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
FCPS Charges Students Fee to Access Education
7.21.20: Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) Superintendent Scott Brabrand announced:
“Today, the Fairfax County School Board supported my revised recommendation that we begin the 2020-21 school year with virtual learning for all students. The online school year will begin, as scheduled, September 8.”
In making this decision, FCPS changed the education point of access from school buildings to computers.
8.5.20: FCPS parents started receiving emails stating there is a maintenance fee for the computers being provided via the FCPSOn program.
By charging a fee related to computers it’s charging kids to access their education.
If Your Child was Administered the Program Language Live, this Article is for You
Language Live is a program that school divisions license from the company Voyager Sopris. FCPS uses Language Live as a tier 3 “comprehensive specialized reading program” for students with Dyslexia.
After students were administered the program, starting at Level 2, Unit 7, the publisher advised FCPS, “After we got some initial feedback and data from past implementations, it became clear that if students needed Level 2, they needed all of it. Those students who would have placed in the second part of the level really didn’t need an intervention like LL.”
Students became data points instead of having their unique needs appropriately addressed.
The Best Teachers Lead with Aloha
One of his guests was Jan Iwase, retired educator and author of “Leading with Aloha: From the Pineapple Fields to the Principal’s Office”.
I was struck and inspired by Jan’s comments about “leading with Aloha”—and I learned that Aloha is so much more than hello or goodbye.
The “Spirit of Aloha” is so powerful that it was written into the laws of Hawaii.
FOIA Release: FCPS’ Jane Strong and VDOE’s Samantha Hollins; E-Mails, May 5 and May 13, 2020
They are between Jane Strong, director of Fairfax County Public Schools’ (FCPS) Office of Special Education Procedural Support, and Samantha Hollins, assistant superintendent of the Virginia Department of Education’s (VDOE) Department of Special Education and Student Services.
Jane explores using waivers to graduate students who weren’t expected to graduate.
COVID 19 and FAPE
Let’s start with the United States Departments of Education and IDEA.
§ 300.17 of IDEA states: “Free appropriate public education or FAPE means special education and related services that—(a) Are provided at public expense, under public supervision and direction, and without charge; (b) Meet the standards of the SEA, including the requirements of this part; (c) Include an appropriate preschool, elementary school, or secondary school education in the State involved; and (d) Are provided in conformity with an individualized education program (IEP) that meets the requirements of §§300.320 through 300.324.”
Sections §§300.320 through 300.324 specifically address meeting the needs of the child, not the needs of the school.
COVID-19 did not change the needs of the child. It changed the location at which those needs are addressed.
Crisis Management Messaging: Gov. Cuomo’s, Gov. Northam’s, VDOE’s, and FCPS’ Staff on “Distance Learning”
“Sorry this got to you and James”.
—Scott Brabrand, FCPS Superintendent.
4.21.20, Fairfax County Public School (FCPS) Superintendent Scott Brabrand emailed this apology to Donald R. Fairheart, Deputy Superintendent and Chief of Staff, Division of School Quality, Instruction, and Performance, VDOE. James is James Lane, Superintendent of the Virginia Department of Education.
His “sorry” followed an email from Alexander Cochran, Special Counsel to the Governor for Federal Affairs, Office of Governor Cuomo, to Stacey Brayboy, Director of the Virginia Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, warning about FCPS’ failures to launch.