News

U.S. Dept. of Ed. Proposes Rule Change to IDEA; Seeks to Remove Parental Consent Connected to Medicaid; Public Comments Open Until August 1, 2023

06.07.2023

Unites States Department of Education Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services is proposing a rule change under Part B of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, “to remove the requirement for public agencies to obtain parental consent prior to accessing for the first time a child’s public benefits or insurance ( e.g., Medicaid, Children’s Health Insurance Program) to provide or pay for required IDEA Part B services.”

This proposed change is open for public comment until August 1, 2023.

U.S. Dept. of Education to Investigate VA Dept. of Education’s Response to Fairfax County Public Schools Civil Rights Violations; What Actions has VDOE Taken with “Similarly Situated” Districts?

06.07.2023

United States Department of Education Office of Special Education Programs announced its continued investigation into Virginia Department of Education will include examining VDOE’s “response to the Department’s Office for Civil Rights findings that Fairfax County Public Schools failed or was unable to provide a free appropriate public education to thousands of students with services identified in the students’ individualized education programs during remote learning. Specifically, OSEP would like to learn about the actions the State has taken, or plans to take, with similarly situated districts in light of these findings.”

The announcement came in a May 12, 2023, letter from Valerie Williams, director of OSEP, to Lisa Coons, VDOE’s new superintendent of public instruction and is a follow up to OSEP’s February 17, 2023, letter to Coon’s predecessor Jillian Balow, which announced OSEP would be conducting additional monitoring activities, to include an on-site investigation. According to the May 12 letter, the on-site will occur during the week of September 25, 2023.

Fairfax County Public Schools Found at Fault for Systemic Noncompliance: Local Administrative Review/Procedural Safeguards

06.06.2023

June 6, 2023, Virginia Department of Education found Fairfax County Public Schools at fault for systemic noncompliance regarding FCPS’s local administrative review process.

The complaint on which VDOE’s findings are based was filed April 7, 2023, and alleges FCPS for years misled parents about their procedural safeguards, by leading them to believe a local administrative review within FCPS, done by a hearing officer that is an employee of FCPS, is in compliance with IDEA and implementing state regulations. Hence, parents have taken this local administrative review route, at which there is no impartial hearing officer and no hearing in compliance with IDEA or implementing state regs.

In addition, the complaint alleges FCPS believes it can operate outside of federal and implementing state regs by forwarding an appeal option that 1) is not in compliance with IDEA, Sec 504, or VAC, and 2) by its own existence in FCPS’s student rights & responsibility manual, and on the FCPS site, falsely lead parents to believe that they are accessing procedural safeguards under federal and state implementing regs.

VDOE Opens Systemic Complaint on FCPS: Denial of FAPE to Preschool, Honors, Foreign Language, and Day School Students

06.01.2023

May 23, 2023, Virginia Department of Education opened another systemic complaint investigation into Fairfax County Public Schools, in response to a complaint filed May 12, 2023.

The complaint alleges FCPS is at fault for systemic failures to provide FAPE, to include but not limited to failure to address the unique academic, behavioral and functional needs of its students; failures to appropriately place students; and failures to provide services to students who elect to enroll in Honors classes.

Virginians: $1,500 and $3,000 Grants are Available to Help Your Children

05.18.2023

Qualifying students in Virginia can receive grants of $1,500 or $3,000 for tutoring, specialized therapy, and/or assistive technology, to help address the impact COVID-19 had on academic and mental health. The grants do not have to be paid back, however they must be spent within a specific period and can be pulled if not used with 30 days of the grants being provided.

Learn who is eligible and how to apply.

Fairfax County Public Schools Says Parents Aren’t Eligibility & IEP Team Members; VA Dept of Education Refuses to Investigate

05.15.2023

Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) is in noncompliance with 20 U.S.C. 1414(b)(4), Sec 300.306, Sec. 300.305, Sec 300.321, 8VAC20-81-80(B), 8VAC20-81-80(C)(1), 8VAC20-81-80(D)(1), 8VAC20-81-80(D)(2), 8VAC20-81-80(D)(9).

