Special Education Action is a 501(c)3 nonprofit publisher covering special education.

Its mission is to ensure parents, educators, and students have the information and tools necessary to fully understand, address, and safeguard the unique needs of all students who require special education.

Recent Articles

Accommodation Breakdown: Extended Time

This article was first published 9.22.22 and is being republished today with updates.

It’s one of the most popular articles on the site, but I still continue to learn different ways this accommodation has played out with others. If you have your own input, please provide it in the comments below and/or email me and I’ll look at adding it to the article.

It includes a few different options I wish I’d included previously, as well as a few more pits you’ll want to make sure you avoid.

How to File a Privacy Violation Complaint

Imagine your school or someone in the school division violates the privacy of your child. 

Can you file a complaint? If yes, how? Parents and/or students who believe a student’s privacy has been violated under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), have a right to file a complaint. FERPA applies to all students. However, students who have IEPs have additional protection under Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Let’s explore both below.

VDOE and FCPS Failing Streak: Seven Years of Failing to Prevent Inadvertent Disclosure

For at least seven years, Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) and Fairfax County School Board (FCSB) have failed to take sufficient precautions to prevent inadvertent disclosure.

For at least five years, FCPS, FCSB, and Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) have failed to stop the inadvertent disclosures, even though VDOE and/or U.S. Department of Education’s (USDOE) Student Privacy Police Office (SPPO) have repeatedly found FCPS at fault for failure to take sufficient precautions to prevent inadvertent disclosure. Not even losing a lawsuit in 2021, during which Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge Richard E. Gardiner pointed out FCSB’s failures, stopped FCPS and FCSB from future failures to take sufficient precautions to prevent inadvertent disclosure.

The irony is, while FCPS and FCSB have spent years failing to prevent inadvertent disclosures, FCPS school officials have spent years intentionally engaging in bad faith activities designed to prevent disclosure of other records from being responsive to FERPA and FOIA requests.

Update 12.3.23—Fairfax County Public Schools Trains Staff to Thwart FERPA Requests: Don’t Put it in Writing

1.9.23: Article first published. 12.3.23: Article updated. Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) has a history of training staff to take actions that prevent information being obtained via Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) requests. Under FERPA, parents have the right to inspect their children’s education records. Under FOIA, parents have the right to access other records unrelated to their children as well as records related to their children, which aren’t considered educational records. However, if there’s nothing in writing, if students names are intentionally changed to initials and/or nicknames, or if staff include lawyers on emails just so they can claim that the records are privileged, neither parents nor students can access them.
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.