Special Education Action Page 24 of 44

It’s the Law: Assistive Technology Devices and Services

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.

(7.22.22 Update) Fairfax County Employee Accused of Stealing Students’ Medications; Criminal Investigation Ensues

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.

FCPS Had a Pandemic Plan in 2007; Internal Records Provide Toxic Portrait of FCPS’s “Best and Brightest”

David Halberstam’s The Best and the Brightest comes to mind when reviewing Fairfax County Public Schools’ internal records.

A FOIA request FCPS is still heading to court over, and records collecting digital dust in Fairfax County School Board’s collection of online documents, comprise the bulk of the records.

In 2006, the United States Department of Education (USDOE) warned school districts that pandemics were on the horizon and advised them to prepare pandemic plans.

FCPS took heed and had a plan in development by 2007.

Between 2007 and now, a portrait emerged of leaders who were dazzled by themselves and their colleagues, “how extraordinary they were, each brighter than the next . . .”

FOIA: Fairfax County Public Schools Independent Educational Evaluations

Update: This article was published July 2020. It is being updated to include an email indicating Fairfax County Public Schools has long known that its price cap for Independent Educational Evaluations is below market price. FCPS’s low rate limits parents to 1) using private providers who accept FCPS’s low IEE rate or 2) paying the difference out of pocket for providers who don’t accept FCPS’s low rate. The email was obtained via a FOIA request for documents FCPS provided the Office of Civil Rights.

This FOIA request was done in 2018 and was submitted to Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) in Virginia.

The response includes 528 pages, including how FCPS set its “rates” and letters to providers asking if they’ll accept FCPS rates.

How to Submit a FERPA Request

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) protects confidentiality of students’ education records and their rights to full access to those records, to include the right to review and respect the records.

What Is An Education Record?

To fully access your student’s education records, you must have a full understanding of the definition of “education records”. The same holds true if you are trying to monitor whether the confidentiality of the student’s records is being maintained.

An education record simply isn’t a file consisting of report cards and progress reports. It includes such records as emails and legal invoices, too.

(7.8.22 Update) Fairfax County School Board Heads to Court Over FOIA Request; Delays Publishing of Office of Civil Rights Investigation Records

July 8, 2022: Article updated to include FCSB’s Demurrer and Motion to Dismiss, additional information about the court case, correspondence, and responsive records provided by FCPS.

June 10, 2022, article updated to include new information, to include information about retaliation and the scheduled hearing date.

June 2, 2022: Article first published.

Fairfax County School Board is headed to court over a Freedom of Information Act request.

This is the second time in nine months that FCSB’s FOIA-response-related actions (and inactions) have resulted in SpecialEducationAction.com being prevented from publishing internal Fairfax County Public Schools documents. In addition, FOIA’d documents related to the first case apply to the case at hand.

In the case at hand, the FOIA’d records relate to the United States Department of Education Office of Civil Rights’ investigation into Fairfax County Public Schools, which it announced January 12, 2021, along with its intention to investigate Los Angeles Unified School District and Seattle Public Schools.

Fairfax County Pay-to-Play Education Continues to Generate Revenue for County; Fails to Address Discrimination

January 2021, the United States Department of Education (USDOE) Office of Civil Rights (OCR) launched an investigation into Fairfax County Public Schools’ (FCPS) practices of refusing to provide in-person instruction to students with disabilities, while at the same time opening “its schools to in-person child-care for general education students.”

A year and a half after OCR announced the investigation, FCPS’s current actions paint a portrait of a school district aggressive in its efforts to collect education-access fees from general education students, but lackadaisical in its efforts to address the needs of students whose IEPs weren’t implemented in full during its 2019-20 COVID closures.

Author: Callie Oettinger (page 24)