Special Education Action Page 25 of 42

College Board Fails to Provide “Universal Features” to All Students; Students with Accommodations Suffer

College Board continues to fail students who need accommodations. It does not ensure the provision of its “universal features” to all students, which in turn impacts the students’ test-taking experiences and scores.

“Universal features” are the “common administrative features” shared by College Board tests. These common features are supposed to be provided to all students, which in turn negates the need to ask for one of these “universal features”—such as a quiet testing environment—as an accommodation.

And yet . . . College Board continues its failure to ensure all students who have accommodations receive a testing environment that includes College Board’s “universal features”.

Fairfax County Public Schools Restraint and Seclusion Policy training videos

Fairfax County Public Schools Restraint & Seclusion Policy Training Videos

After years of traumatizing children through its use of restraint and seclusion practices, Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) in Virginia made headlines the past few months after FCPS finally settled a lawsuit filed against it.

Although FCPS schools has committed to banning restraint and seclusion practices in all of its schools, “including private schools with whom FCPS contracts, by the start of the 2022-2023 school year,” questions remain about the training being provided to FCPS staff.

Restraint and seclusion videos in this article were created by FCPS and made public in response to a FOIA request.

Special Education Action YouTube Channel Launched

Last week, Special Education Action launched a YouTube Channel.

The videos feature responses from Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, such as Fairfax County Public Schools’ (FCPS) restraint and seclusion training videos, school web site pages (to preserve in case the pages are deleted), and documents (to preserve in case something happens to the hard copies).

Although the videos posted to date are FCPS focused, the intent is to include videos related to education throughout the United States.

Clue of the Date: 12.3.21

Clue of the Day

What is Fairfax County Public Schools trying to hide?

“Attention to email correspondence with C. Rosenberg regarding status of investigation and communications with DOJ.

“Conference call with AUSA Pedersen regarding status and developments.”

Fairfax County Public Schools Found in Violation of FERPA; Virginia Department of Education Refuses to Find FCPS at Fault for Systemic Noncompliance

November 26, 2021, Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) was found in noncompliance of FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) regulations by the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE).

VDOE concluded that that the legal invoices at the core of the investigation, which contain personally identifiable information (PII) about children, “are maintained by the school division, therefore they are education records under FERPA and this matter is within our jurisdiction.” In addition, VDOE rejected the following argument posed by FCPS, thus acknowledging that initials constitute PII:

“Under the definition of PII, information is PII if it is possible to identify a student with reasonable certainty. In this case, students E1 and E2 have a different last name as the parent, and so the disclosure of parent name does not make the students identifiable.”

Although VDOE determined the matter in its jurisdiction and once again found FCPS noncompliance, VDOE refused to place weight on the thousands of students whose privacy FCPS has breached over the past five years, and did not “characterize” FCPS’s noncompliance as systemic.

What is Fairfax County Public Schools Trying to Hide? These 1,316 Pages of Clues Provide Answers

For over a month, Fairfax County School Board’s (FCSB) legal actions prevented me and Debra Tisler from disseminating materials she received in response to a FOIA request she submitted.

This week the censorship shackles came off.

Included in this article are all 1,316 pages that FCSB tried to prevent us from sharing.

Parents and First Amendment Prevail; Judge Rules Against Fairfax County School Board

Today, Debra Tisler and I prevailed in court when Judge Richard E. Gardiner ruled against Fairfax County School Board’s (FCSB) legal actions against us. It was an extraordinary day for Freedom of Speech and First Amendment Rights—and for parents who dare to point out waste and noncompliance.

We had the honor of being represented by Timothy Sandefur of the Goldwater Institute and Ketan Bhirud of Troutman Pepper. It was extraordinary to witness the dedication and passion of these two lawyers.

While FCSB’s lawyers made arguments that the court called “almost frivolous”, Tim and Ketan stood up for Freedom of Speech and First Amendment Rights, and in turn for me and for Debra.

Fairfax County Public Schools: Please Explain “Misuse of Bond Proceeds”

A May 13, 2021, Hunton Andrews Kurth invoice notes that attorney SE Haynie ($395 rate) drafted a message “re: misuse of bond proceeds” and later there’s a mention of Haynie corresponding “re: status of NDA review.”

Please join me in asking Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) to disclose the “misuse of bond proceeds”.

What bonds?

What proceeds?

What misuse?

Author: Callie Oettinger (page 25)