Going Local: Virginia

Virginia Department of Education Allows Noncompliance to Continue

The Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) continues to turn a blind eye toward noncompliance within Virginia school districts and fails to heed the United States Department of Education’s (USDOE) dictum, “Completely ignoring credible allegations of noncompliance is not a reasonable method of exercising the Stateâ€™s general supervisory responsibilities.”

February 28. 2018, documentation of over 400+ special education violations was provided to the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE). The violations were committed by Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) and admitted to in unredacted internal FCPS documents title “Hot Topics”.

Two years later, the United States Department of Education (USDOE) Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), advised VDOE. “Completely ignoring credible allegations of noncompliance is not a reasonable method of exercising the Stateâ€™s general supervisory responsibilities.” And yet, the Hot Topics report remains uninvestigated and the noncompliance continues.

Fairfax County Public Schools Breaches Privacy of Thousands of Students; FERPA Noncompliance Continues

June 29, 2021, Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) breached the privacy of thousands of students attending South County High School, Hayfield Secondary School, Edison High School, West Potomac High School, Lake Braddock Secondary School, and FCPS Online Campus.

The breach includes the students’ names, their FCPS identification numbers, their FCPS email addresses, the schools at which they are enrolled, the names of their parents and/or guardians, and the email addresses of their parents and/or guardians.

The Perfect Storm: FCPS Video Features FERPA Violations, Teacher Training Issues, Fidelity of Implementation Problems, and Possible IEP Noncompliance

November 5, 2020, Fairfax County Public Schools again violated student privacy and again exhibited issues related to teacher training, a reading-related program, fidelity of implementation of a reading-related program, and possible noncompliance of student IEPs.

These issues occurred during an office hour session with FCPS’s Alice Lima-Whitney, during which she and the staff in attendance discussed the program iLit and how the teachers were progressing with their students.

U.S. Dept. of Education’s Student Privacy Policy Office Rules FCPS at Fault for Privacy Breach

June 2, 2021, the U.S. Department of Education’s (USDOE) Student Privacy Policy Office (SPPO) issued a letter finding Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) in noncompliance for another privacy breach. The letter was issued in response to a complaint filed in 2019.

Oops! . . . They Did It Again!; Fairfax County Public Schools Continues to Breach Student Privacy

Today’s privacy violations are brought to you by Fairfax County Public Schools’ (FCPS) Office of Special Education Procedural Support.

May 6, 2021, Jane Strong, director of the Office of Special Education and Procedural Support, breached a student’s privacy when she emailed six documents related to the student to individuals to whom she should not have sent them.

South County High School Breaches Student Confidentiality Again

5.17.21: South County High School (SCHS) Principal Gary Morris and Due Process & Eligibility Coordinator Dawn Schaefer met with a representative of the U.S. Department of Education, Student Privacy Policy Office (SPPO). Among other things, they spoke about the confidentiality breaches for which FCPS is at fault, and for which the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) has repeatedly found FCPS in noncompliance (See “FCPS Report Card”)

5.21.21: Just four days after FCPS spoke with USDOE SPPO, SCHS staff member Tina Wrubluski violated the privacy of numerous students when she shared her computer screen during an IEP meeting. Although numerous people kept trying to obtain her attention, Tina continued working away, making document folders about specific students available for viewing.

Due Process Hearing Transcript: Six-Day Hearing

The transcript included in this article is for a due process hearing that took place over the course of six days, between December 3, 2019, and December 13, 2019.

The mother and father of a student attending Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) filed for due process. FCPS is the local education agency (LEA) involved. FCPS was represented by John Cafferky, a lawyer with Blankingship & Keith. The Virginia hearing officer was Richard Alvey. The parents were represented by lawyer Ashley VanCleef.

This hearing and the decision written by Hearing Officer Alvey proved to be a gamechanger, specifically Alvey’s statement that the program “Just Words” is inappropriate for students with Dyslexia.

Office of Civil Rights Opens Investigation of Fairfax County Public Schools

April 12, 2021, the U.S. Department of Education (USDOE) Office of Civil Rights (OCR) launched an investigation of Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS). This follows OCR’s launch of a separate investigation of FCPS, just three months earlier, on January 12, 2021.

April 13, 2021, FCPS staff exchanged an internal e-mail in which FCPS admitted fault and an intention to discuss entering into a rapid resolution with OCR.

Category: Going Local: Virginia (page 19)