Complaints, Notices of Complaint, and Letters of Finding

Portrait of a Systemic Complaint, Part I: Parents’ Complaint Against Fairfax County Public Schools

August 20, 2020: This article first published.

December 6, 2022: This article was updated to include this mention of Office of Civil Rights November 30, 2022, letter of findings about Fairfax County Public Schools and OCR’s resolution agreement with FCPS. OCR’s findings cite this systemic complaint and make it clear that parents should have prevailed in 2020.

This is part one of a series based on a pending systemic complaint against Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) and based on the Virginia Department of Education’s (VDOE) handling of the complaint.

May 8, 2020, a complaint against FCPS was submitted to the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE).

Five families and six children are listed on the complaint, which the parents asked VDOE to investigate at the systemic level.

In the three months since the complaint was submitted, VDOE and FCPS have exhibited how stacked the system is against the very children it is supposed to protect.

Sample State Complaint: Noncompliance, Student Records—Confidentiality

The is a complaint that was submitted to the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE).

VDOE found Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) in noncompliance.

VDOE’s Letter of Findings, in which it stated FCPS’s noncompliance is included, following the complaint.

Sample State Complaint: Noncompliance of Evaluation Timeline and FAPE

The is a complaint that was submitted to the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE).

VDOE found Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) in noncompliance.

VDOE’s Letter of Findings, in which it stated FCPS’s noncompliance is included, following the complaint.

1.28.22 VDOE systemic letter of findings on Loudon County Public Schools

Loudon County Public Schools at Fault for Systemic Violations Related to Independent Educational Evaluations; Must Reimburse Parents for Out-of-Pocket Costs

January 28, 2022, the Virginia Department of Education issued a Letter of Findings in which it ruled Loudon County Public Schools “to be in noncompliance with regard to cost containment criteria, submission or reports, and pre-evaluation discussions,” related to Independent Educational Evaluations.

In a surprising move from a state agency averse to investigating complaints at a systemic level, VDOE ordered LCPS to “reimburse parents who have paid out of pocket for IEEs due to the unreasonable cost containment criteria,” which means the Corrective Action Plan encompasses parents who were not included in the initial complaint.

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.

8.11.21 VDOE Letter of Findings: Noncompliance for Convening Eligibility and IEP Meetings Without Parent

June 22, 2021, a parent with a child enrolled in Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS), Virginia, filed a complaint with the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE). The complaint was based on FCPS holding an IEP and eligibility meeting without her in attendance.

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.

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.

Independent Educational Evaluation: VDOE Rules FCPS in Noncompliance; Follows OSEP Monitoring Report

Struggling to obtain an Independent Educational Evaluation (IEE) in Virginia?

Below is an example of an IEE-related Letter of Findings, which the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) issued after it found Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) in noncompliance.

VDOE’s Letter of Findings language can be used as guidance as you write your own state complaint in Virginia. If you live in another state, explore if your state has the same regulations as Virginia or if those regulations are in line with IDEA.

Category: Complaints, Notices of Complaint, and Letters of Finding (page 2)