U.S. Dept. of Education Office for Civil Rights FOIA Responses - Special Education Action

Fairfax County Public Schools: Please Explain Why You Are Paying Outside Counsel $625/Hour To Write Motions For School Board Members And To Review FOIA Requests

A February 11, 2021, Hunton Andrews Kurth invoice notes that attorneys MA Podolny ($395 rate) and S Rewari ($695 rate) helped draft motions for school board members Karen Keys-Gamarra and Abrar Omeish.

Please join me in asking Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) why board members are using private high-paid attorneys to write motions.

Fairfax County Public Schools: Please Explain Your “HIPAA Compliance Concerns”

A November 30, 2020, invoice from Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) attorney Hunton Andrews Kurth notes that attorney D Mustone ($695 rate) drafted a message “regarding HIPAA compliance concerns relating to CareFirst subcontractor” and that Mustone did a “review of background and research.”

If there’s a concern related to HIPAA, does that mean FCPS again released personally identifiable information (PII), but this time by a FCPS contractor?

FCPS Office of Special Education Procedural Support Has a History of Privacy Breaches

Fairfax County Public Schools Office of Special Education Procedural Support has a history of failing to secure confidential information about children, to the point that one could say privacy breaches are an area in which FCPS OSEPS excels.

Email from Stephen Hunt to Alice Farling

Your Fairfax County School Board Member: Stephen Hunt

Stephen Hunt served as an at-large member of the Fairfax County School Board (FCSB) between 2004-2007.

Why bring him up now?

For over 15 years, Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) has been failing students who have special education needs. FCSB and FCPS knew this 15 years ago and they know it now.

August 21, 2006, Stephen sent an email to Alice Farling, who at the time was the assistant superintendent of FCPS’s Department of Special Services. The subject of the email?

Problems with FCPS’s special education program.

The $60,825 Question: Should Fairfax County Public Schools Invest in Special Education or Pay Hazardous Waste Management Fines?

“Special Education” and “Hazardous Waste” should never appear in the same sentence, but here I find myself typing them into this opening line. The two shouldn’t have anything in common, either, but . . . I live in Fairfax County, Virginia, and strange things occur in our neck of the woods. Candide’s garden, Fairfax County is not.

5.10.21 VDOE emails Grant Award Notification and Routing

Virginia Department of Education, Carelessness & Literacy Grant Award Notifications

The Virginia Department of Education has long been known for partnering with Carelessness, just like the school districts below it.

May 10, 2021, Samantha Hollins forwarded grant award notification and routing information to a Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) parent. The parent did not request the information. The parent had no reason for receiving the information. The parent wasn’t even aware of the existence of the information.

10.1.21 Karen Keys-Gamarra Twitter follower

Your Fairfax County School Board Member: Karen Keys-Gamarra

This marks the launch of a new series that will feature information, documents, emails, recordings, and so on, related to Fairfax County School Board members and Fairfax County Public Schools’ (FCPS) special education program.

I’m starting with Karen Keys-Gamarra for no other reason than that I happened to tap into an email of hers for another article I posted today.

Less James Bond and More Sherlock Holmes

Obtaining information that might help you make a case in favor of helping your student—or which could prove the noncompliance of your school district—is often a matter of paying attention to what’s around you.

Years ago I had the honor of working with LTG Samuel Vaughan Wilson. General Sam was the youngest of Merrill’s Marauders and went on to have an extraordinary career in the military in the decades that followed. (Too much to include here.)

He once told me that obtaining information is less about being James Bond and more about being Sherlock Holmes. We don’t need hi-tech devices to obtain the information we need. Often, it is staring us right in the face.

Texas and Virginia: Too Big to Fail

Texas and Virginia vary in physical size and population, but one thing they have in common is they are both too big to fail children — especially those who need special education supports.

Texas is toward the top of the list of U.S. states when it comes to federal, state, and local revenue, but Virginia has Fairfax County, a school district with one of the largest budgets and per pupil spending in the United States.

And yet . . . They’ve both failed.

In the case of Texas, the United States Department of Education’s (USDOE) Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) just announced that USDOE will be reducing funds provided to Texas and putting specific conditions in place.

Will OSEP follow with Virginia?

Virginia is for lovers and breaches of children's privacy

Virginia Isn’t Just For Lovers; Virginia Is For Breaches Of Children’s Privacy, Too

Virginia Has a History of Breaching the Privacy of Children

For the second time in as many years, the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services (VDBHDS) has breached the privacy of children.

October 6, 2021, just one day before the VDBHDS breach, the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) announced that it is opening an investigation into Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS), focused on systemic privacy violations.

Every Child Deserves A Champion; Open Your Eyes, Channel Your Outrage, Show Up To Help Every Day

A parent recently asked me about the problems with Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) special education program. I explained that the problems aren’t new. They aren’t related to a “regime change” at FCPS nor are they related to one political party or another being at the top.

FCPS has been failing children in its special education program for decades—and the legal bills and other documents exist to prove it.

What to Do?

Change starts with advocacy, with kindness, with help.

Virginia Department of Education to Investigate Fairfax County Public Schools for Systemic Privacy Violations

The Virginia Department of Education is finally investigating Fairfax County Public Schools for systemic privacy violations.

VDOE has always had a reason NOT to initiate a systemic investigation — even after it was provided an internal FCPS document in which FCPS itself stated concerns with privacy breaches.

What changed VDOE’s mind this time? I have no idea.

Here’s hoping for a thorough investigation—and for the noncompliance to stop.