

05.18.2023

Qualifying students in Virginia can receive grants of $1,500 or $3,000 for tutoring, specialized therapy, and/or assistive technology, to help address the impact COVID-19 had on academic and mental health. The grants do not have to be paid back, however they must be spent within a specific period and can be pulled if not used with 30 days of the grants being provided.

Learn who is eligible and how to apply.

Are Parents Members of IEP Teams and Eligibility Teams? Yes!

05.17.2023

Parents are full members of IEP teams and eligibility teams. Their roles as members are not limited to basic participation and/or providing input. Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) mandates full membership on the teams, not just a seat at the table.

Parents have key roles in evaluations preceding eligibility determinations, in the actual eligibility determinations, and in IEP development following determinations. For evaluations, as one example, members must draw upon information from various sources, including parent input. This doesn’t mean schools simply have to consider parent input and then decide if they’ll use it or not. They are required to draw from parent input.

In this article, you’ll find federal regulations (as well as Viriginia regs for those in the area), that define and guarantee parents’ rights.

VA Dept. of Ed Opens Systemic Investigation into Fairfax County Public Schools: Team Composition

05.16.2023

May 11, 2023, Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) issued a Notice of Complaint (NOC) regarding Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) being in noncompliance regarding composition of IEP and eligibility team members.

The complaint alleges that specifically, since at least 2017, FCPS has engaged in the following: a) holding IEP meetings that are in noncompliance with IDEA and implementing state regulations; b) unauthorized practice without a license; c) unlicensed “diagnosis and treatment of human physical or mental ailments, conditions, diseases, pain, or infirmities”; d) procedural violation of Parent’s and Student’s opportunity to participate in the decision-making process regarding the provision of FAPE to Student.

Seven Years and Millions of Children Later, U.S. Dept. of Education Announces Continued Monitoring of Texas

Failing Grades Are Not A Prerequisite For Special Education Evaluations

Dear VDOE: Is it Okay for Compliance Specialist to Write “I’m Winging It” in Investigation Letter of Findings?

Dear VDOE: Is it Okay for Compliance Specialist to Judge, Joke at the Expense of Parent Advocating for Her Child?

U.S. Dept. of Ed. Proposes Rule Change to IDEA; Seeks to Remove Parental Consent Connected to Medicaid; Public Comments Open Until August 1, 2023

U.S. Dept. of Education to Investigate VA Dept. of Education’s Response to Fairfax County Public Schools Civil Rights Violations; What Actions has VDOE Taken with “Similarly Situated” Districts?

Fairfax County Public Schools Found at Fault for Systemic Noncompliance: Local Administrative Review/Procedural Safeguards

VDOE Opens Systemic Complaint on FCPS: Denial of FAPE to Preschool, Honors, Foreign Language, and Day School Students

The Curious Case of Virginia Dept. of Education’s State Complaint Findings: Determining Nature of Specially-Designed Instruction During Eligibility

Virginians: $1,500 and $3,000 Grants are Available to Help Your Children

Are Parents Members of IEP Teams and Eligibility Teams? Yes!

VA Dept. of Ed Opens Systemic Investigation into Fairfax County Public Schools: Team Composition

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