Going Local: Virginia
Portrait of a Systemic Complaint, Part III: Virginia Dept. of Ed. Bends Rules for Fairfax County Public Schools
December 8, 2022: This article was updated to include this mention of Office of Civil Rights (OCR) 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.
When rules are set in concrete for parents, but set in Jell-O for school divisions, it is hard to believe that children will ever have their rights implemented in full.
If the very state education agency that is mandated by law to ensure the rights of children, is in noncompliance itself—and bends its own rules for school divisions—who will ensure the rights of children are implemented in full?
Portrait of a Systemic Complaint, Part II: Virginia Department of Education’s Notice of Complaint
December 7, 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.
May 8, 2020, the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) received a systemic complaint against Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS).
VDOE issued its Notice of Complaint (NOC) May 18, 2018.
When you review the NOC, compare it with the parents’ complaint. You’ll see that the items VDOE picked to investigate aren’t the actual complaints, but information supporting the complaints.
As I wrote in Part I of this series, this is classic VDOE—and is a topic I’ll cover in depth at a later date.
Portrait of a Systemic Complaint, Part I: Parents’ Complaint Against Fairfax County Public Schools
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.
How to File an Office of Civil Rights Complaint
Read this article to learn how to file a complaint with OCR.
Office of Civil Rights Finds Fairfax County Public Schools in Noncompliance; FCPS Must Provide Compensatory Education to Students
This follows OCR’s January 12, 2021, announcement that it would investigate FCPS, Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), and Seattle Public Schools.
Virginia Dept. of Education’s Noncompliance Continues; Blows Through U.S. Dept. of Education’s 90-Day Compliance Deadlines
Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) remains in noncompliance of federal regulations.
September 1, 2022, United States Department of Education issued another a letter to VDOE that addresses VDOE’s continued failures. This letter was not provided to the public, nor were the similarly critical letters USDOE sent on February 8, 2022, and March 16, 2022. All three letters were obtained via Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. Special Education Action received the September 1, 2022, letter yesterday, November 10, 2022.
Only 59 Fairfax County Public Schools Students Have Recovery Services in Their IEPs
That’s not a typo.
Fifty-nine (59) students out of FCPS’s over one hundred eighty thousand (180,000+) students have recovery services in their IEPs.
That’s it. Not 59% or 590, or any other variation one’s mind might jump to after reading the number “59” and thinking it must be a typo.
Nope. It’s real.
JLARC Releases Report on COVID’s Impact on Virginia Education; Release Marks JLARC’s Third Critical Education-Related Report in Two Years
The findings aren’t surprising. They paint the portrait of a state that ignored the warning bells (even though it had almost 15 years to prepare for COVID)—and that to this day has failed to implement practices that ensure past mistakes don’t run into the future.
However, the report falls short in regard to data collection and interpretation.
It’s the Law: Why Does VDOE Allow Vague Language in IEPs?
Thankfully, it isn’t the parent’s job to create IEPs that are written with clear, concise language that ensures provision of a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE). That’s the school division’s job.
And yet . . . Vague and broad language persists and the Virginia Department of Education has allowed this.
Children Continue to Struggle; Virginia Department of Education’s Samantha Hollins Continues to Allow Noncompliance Statewide
Reading and math scores have declined, according to the “Nation’s Report Card”. which was released today by the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics.
This comes as no surprise. In Virginia, Samantha Hollins knows Virginia is in noncompliance with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, but allows the noncompliance to continue.
According to NAEP, in Virginia, the following percentages of 4th graders are performing at or above “proficient” level in math and reading:
Math:38%
Reading: 32%
These numbers drop for 8th graders.
Arlington Public Schools Engaged in Same Activity as Fairfax County; VDOE Opened Systemic Complaint Against FCPS
Virginia Dept. of Education Announces Systemic Investigation of Fairfax County Public Schools, for Allegedly Failing to Implement IEP’s
The complaint on which the investigation is based alleges FCPS failed to implement Individualized Education Programs throughout the county, which is a violation of Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act and implementing Virginia regulations.