FCPS: “We’re Not Using the IEP During Covid-19 . . . Students May Not Be Found Eligible”

“. . . we’re not using the IEP during COVID-19”. —”Andrew Guillen, manager due process and special education services

This is just one of the quotes from the 4.13.20 “TLP Procedural and Instructional Guidance Training” FCPS provided to staff—and just one of many that are cause for concern. (Click here to view the video presentation and a transcript: “FOIA Release: FCPS “TLP Procedural and Instructional Guidance Training” (4.13.20)“.) The presentation indicates:

1. FPCS did not have IEPs or TLPs in place when their online campus for distance learning launched April 14th. Instead, the day before, staff members were being advised on TLPs:

It’s most important that you contact parents this week and provide the TLP for them to review as soon as possible. We understand there may be different circumstances that may prevent your completion by this April 28 due date, but we would like for you to shoot for that date. —Andrew Guillen, manager due process and special education services

2. FCPS knew children would be denied special education services due to lack of data. FCPS stopped doing in-person evaluations, however—even before the time of this writing—trusted private providers have been implementing comprehensive evaluations. Yet, parents were given two choices: a) sign the waiver of timelines and have your child evaluated by FCPS at a later date; or 2) keep moving with the timeline, but without all the data and risk having to submit your child for a referral again later. Both scenarios result in children not receiving the services they need.

If a parent doesn’t agree to extend the eligibility timelines, you will go to eligibility with the information that you currently have. We understand that some students may not be found eligible because data is not present, and that’s understandable. You can assure the parent that the student could be re re referred to local screening once we’re back in school, but you do need to make a decision with the information you have, if a parent doesn’t agree to extend those timelines. —Dawn Schaefer, coordinator for due process and eligibility

3. FCPS advised that location, instead of individual need, determined whether goals or objectives are “appropriate” for distance learning. The needs of the children didn’t change. A child with Dyslexia, for one example, didn’t stop being a child with Dyslexia. His location changed, not his need/s.

Remember, not every goal or objective might be appropriate in the TLP for distance learning. —Andrew Guillen, manager due process and special education services

4. FCPS chose the day before the online distance learning launch to warn staff about potential problems:

We want you to also use meeting control settings to minimize interruptions and disruptions. Only allow students to join your virtual class and don’t publicly broadcast the meeting log login information. We also want you to use those control settings, so you can control who’s present during that meeting or class. We know and you’ve probably heard of many cases throughout the country, where virtual meetings and classes are being publicly broadcasted and hackers and people who aren’t, who shouldn’t be there, are taking over and presenting inappropriate material. We don’t want that to happen to you. So we want you to take some precautions. —Dawn Schaefer, coordinator for due process and eligibility

5. Last for this post, but not least in terms of the concerns related to the presentation, there’s one last quote, indicating that what children were provided toward the end of the 3rd quarter and all of the 4th quarter of the 2019-20 school year did not meet their needs:

And remember that distance learning and the TLP are not meant to recreate school. —Andrew Guillen, manager due process and special education services