Children are our priority. Ensuring their needs are met is our goal.
FCPS has been failing children in its special education program for decades—and the legal bills and other documents exist to prove it.
What to Do?
Change starts with advocacy, with kindness, with help.
VDOE has always had a reason NOT to initiate a systemic investigation — even after it was provided an internal FCPS document in which FCPS itself stated concerns with privacy breaches.
What changed VDOE’s mind this time? I have no idea.
Here’s hoping for a thorough investigation—and for the noncompliance to stop.
I’m in awe of the kindness and overwhelming support that complete strangers have shared in the past few days. It’s extraordinary — and truly appreciated. The journalists, parents, lawyers, advocates for children, advocates for free speech, and so many others.
One Comment:
FCPS’s legal actions are a sideshow.
Please don’t let them distract you from much bigger stories.
What did we do?
We shared a behind-the-scenes view that indicates FCPS is aware of the very issues parents have been concerned about for years. (As well as HIPAA failures, stolen credentials, negotiations to extend Scott Brabrand’s contract, the investigations into the cyber hacking and Blackboard failures, wastes of funds, and much more.)
This afternoon I had a phone call with the Fairfax County Federation of Public Teachers (FCFT).
I found myself explaining to the FCFT organizer on the other end of the line that I knew a teacher complained to FCFT about my advocacy and tried to recruit FCFT to fight against me — and then I explained the reason the organizer and I were talking was because I support teachers, want to make sure they receive the support they need, and that I had some information to share, which I felt critical for the teachers to have, to advocate for themselves.
After all, teachers are among the greatest influencers of my life.
My hope is that the analysis made by VDOE and how it interpreted and applied different regulations will 1) help other parents as they advocate for their children and 2) help educate the educators who are ignorant of the process.
Fast approaching: November 1, 2021, deadline for the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) to submit its plan to improve oversight of special education to Virginia’s General Assembly and Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC).