Going Local: Virginia

VDOE state complaint tracking logs

Updated 11.21.23—FOIA: Virginia Department of Education State Complaint Tracking Logs, 2014-2023

November 8, 2023, I included a request for volunteers in the article below. I’d like to thank the volunteer who helped pull together the data provided by VDOE, for 2014-15, 2015-16, 2016-17, and 2017-18.
The link to the spreadsheets pulled together by the volunteer is being added here, with the understanding that the data needs doublechecking, as well as more slicing and dicing to identify trends. Help still is needed. If you’re interested in helping, please let me know.


September 2023, Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates (COPAA) released a report of its in-depth look at state complaints. Its findings aren’t surprising. Parents who believe their local education agency (LEA) to be in noncompliance with Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), can seek remedies under IDEA’s dispute resolution processes. However, those processes—such as filing state complaints—are stacked against parents. VDOE’s state complaint tracking logs provide a portrait of a state heavy on dismissals and findings in favor of LEAs.

UPDATED 11.20.23—VDOE FOIA Response: Independent Evaluations of Virginia Department of Education’s Special Education Program

*Thank you to the three parents who submitted FOIA requests for this information and shared it with Special Education Action. 10.8.23: Article first published.
11.20.23: Article updated to include original report submitted by Dr. Robert Pasternack to Dr. Lisa Coons, as well as emails between Robert and Lisa regarding the first final report, and invoices related to both reports.
Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) released two independent evaluations of its special education program. The evaluations were done by Dr. Robert Pasternack, Sam Howarth, and Nathan Levenson at the request of Superintendent of Public Instruction Dr. Lisa Coons. The findings aren’t a surprise. In Virginia, educators and families are two ends of the same burning match—and VDOE fuels the fire. Rather than being the “North Star” guiding educators and bridging the gap between families and educators, VDOE’s actions and inactions continue to increase the divide.

UPDATED 11.20.23—FERPA Violation Report Card: Fairfax County Public Schools

This article was updated November 20, 2023, 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 2023. 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 ransomware attack of FCPS that occurred in 2020.

FCPS Knew Reading Program Wasn’t Intensive Enough for Students Who Have Dyslexia, Proposed it Anyway

Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) knew that a program it proposed for years division wide, for students who have Dyslexia, is not intensive enough for students who have Dyslexia. Yet, even though parent after parent expressed concerns about their students not progressing and/or about the appropriateness of the program—and at least two went so far as to file for due process—FCPS continued to propose it. September 1, 2020, FCPS’ long-time lawyer John Cafferky emailed the following to FCPS staff, regarding an upcoming due process hearing for a student who has Dyslexia:
2008 IEE Noncompliance Finding

Updated 11.1.23—16 Years of Independent Educational Evaluation Noncompliance: Virginia Department of Education Fails Students and to Perform Its General Supervisory Duties

11.1.23: Article updated to include FCPS staff’s internal emails about how they made a decision to deny payment of an IEE in full at public expense. (See Lowballing Rates section below.) For at least sixteen years, Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) and Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) failed to ensure compliance with Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and implementing Virginia regulations.

In 2007, FCPS refused to fund Independent Educational Evaluations (IEE) at public expense and refused to file due process to defend its refusals to fully fund IEEs at public expense. An FCPS parent filed a state complaint and, in 2008, VDOE found FCPS at fault for failure to comply with IDEA and implementing Virginia regulations regarding IEEs.

During the 16 years that followed the 2007 complaint filing, the same noncompliance continued in FCPS and other Virginia local education agencies (LEAs).

What’s New in Fairfax County Public Schools? Legal Invoices, Court Cases, Noncompliance, Closed Meeting Minutes, Toxic Emails, and the Failure to Secure the Privacy of 35,000+ Students

What’s New in Fairfax County Public Schools? Legal Invoices, Court Cases, Noncompliance, Closed Meeting Minutes, Toxic Emails, and the Failure to Secure the Privacy of 35,000+ Students Fairfax County Public School (FCPS) included unredacted records for over 35,000 students within…
VDOE CSEA Fairfax County Public Schools Review Summary Report

VDOE FOIA Response: VDOE 2022 Monitoring of FCPS

June 22, 2023, the following FOIA request was submitted to Virginia Department of Education: “Please provide me VDOE’s Summary Report of the Review of the Provision of Special Education in FCPS.” June 30, 2023, VDOE responded by providing the report below. In a separate FOIA response, VDOE provided the data collection spreadsheets associated with the report.
2019 IEE FOIA

FCPS FOIA Response: How FCPS Ascertains the Prevailing rate for IEE Assessments and Written Guidelines for Independent Education Evaluations

In 2019, a Fairfax County Public Schools parent submitted a FOIA request for “Information on how FCPS ascertained the prevailing rate for IEE assessments within the Washington DC metro area as written on your Guidelines for Independent Education Evaluations.”
Virginia Department of Education logo

Virginia Department of Education Emergency Guidance, Plans, and Training

This page will feature documents, videos, and other assets created by—and/or related to—Virginia Department of Education, in an effort to ensure they’re available for future learning—and to ensure we don’t forget best practices created and mistakes already made.
4.6.20 letter from Virginia's Big 8 Superintendents to Governor Northam

VDOE FOIA Response: Email from Superintendents of Virginia’s “Big 8” to VDOE Superintendent of Public Instruction James Lane

FOIA response for letters from the superintendents of Virginia’s eight largest school districts to VDOE’s then-Superintendent of Public Instruction James Lane.
OCR Case No 11-23-4044 Resolution Agreement

VDOE Guided School Divisions Statewide to Engage in Discrimination; Office for Civil Rights and VDOE Enter Into Resolution Agreement

Office for Civil Rights determined Virginia Department of Education discriminated against thousands of students who have disabilities during its Spring 2023 field testing.