Anyone been reimbursed yet from FCPS?

[Anonymous]

If they reviewed and processed only 10 IEPs each day (which is not a lot considering most are probably straight forward tutoring requests), then in 100 work days they should have completed through 1000 kids. They have been getting the requests since last March and now its November.

[Anonymous]

I don't care how long they take, I just am suspicious that the delays are because they have paid out more than they expected to and are trying to figure out ways to pay out less.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If they reviewed and processed only 10 IEPs each day (which is not a lot considering most are probably straight forward tutoring requests), then in 100 work days they should have completed through 1000 kids. They have been getting the requests since last March and now its November.

Right, I don't see what has been taking so long or why they need to hire an army of temps to do this. The decision-making happened at the IEP team meetings. They are just processing payment.

[Anonymous]

What i heard from my friend who is a special ed admin is that they had a ballpark figure they were expecting to pay out under the settlement.

However, special ed staff at the compensatory meetings were much more generous with reimbursements for the kids who qualified than FCPS was expecting. Which seems silly not to foresee-its not coming out of the teachers and school admin's paychecks and why have a contentious meeting nickle and diming people when you can just be accepting with what the families requested and get the meetings over quickly.

I imagine they are hiring more people because they want to push back or not approve some of the reimbursements the IEP teams agreed upon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't care how long they take, I just am suspicious that the delays are because they have paid out more than they expected to and are trying to figure out ways to pay out less.

FCPS loves to screw over special Ed families and these delays are just a continuation of that

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't care how long they take, I just am suspicious that the delays are because they have paid out more than they expected to and are trying to figure out ways to pay out less.

Likely the opposite. Our reimbursement was early and quick—they likely wanted to get that out of the way before we heard what others were trying to get reimbursed. (We could have and should have requested more, but money will never replace that list year of virtual school.)

I’m thinking the ones not paid out are the high-dollar requests and there are probably many parents looking to sock it to FCPS.

[Anonymous]

Sock it to fcps how? You need receipts....

[Anonymous]

Like, you can't travel back in time and book more tutoring or therapy. People spent what they soent.

[Anonymous]

This process started the beginning of March 2023 for us with the elementary school. I feel like everyone at the school level worked very hard to complete their work in a timely fashion. FCPS had all their information by the summer from us and the school and now it's crickets from the compensation folks at Gatehouse. I am definitely not trying to sock it to FCPS. We spent more money than we are supposed to be getting reimbursed for. In fact, I will go bankrupt and spend what I have to for my child. They are your child. This reimbursement process has just been a cruel joke in getting my expectations up, running through hoops to do all the paperwork and meetings for it, and now nothing. No one at Gatehouse respond to my emails or phone messages. I know that I am not the only family awaiting reimbursement, but it really is cruel what FCPS is doing. I wish someone could hold them accountable like they want us accountable. I won't give up, but do the people at Gatehouse even understand what they are doing to the families that already have so many added work and stress with kids that need services?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This process started the beginning of March 2023 for us with the elementary school. I feel like everyone at the school level worked very hard to complete their work in a timely fashion. FCPS had all their information by the summer from us and the school and now it's crickets from the compensation folks at Gatehouse. I am definitely not trying to sock it to FCPS. We spent more money than we are supposed to be getting reimbursed for. In fact, I will go bankrupt and spend what I have to for my child. They are your child. This reimbursement process has just been a cruel joke in getting my expectations up, running through hoops to do all the paperwork and meetings for it, and now nothing. No one at Gatehouse respond to my emails or phone messages. I know that I am not the only family awaiting reimbursement, but it really is cruel what FCPS is doing. I wish someone could hold them accountable like they want us accountable. I won't give up, but do the people at Gatehouse even understand what they are doing to the families that already have so many added work and stress with kids that need services?

Agree. We were extremely reasonable with what we asked for in reimbursement, and the school team agreed and it was a short and pleasant meeting. I could have asked for and justified a lot more--for instance, we paid for private speech therapy for the Covid year b/c online ST did not work for our dc who has an intellectual disability-- but I didn't ask to be reimbursed for it, just the academic tutoring that had to be in person.

[Anonymous]

We're in a group with other families with kids with severe disabilities and I don't know anyone who has mentioned this lawsuit and the settlement who has requests that seem unreasonable or like they are trying to get away with something. I am sure those people exist but they are probably very few and far between.

If as pp mentioned only 6000 kids were entitled to any Covid related compensatory services, and most of that recompense was things like extra speech or reading sessions from FCPS staff and not reimbursement for money spent on private providers then there really aren't that many families who are being financially reimbursed at all.

[Anonymous]

OCR audited only four school systems in the entire country. During the unprecedented global pandemic that shut down healthcare and the economy, Countless school systems across the country did the same thing as FCPS or worse. Those school systems are NOT reimbursing or providing compensatory services. OCR is making an example of FCPS. Families are taking advantage because they can and because families just hate FCPS- no matter what. This is money and time that could be spent on the current needs of ALL students and staff.

I realize the pandemic sucked and affected ALL students across the entire country. I wish FVPS was in-person sooner. But these complaints and demands are non-sense and I don’t feel sorry for any of you. Your expectations and entitlement are appalling.

If you hate FCPS so much, you have the right to move, do private school, or homeschool.

[Anonymous]

There would be a lot of inconsistencies across all of the schools on what was approved or not. If this process is audited, it will be a mess.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OCR audited only four school systems in the entire country. During the unprecedented global pandemic that shut down healthcare and the economy, Countless school systems across the country did the same thing as FCPS or worse. Those school systems are NOT reimbursing or providing compensatory services. OCR is making an example of FCPS. Families are taking advantage because they can and because families just hate FCPS- no matter what. This is money and time that could be spent on the current needs of ALL students and staff.

I realize the pandemic sucked and affected ALL students across the entire country. I wish FVPS was in-person sooner. But these complaints and demands are non-sense and I don’t feel sorry for any of you. Your expectations and entitlement are appalling.

If you hate FCPS so much, you have the right to move, do private school, or homeschool.

I love when FCPS employees respond.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OCR audited only four school systems in the entire country. During the unprecedented global pandemic that shut down healthcare and the economy, Countless school systems across the country did the same thing as FCPS or worse. Those school systems are NOT reimbursing or providing compensatory services. OCR is making an example of FCPS. Families are taking advantage because they can and because families just hate FCPS- no matter what. This is money and time that could be spent on the current needs of ALL students and staff.

I realize the pandemic sucked and affected ALL students across the entire country. I wish FVPS was in-person sooner. But these complaints and demands are non-sense and I don’t feel sorry for any of you. Your expectations and entitlement are appalling.

If you hate FCPS so much, you have the right to move, do private school, or homeschool.

I love when FCPS employees respond.

Wow! I have the right to move, do private school, or homeschool? That is strong. No, I can’t move. I need my job and the insurance it provides. Yes, I can go to private school, but then I can’t afford my modest house and will have to move into an apartment. That doesn’t make financial sense. And I am entitled to a public school education for my kids. Homeschool, yes I can do that and am doing a lot of extra work outside of school with it. I never complain about the money I spent on homeschool programs or expect reimbursement. I do not except to pull my kid out to do it full time when my tax dollars fund public school and the socialization and extra course offerings like art, music, pe, etc are so beneficial for my kid.

Is this poster really that much out of touch? Calling this entitlement? Wow.