The U.S. Department of Education found that Fairfax County Public Schools didn’t take needed steps to ensure that students with disabilities received a legally-guaranteed free appropriate public education (FAPE) during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Based on the evidence obtained through the Division’s documents and data, as well as interviews of administrators, OCR [Office for Civil Rights] found that the Division failed or was unable to provide a FAPE to thousands of qualified students with disabilities in violation of Section 504,” OCR District of Columbia Regional Director Emily Frangos wrote in a Wednesday letter to FCPS Superintendent Dr. Michelle Reid.
“It’s a huge victory for civil rights for students with disabilities. It has opened up access to services to all children,” said Debra Tisler, a mother and former FCPS special education teacher.
She has tangled with the district in recent years, including challenging the district’s spending of taxpayer funds, challenging training for teachers on gender issues, and being sued by the district for allegedly publishing information accidentally sent to Tisler after FOIA requests.
She said that although FCPS has always struggled to provide required services to students with disabilities, COVID-19 virtual learning highlighted problems to parents by bringing students’ instruction into their living rooms.
“Parents saw firsthand that what they were supposed to be receiving in the IEP, their disability plan, the educational plan, was not being provided for,” Tisler told The Virginia Star.
Additionally, Tisler said that amid lockdowns, the district didn’t provide certain services to students, in part due to staffing shortages.
“So you had children that were in need of, say, occupational therapy. For example, they had five hours they were supposed to get of occupational therapy, and they might have been receiving half of that, maybe two-and-a-half hours if they were lucky, or maybe none. And it would have been virtual,” Tisler said.
That led parents to launch a wave of complaints initially to FCPS and then to the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) under the previous administration. But in a systemic complaint, the VDOE found in favor of FCPS, leading parents to send their concerns to the U.S. Department of Education.
In January 2021, the DOE opened its investigation into the district, citing “disturbing reports” and a lawsuit alleging that the district opened its facilities for child care while not providing in-person education. Tisler said that since then, she and other advocates have continued sending information to the DOE, and highlighting alleged discrepancies between material FCPS sent to the DOE as part of the investigation and material Tisler received through FOIAs of the district.
In the letter to Reid, Frangos said the investigation found that FCPS failed in several areas, including not conducting evaluations of students, applying a non-compliant standard for FAPE, inappropriately limiting student services and special education instruction, and failing to remedy situations where students were denied a FAPE adequately.
Frangos’ letter also cites a November 2020 study FCPS conducted: “The study found that the percentage of students with disabilities in middle and high school who failed two or more classes in the first quarter of the 2020-2021 school year (19 percent) more than doubled from the same time a year before. The study also found that, overall, the students who struggled the most academically before the pandemic were the ones most impacted by remote learning.”
The DOE announced a resolution agreement requiring FCPS to provide compensatory services to students — services to make up for services inappropriately denied to students. Additionally, the agreement requires a designated administrator to oversee implementation, create special teams to determine if students received needed services, report to OCR about the implementation of the plan, provide guidance for all staff on Section 504 and Title II responsibilities, and outreach to parents, guardians, and students to publicize the plan.
“The big point is that they’re going to have to meet with all of these families and review the IEPs,” Tisler said.
Tisler’s concerned that even with oversight, problems at FCPS may continue if the oversight isn’t thorough enough. She’s also concerned the district will publicize the plan for compensatory services through a broad notification that might get overlooked by parents.
Additionally, Tisler’s concerned about staff at the VDOE, even though it’s under a new Republican administration that emphasizes parents’ rights.
“I think that they’re doing the best that they can, but they inherited a block of staff that has created a great roadblock for those that are trying to move things forward and put those corrective actions in place,” she said. “We as the parents and the advocates, we’re still contacting those same people that this administration inherited, and they are remaining firm in the same pattern and practice that they were doing before.”
But she said, “Although there are areas too look at, this was a great success for civil rights for students with disabilities, and I’m hoping that we can have progress moving forward.”
“I am relieved that the more than 25,000 students with disabilities in Fairfax County will now receive services federal law promises to them, even during a pandemic, to ensure their equal access to education,” Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Catherine Lhamon said in a DOE press release.
FCPS media relations didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
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Eric Burk is a reporter at The Virginia Star and The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected].
