Going Local: Virginia

Virginia State Superintendent Admits Accreditation Standards are Unreliable Measure of School Performance; Number of Failing Students Tripled in Reading, Quadrupled in Math

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.”

Fairfax County Teacher Assaulted Special Education Student; FCPD Seeks Information from Public

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.

For Students, Virginia’s “Bridging the Gap” Program is a Bridge too Late & to Nowhere

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.

Fairfax County Public Schools Withheld Records from Office of Civil Rights; FCPS Didn’t Provide Full Response to OCR’s Investigation Data Request

Fairfax County Public Schools failed to provide the United States Department of Education Office of Civil Rights a full response to OCR’s request for data.

January 12, 2021, OCR launched an investigation into FCPS, for civil rights violations related to the COVID pandemic.

May 4, 2021, OCR submitted an “Initial Data Request Letter” to Superintendent Scott Brabrand, which has a focus on “what the Division has done to address any denial of free appropriate public education (FAPE) that has occurred for students with disabilities while the Division has offered remote learning in response to the pandemic.

FCPS failed to provide a full response.

UPDATE: Fairfax County Public Schools FOIA’d Parents’ Communications with Office of Civil Rights

Fairfax County Public Schools submitted an expedited FOIA request for parents’ communication with the U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights, just a week after OCR sent FCPS clarifying information about its investigation of FCPS.

Fairfax County Public Schools Provided Recovery Services to Less Than 1% of Students

As of February 2022, less than 1% of Fairfax County Public Schools students had been provided recovery services or had “recovery services indicated on their IEP in some form.”

FOIA Response: More Internal Emails Provided, More Proof FCPS is Aware of Problems with Independent Educational Evaluation Rates and Other Issues

July 26, 2022, Fairfax County Public Schools provided its response to another FOIA request, this one focused on staff correspondence over a few days in May 2022.

For the limited time covered, the FOIA response includes significant information related to the hot-button issue of FCPS’s below-market Independent Educational Evaluation rates.

Although numerous parents through the years have complained to FCPS and/or have filed state complaints about the rates, FCPS has refused to change the rates.

Yet . . . It looks like FCPS has known for years that the rates are a problem.

FOIA Response: Records FCPS Provided to Office of Civil Rights for OCR’s COVID Investigation

January 2021, the United States Department of Education Office of Civil Rights launched an investigation into Fairfax County Public Schools, for civil rights violations related to the COVID pandemic.

A FOIA request was made for all of the records FCPS provided to OCR for the investigation. In response to the request, FCPS refused to provide the records within the mandated timeline, filed a lawsuit related to the request, and to date has refused to respond to subsequent requests for records and to questions about records responsive to the request.

Over a period of about a month, FCPS provided the records published here.

Category: Going Local: Virginia (page 12)