In other words: FCPS is in noncompliance for refusing Parents rights’ to be deciding members of eligibility and IEP teams.

Fairfax County Students & Educators in Crisis; FCPS Delays Release of Damning Data

05.12.2023

Fairfax County Public Schools educators and students are in crisis as FCPS withholds damning data from the public and students with disabilities continue to be disproportionately disciplined.

Data collected from a survey of administrators and staff at FCPS’s five day schools—Burke, Cedar Lane, Key Center, Kilmer School, Quander Road—indicates the schools are understaffed, under-resourced, and woefully unable to meet the academic, functional, and behavioral needs of their students. In addition, staff are struggling on a day-to-day basis with their workloads, while simultaneously being concerned about the safety of the students and of themselves.

Virginia Remains Outlier as U.S. Dept. of Education Announces Close-Out of Monitoring in Arizona, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, and Arizona

04.04.2023

March 27, 2023, U.S. Department of Education (USDOE) publicly released the status of various monitoring activities, citing closure of monitoring of Arizona, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, and Arizona, and expanded monitoring of Virginia.

USDOE announced monitoring of Hawaii in 2019; of Arizona, Florida, and Virginia in 2020; and of Delaware in 2021. USDOE closed out monitoring of four of the five states within one-to-three years.

In the case of Virginia, it is on track to take more than three years to come into compliance with Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act (IDEA).

U.S. Dept. of Education Issues Two New Policy Letters: Addresses Rights of Students Who Have Graduated & Implementation of Early Childhood Transition Requirements

03.31.2023

March 30, 2023, United States Department of Education (USDOE) publicly released two new policy letters:

POLICY LETTER: March 2, 2023, to Oettinger

POLICY LETTER: March 17, 2023, to Nix

Office for Civil Rights vs. Virginia Dept. of Ed: Two Agencies, Two Investigations, Two Very Different Outcomes, Part I

03.17.2023

In 2020, Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) received a systemic complaint against Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS). In response, it refused to investigate some of the allegations, changed and/or ignored other allegations, and ultimately found FCPS in compliance.

In 2022, Office for Civil Rights (OCR) found FCPS at fault for years-long systemic noncompliance, based on some of the very allegations filed in the 2020 systemic complaint.

What happened? How could VDOE make a finding of compliance in 2020, while OCR made a finding of noncompliance in 2022?

The answer: VDOE failed to investigate credible allegations of noncompliance and failed to comply with 300.152(4), which requires it to “review all relevant information and make an independent determination as to whether the public agency is violating a requirement of Part B of the Act or of this part”, and FCPS withheld information.

U.S. Dept. of Education Puts Virginia on Notice: Get into Compliance or Face Sanctions

03.13.2023

***BREAKING NEWS***

Just weeks before Jillian Balow announced her resignation as Virginia Superintendent of Public Education, United States Department of Education Office of Special Education Programs put Virginia Department of Education on Notice: Get into compliance or face sanctions.

In a January 17, 2023, letter from USDOE OSEP to Balow (obtained today via a FOIA request), USDOE OSEP warned VDOE:

“If VDOE is unable to demonstrate full compliance with the IDEA requirements identified in OSEP’s monitoring report, this could result in the imposition of Specific Conditions on VDOE’s IDEA Part B grant award and could affect VDOE’s determination under section 616(d) of IDEA.”

FERPA Violation Report Card: Fairfax County Public Schools

03.07.2023

[This article was updated January 11, 2021, to include more FERPA violations.]

FCPS has been breaching the privacy of staff and students for years.

This article details FCPS FERPA violations between 2017 and 2021. It includes breaches FCPS inadvertently provided to me, breaches related to my own family (and about which I filed state complaints), breaches other FCPS families shared with me, as well as the hacking of FCPS that occurred in 2020.