Going Local: Virginia - Special Education Action

FCPS Had a Pandemic Plan in 2007; Internal Records Provide Toxic Portrait of FCPS’s “Best and Brightest”

David Halberstam’s The Best and the Brightest comes to mind when reviewing Fairfax County Public Schools’ internal records.

A FOIA request FCPS is still heading to court over, and records collecting digital dust in Fairfax County School Board’s collection of online documents, comprise the bulk of the records.

In 2006, the United States Department of Education (USDOE) warned school districts that pandemics were on the horizon and advised them to prepare pandemic plans.

FCPS took heed and had a plan in development by 2007.

Between 2007 and now, a portrait emerged of leaders who were dazzled by themselves and their colleagues, “how extraordinary they were, each brighter than the next . . .”

FOIA: Fairfax County Public Schools Independent Educational Evaluations

Update: This article was published July 2020. It is being updated to include an email indicating Fairfax County Public Schools has long known that its price cap for Independent Educational Evaluations is below market price. FCPS’s low rate limits parents to 1) using private providers who accept FCPS’s low IEE rate or 2) paying the difference out of pocket for providers who don’t accept FCPS’s low rate. The email was obtained via a FOIA request for documents FCPS provided the Office of Civil Rights.

This FOIA request was done in 2018 and was submitted to Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) in Virginia.

The response includes 528 pages, including how FCPS set its “rates” and letters to providers asking if they’ll accept FCPS rates.

(7.8.22 Update) Fairfax County School Board Heads to Court Over FOIA Request; Delays Publishing of Office of Civil Rights Investigation Records

July 8, 2022: Article updated to include FCSB’s Demurrer and Motion to Dismiss, additional information about the court case, correspondence, and responsive records provided by FCPS.

June 10, 2022, article updated to include new information, to include information about retaliation and the scheduled hearing date.

June 2, 2022: Article first published.

Fairfax County School Board is headed to court over a Freedom of Information Act request.

This is the second time in nine months that FCSB’s FOIA-response-related actions (and inactions) have resulted in SpecialEducationAction.com being prevented from publishing internal Fairfax County Public Schools documents. In addition, FOIA’d documents related to the first case apply to the case at hand.

In the case at hand, the FOIA’d records relate to the United States Department of Education Office of Civil Rights’ investigation into Fairfax County Public Schools, which it announced January 12, 2021, along with its intention to investigate Los Angeles Unified School District and Seattle Public Schools.

Fairfax County Pay-to-Play Education Continues to Generate Revenue for County; Fails to Address Discrimination

January 2021, the United States Department of Education (USDOE) Office of Civil Rights (OCR) launched an investigation into Fairfax County Public Schools’ (FCPS) practices of refusing to provide in-person instruction to students with disabilities, while at the same time opening “its schools to in-person child-care for general education students.”

A year and a half after OCR announced the investigation, FCPS’s current actions paint a portrait of a school district aggressive in its efforts to collect education-access fees from general education students, but lackadaisical in its efforts to address the needs of students whose IEPs weren’t implemented in full during its 2019-20 COVID closures.

(June 13, 2022, Update) Due Process Case 22-84, Chesterfield County Public Schools, Virginia: Subpoenas, Motions, Transcripts, and More

June 13, 2022, Update: Transcripts for due process days March 25th, 28th, 29th, and 30th, 2022, were added.

Thank you to two Chesterfield County, Virginia, parents for sharing their due process experiences and associated documents.

You’ll find the hearing transcripts at the end of this article. In the coming weeks, subpoenas, motions, and other documents will be added, providing readers an example of how due process hearings play out record by record.

(6.9.22 Update) Fairfax County Public Schools Levies Service Fee for Service it Doesn’t Provide, Fails to Follow and Update Its Own Pricing Guidelines

(This article was first published May 6, 2022. It was updated May 9, 2022, to include new information provided by School Board Member Megan McLaughlin. Scroll to the bottom of the article to see the update.)

Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) is at fault for the following issues:

1) levying a service fee for a service it doesn’t provide;

2) failing to follow its own pricing guidelines;

3) failing to update its pricing guidelines and failing to have a system in place to identify needed updates;

4) failing to have a system in place to catch fee charging and collection issues;

5) failing to train staff to understand fee charging and collection issues, and to think creatively and critically to identify and/or suggest solutions for such issues; and

6) making the already expensive post-high school graduation planning process more expensive for families and students.

The Things Hearing Officers Say & Do: Virginia HO Frank Aschmann

This page is devoted to what Virginia Hearing Officer Frank Aschmann has said and done. It will be updated to include due process decisions, due process transcripts, due process subpoenas and motions, emails, and other documents.

Fairfax County Public Schools Refused to Update Transition Plan; VDOE Found FCPS in Compliance, Faulted Parent for Not Requesting Updated Transition Plan

Fairfax County Public Schools, Virginia, refused to update the transition plan in a student’s Individualized Education Plan. After the student’s parent filed a state complaint with the Virginia Department of Education, VDOE issued a Letter of Findings that found FCPS in compliance with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and faulted the parent for not requesting an updated transition plan.
Among other things, the LOF states:

“In reaching our finding on this Subissue, we find the following compelling:

“There is no indication in the record that Parent requested revision to Student’s transition plan . . .”

Due Process Transcript, Fauquier County Public Schools, Virginia, Hearing Officer Frank Aschmann

Here you’ll find the hearing officer’s decision and the transcripts for a two-day due process hearing, which Fauquier County Public Schools (FCPS) filed against the parents of a student who was clinically diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, emotional disability, ADHD, and anxiety, and who at the time of the hearing had an Individualized Education Program (IEP). FCPS filed the due process with the purpose of 1) proving the student isn’t eligible for an IEP and 2) terminating the student’s IEP.

Fairfax County Public Schools Leadership Team Annual Employment Contracts

Employment contracts for Fairfax County Public Schools’ (FCPS) leadership team were released today. FCPS released them in response to a FOIA request submitted by parent Debra Tisler — and then turned around and attempted to recall the response.

The contracts provided to her today include information that should be publicly available as it details the terms of contracts for FCPS Superintendent Scott Brabrand and numerous other “leadership team” members who are responsible for the education of Fairfax County’s students and the running of its school system.

U.S. Dept. of Education Finds Virginia at Fault for Continued Noncompliance

The United States Department of Education determined the Virginia Department of Education “has not demonstrated correction of all the noncompliance identified in USDOE’s June 23, 2020, Differentiated Monitoring and Support monitoring letter and that it remains “concerned about the volume and nature of the concerns raised by .”

February 8, 2022, USDOE sent VDOE its response to VDOE’s corrective action information.

Special Education Action obtained the February 8, 2022, letter yesterday in response to a FOIA request submitted to VDOE.

Former VDOE Superintendent James Lane Heads to Washington; How Will U.S. Dept. of Education Defend Hiring the Official Who Reigned Over Years of VDOE Failures?

James Lane, the former superintendent of public instruction at the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) is making a move from Richmond to Washington, D.C.

How will USDOE defend hiring the senior official who reigned over so many years of failure?