From the Archives: March 30–April 5, 2025
Articles from Special Education Action's Archives, Added to Substack Between March 30th and April 5th
February 18, 2025, Special Education Action launched on Substack, featuring 85 of its 300+ articles from 2020–2025.
Older articles will be added over time, with updates such as this one, alerting you to articles you might have missed when they were published.
Some embedded documents, like state complaints, will be published separately on the State Complaints page, to make it easier to browse and learn from the complaints. In addition, links to articles addressing specific complaints will be added to the individual complaints page, providing readers more background on the complaints.
Articles Added March 30–April 5, 2025
"Hot Topics"
Fairfax County Public Schools included an unredacted internal document—”Hot Topics” Region 4—with its response to a FERPA request I submitted. I did not request the specific document or personally identifiable information (PII) for other students. I’m sharing it now because FCPS’ internal admissions of noncompliance are important for other parents to be aware of. To protect student privacy—something FCPS failed to do—I redacted all PII prior to publication.
Courtesy of Fairfax County Public Schools: Hot Topics
These two documents weren’t obtained via FOIA requests, but are being included in the FOIA section of Special Education Action because they’re documents that should be of interest to parents and individuals responsible for holding Fairfax County Public Schools accountable for hundreds of counts of noncompliance with IDEA and/or FERPA.
"Big 8" Letter Requests Special Education Waivers; Children Put Behind 8 Ball
In a letter provided by Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) through a FOIA request—titled “Lane Special Ed Letter”—Virginia’s eight largest school divisions—known as the “Big 8”—outlined their requests for relief related to special education requirements. These divisions collectively serve around 600,000 students across Northern Virginia, Richmond, and Hampton Roads. The letter itself lists one waiver after another related to special education, as divisions "try to navigate the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic."
FCPS Makes Case Against Providing Compensatory Education, FAPE, and PWNs
May 18, 2020, Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) issued a Notice of Complaint (NOC) in response to a systemic complaint filed on behalf of six Fairfax County Public School (FCPS) students. The issue? Whether FCPS properly provided services to students with disabilities during the shift to distance learning in spring 2020. In its response, FCPS made a case AGAINST providing compensatory education.
FOIA Release: FCPS "TLP Procedural and Instructional Guidance Training" (4.13.20)
The video was provided by Fairfax County Public Schools. The transcript was created by Special Education Action.