U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights FOIA Responses
UPDATE: VDOE Opens Systemic Complaint on FCPS: Denial of FAPE to Preschool, Honors, Foreign Language, and Day School Students
July 13, 2023: Article updated to include additional information Complainant submitted to VDOE; FCPS’s response to Complaint’s state complaint; and the timeline extension letter VDOE issued itself July 10, 2023, one day before VDOE’s Letter of Findings was due. VDOE set September 15, 2023, as the new due date.
September 18, 2023: Article updated to include VDOE’s second timeline extension letter, in which it changed its timeline from September 15 to October 31, 2023, as well as additional evidence provided to FCPS by Complainant.
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.
Writing State Complaints: Stick to the Facts
Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes; Time for Change and Thanks
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It’s the Law: IEP Implementation
IEPs are the responsibility of the school to implement from day one of the school year.
If you run into issues with the date of implementation and implementation by teachers, you’ll want to look at some of these regulations.
The Language of IEPs and 504s: Ban “As Needed”
If you’re advised “that’s how we do it”, ask for documentation citing this to be true, and pull out IDEA or Section 504, and point out “as needed” doesn’t appear in either.
A child doesn’t need an IEP plan or a 504 plan as needed.
Children need everything in their IEPs or 504s period.
Accommodation Breakdown: Limited Time Testing
For example, one student might need breaks after ever 30 minutes of testing, while another student might not be able to test more than 1.5 hours per day.
Same Story, Different Year: Virginia Department of Education’s “Monitoring” Fails to Identify and Address Noncompliance, Fairfax County Public Schools Withholds Information
In 2023, the story remains the same.
U.S. Department of Education Releases Updated Policy Guidance to Ensure Access to Rights Guaranteed to Children Under IDEA
According to OSEP, “The guidance and accompanying Dear Colleague Letter address the IDEA’s “general supervision” requirement, which necessitates states monitor local educational agencies (LEAs) as required by IDEA Part B, and early intervention service (EIS) programs and providers as required by IDEA Part C to ensure children with disabilities and their families access their rights under IDEA.”
This guidance is significant in that it focuses on general supervisory responsibilities. Refusing to address noncompliance outside the typical dispute resolution channels of mediation, state complaints, and/or due process hearings, has long been a problem for states like Virginia, as one example.
Virginia Department of Education Halts State Complaints Because Parents Used Google Drive
In a Letter of Inquiry (LOI) dated June 28, 2023, VDOE initial advised the Page County parent:
“While the email indicates that Parent properly attached a sufficient state complaint, the Commonwealth of Virginia no longer partners with Google and cannot access/open any Google documents. Please resubmit the complaint to our office using another format such as OneDrive, which is supported by Microsoft Office. . . . This office cannot move forward to investigate Parent’s concerns until the above-noted deficiencies are addressed. If appropriate, the complaint may be resubmitted to this office for action. All resubmitted complaints will be treated as new complaints and are subject to review.”
State complaints have a one-year statute of limitations. According to the parent, having to refile would put his complaint outside the one-year timeline, which means it would be denied as time barred upon resubmission—just because VDOE refused to access Google Drive.
Fairfax County Public Schools “Expert” Determines Lindamood Bell Not Appropriate for Student with Dyslexia, Because Lindamood Bell’s Site Has Pictures of Young Children On It
Jugnu Agrawal, program manager of FCPS’s special education curriculum, and one of the FCPS “experts” who testified in front of HO Mitchell, said Lindamood Bell isn’t appropriate because, “if you go and look at the pictures on their website and everything, it is specifically for elementary.”
Fairfax County Public Schools Found at Fault for Systemic Noncompliance: Local Administrative Review/Procedural Safeguards
UPDATE: July 17, 2023, article updated to include Complainant’s appeal to a portion of VDOE’s Letter of Findings, as well as documents FCPS was required to address in response to the Corrective Action Plan (CAP) required by VDOE. July 12, 2023, in an email to Complainant, VDOE provided Complainant FCPS’s CAP Letter to Parents and FCPS’s Student Rights & Responsibilities Manual Revisions, as well as CAP Update Letter from VDOE. In its email to Complainant, VDOE said, “Attached are the documents which were included as part of FCPS’ Corrective Action. The only portion not included with this email is a list of the students (5) who were the subject of the administrative review. This list is not included as it contains personally identifiable information. The Corrective Action Update letter provided to FCPS is also attached.” In a county the size of FCPS, it is surprising that just five students “were the subject of the administrative review.”
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.