IEPs are contracts.
IEPs are the responsibility of the school to implement from day one of the school year.
If you run into issues with the date of implementation and implementation by teachers, you’ll want to look at some of these regulations.
Fairfax County Public Schools failed to provide the United States Department of Education Office of Civil Rights a full response to OCR’s request for data.
January 12, 2021, OCR launched an investigation into FCPS, for civil rights violations related to the COVID pandemic.
May 4, 2021, OCR submitted an “Initial Data Request Letter” to Superintendent Scott Brabrand, which has a focus on “what the Division has done to address any denial of free appropriate public education (FAPE) that has occurred for students with disabilities while the Division has offered remote learning in response to the pandemic.
FCPS failed to provide a full response.
Fairfax County Public Schools submitted an expedited FOIA request for parents’ communication with the U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights, just a week after OCR sent FCPS clarifying information about its investigation of FCPS.
The flash pass accommodation is a life saver. Unfortunately, it wasn’t on my radar until middle school. It’s an accommodation I’d recommend for both older and younger ages.
What is a Flash Pass?
A Flash Pass allows a student to leave class without having to 1) ask permission or 2) provide an explanation.
I’d been playing this IEP field for so long, I should have know to press when the procedural support liaison responded to my question, “What is engage?” with, “It’s not that they’re waiting for [him] to come to them. They’re going to engage with [him].”
I should’ve known exactly what would happen—just like at all those Little League games, when a grounder hit infield toward the second-baseman popped when it hit the grass. If the player didn’t know the field, it would jump right over his glove and he’d miss it. But for the home team, they knew exactly what to expect every time.
IEP and 504 fields aren’t much different. You attend enough of them and you start predicting the outcome before it happens, just like the ball popping up at the Little League field.
Whether your child is receiving an initial evaluation for eligibility or being reevaluated at a later date, the evaluation must be a comprehensive evaluation.
In the case of initial evaluations, §300.301(a) of the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) is your go-to regulation:
Each public agency must conduct a full and individual initial evaluation, in accordance with §§300.304 through 300.306, before the initial provision of special education and related services to a child with a disability under this part.
As of February 2022, less than 1% of Fairfax County Public Schools students had been provided recovery services or had “recovery services indicated on their IEP in some form.”
July 26, 2022, Fairfax County Public Schools provided its response to another FOIA request, this one focused on staff correspondence over a few days in May 2022.
For the limited time covered, the FOIA response includes significant information related to the hot-button issue of FCPS’s below-market Independent Educational Evaluation rates.
Although numerous parents through the years have complained to FCPS and/or have filed state complaints about the rates, FCPS has refused to change the rates.
Yet . . . It looks like FCPS has known for years that the rates are a problem.
January 2021, the United States Department of Education Office of Civil Rights launched an investigation into Fairfax County Public Schools, for civil rights violations related to the COVID pandemic.
A FOIA request was made for all of the records FCPS provided to OCR for the investigation. In response to the request, FCPS refused to provide the records within the mandated timeline, filed a lawsuit related to the request, and to date has refused to respond to subsequent requests for records and to questions about records responsive to the request.
Over a period of about a month, FCPS provided the records published here.
The is a complaint that was submitted to the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE).
VDOE found Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) in noncompliance.
VDOE’s Letter of Findings, in which it stated FCPS’s noncompliance is included, following the complaint.
Both IDEA and Section 504 guarantee a Free Appropriate Education (FAPE).
This includes assistive technology devices and services. Examples include:
* A laptop that 1) scans worksheets, which the student can then type on (because typing might be easier than writing), and 2) can be used to take pictures of the front board, notes, or any other information the child needs.
* A computer with a screen reader, to help with literacy
* Access to Learning Ally and other sources for audiobooks
* Noise-cancelling head-phones
*Voice-recognition software
If your child needs assistive technology devices or services, under both IDEA and Section 504, your child has the right to be provided them.
July 22, 2022: Article updated to include information about Jennifer Carpenter’s indictment, the police investigation, and the tip line set up in an attempt to gain more information related to the case.
June 10, 2022: Article updated to include FOIA response from Fairfax County Police Department and other cited documents.
June 8, 2022: Article first published.
Fairfax County Police Department and Fair Oaks Police Department are investigating Jennifer Carpenter regarding a “discrepancy in medication” that should have been administered to Fairfax County Public Schools students. Carpenter, a health department employee at Greenbriar East Elementary School, is accused of stealing medication such as Adderall and Ritalin, and instead administering an antihistamine to students.