A parent requested the following accommodation after his teachers repeatedly mentioned his Individualized Education Program (IEP) to the class:
“Teachers should not intentionally allow other students to know that XXXXXX has an IEP and receives special education services.”
The parent didn’t understand that privacy is a right, not an accommodation, simply because the privacy violations modeled by the teacher pointed in the opposite direction.
A parent asks for an IEP meeting.
The IEP case manager for the parent’s child replies with a time and a date, and states that the child’s regular education teacher will not be a part of the IEP team.
The school’s proposed IEP team does not comply with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).
If the parent agrees to the meeting, he or she will be attending a meeting, but not an IEP meeting with an IEP team as defined by IDEA.
September 26, 2022, Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) released the final report for its two-year “independent” audit of its special education program. The audit, done by American Institutes for Research (AIR) paints a bleak portrait of a broken system.
The report comes as no surprise to parents or educators. It confirms what parents have experienced for decades. Students’ needs are not being addressed pursuant to IDEA, Section 504, and state implementing regulations, teachers are undertrained and under supported, and leadership encourages teachers to be quiet rather than proactive in helping to ensure the needs of students are met.
September 22, 2022, Virginia Superintendent of Public Instruction Jillian Balow admitted Virginia’s accreditation system skews data in a manner that “obscures the impact of the pandemic and school closures.”
According to VDOE, “Prior to the pandemic, the number of students statewide who failed an SOL reading test but showed growth — and therefore counted toward their school’s accreditation rating — ranged from 19,000-20,000. With this latest round of accreditation calculations, the number has more than tripled to 61,000.
“Similarly, the number of students who failed a math SOL test before the pandemic but showed growth and counted toward their school’s rating was about 20,000. This year the number has quadrupled to more than 88,000.”
This article is an extension to the article “Accommodation Break Down: Testing to Completion”.
It includes a few different options I wish I’d included previously, as well as a few more pits you’ll want to make sure you avoid.
September 21, 2022, a federal class action lawsuit was filed against the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) and Fairfax County School Board (FCSB), for violations of the rights of students under the U.S. Constitution and the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA). The Civil Rights Clinic of Georgetown Law School, the law firm of Susman Godfrey, LLP (each working pro bono), and Merritt Law, PLLC, collaborated to develop and file the case.
According to the complaint, plaintiffs allege that the Virginia due process hearing officers are not impartial, but in fact, have the worst ruling record of any major state in the entire country with respect to parents who have brought claims under the IDEA.
This is the accommodation that warrants its own evolution chart.
In my experience, it has the dubious honor of being the most-changed, least-followed, and most misunderstood accommodation that I’ve ever seen played out.
September 21, 2022, Fairfax County Police Department (FCPD) announced that detectives from its Major Crimes Bureau’s Child Abuse Squad charged 60-year-old instructional assistant Mark MacDicken “for assaulting a juvenile student.”
This occurred after two teachers walked into their classroom and witnessed McDicken assaulting a student who has special needs.
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.
“Copies of Teacher Notes”
This is another accommodation I thought to be straightforward.
How could it possibly be interpreted any other way than the teacher providing all teacher notes to the student in advance of the class?
But wait boys and girls, there’s more—always more to an accommodation than any of us expected.
Fairfax County Public Schools, Virginia’s largest school district—and one of the largest school districts in the nation—has spent merely 5% of the $188.7 million from the American Rescue Plan. This number was reported today in Linda Jacobson’s article for “The 74”, “Facing Pandemic Learning Crisis, Districts Spend Relief Funds at a Snail’s Pace”.
FCPS’s ARP funding failed to address the needs of students from the classes of 2020, 2021, and 2022, who graduated or dropped out of school before funding could benefit them. Recent announcements from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the Virginia Department of Education, and Governor Glenn Youngkin’s office indicate that this trend will continue.
In Virginia’s case, this follows a downward trend in academic performance that started before COVID.
“Testing to Completion”.
Seems like a straightforward accommodation, right?
Student is given the test.
Student is given as much time as is needed to complete the test.
How could it possibly be interpreted any other way?
What could possibly go wrong?
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