Children are our priority. Ensuring their needs are met is our goal.
“Access to Flash Pass”
“Access” is up there with “as needed” and “all” and “before”.
What is “access”, other than a word that is over-used and under-defined in IEPs and 504 Plans?
December 8, 2022: This article was updated to include this mention of Office of Civil Rights (OCR) November 30, 2022, letter of findings about Fairfax County Public Schools and OCR’s resolution agreement with FCPS. OCR’s findings cite this systemic complaint and make it clear that parents should have prevailed in 2020.
When rules are set in concrete for parents, but set in Jell-O for school divisions, it is hard to believe that children will ever have their rights implemented in full.
If the very state education agency that is mandated by law to ensure the rights of children, is in noncompliance itself—and bends its own rules for school divisions—who will ensure the rights of children are implemented in full?
December 7, 2022: This article was updated to include this mention of Office of Civil Rights November 30, 2022, letter of findings about Fairfax County Public Schools and OCR’s resolution agreement with FCPS. OCR’s findings cite this systemic complaint and make it clear that parents should have prevailed in 2020.
May 8, 2020, the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) received a systemic complaint against Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS).
VDOE issued its Notice of Complaint (NOC) May 18, 2018.
When you review the NOC, compare it with the parents’ complaint. You’ll see that the items VDOE picked to investigate aren’t the actual complaints, but information supporting the complaints.
As I wrote in Part I of this series, this is classic VDOE—and is a topic I’ll cover in depth at a later date.
File this under “accommodations that shouldn’t go wrong, but end up leaving you paralyzed in jaw-dropping numbness” at the absurdness surrounding incorrect interpretations and/or implementations, or both.
What is Strategic Seating?
It is just what it sounds like—strategic seating. It is a seat in the classroom that is chosen for a specific student, to help address his or her unique needs.
Who knew such a straight forward accommodation could become a nightmare?
December 6, 2022: This article was updated to include this mention of Office of Civil Rights November 30, 2022, letter of findings about Fairfax County Public Schools and OCR’s resolution agreement with FCPS. OCR’s findings cite this systemic complaint and make it clear that parents should have prevailed in 2020.
This is part one of a series based on a pending systemic complaint against Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) and based on the Virginia Department of Education’s (VDOE) handling of the complaint.
May 8, 2020, a complaint against FCPS was submitted to the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE).
Five families and six children are listed on the complaint, which the parents asked VDOE to investigate at the systemic level.
In the three months since the complaint was submitted, VDOE and FCPS have exhibited how stacked the system is against the very children it is supposed to protect.
Read this article to learn how to file a complaint with OCR.
This follows OCR’s January 12, 2021, announcement that it would investigate FCPS, Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), and Seattle Public Schools.
Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) remains in noncompliance of federal regulations.
September 1, 2022, United States Department of Education issued another a letter to VDOE that addresses VDOE’s continued failures. This letter was not provided to the public, nor were the similarly critical letters USDOE sent on February 8, 2022, and March 16, 2022. All three letters were obtained via Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. Special Education Action received the September 1, 2022, letter yesterday, November 10, 2022.