Anonymous
Post 02/21/2023 20:05     Subject: Compensatory Services
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I can tell you it is designed to break the backs of the entire FCPS SpEd apparatus, from administration to teachers. If OCR wanted to "help" students by doing this, I think they took the wrong route.


This is my fear. At our IEP meeting I said I think they are going to burn out at the SPED teachers with this and I do not need a meeting. I said if they offer something for X issue (my child's academic issue), please feel free to email and we can communicate that way, but the SPED teachers work enough already.


burn out sped teachers? means that FCPS should let private schools take the responsibility of teaching SPED and pay them


LOL, most private schools won’t admit students who need Sped services. Unless it’s a specialized school designed to deal with a specific condition, there’s a very good chance your kid’s IEP gets them thrown into the reject pile automatically.
Anonymous
Post 02/21/2023 19:42     Subject: Compensatory Services
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I can tell you it is designed to break the backs of the entire FCPS SpEd apparatus, from administration to teachers. If OCR wanted to "help" students by doing this, I think they took the wrong route.


This is my fear. At our IEP meeting I said I think they are going to burn out at the SPED teachers with this and I do not need a meeting. I said if they offer something for X issue (my child's academic issue), please feel free to email and we can communicate that way, but the SPED teachers work enough already.


burn out sped teachers? means that FCPS should let private schools take the responsibility of teaching SPED and pay them


Have you been on the SN forum? Parents are constantly lamenting the lack of private special education schools, especially for children with severe needs.

And yes, FCPS is going to burn out their Special Education staff with this. Ask me how I know. Literally every single teacher in our department is looking at their options and so is our supervisor.
Anonymous
Post 02/21/2023 19:30     Subject: Compensatory Services
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I can tell you it is designed to break the backs of the entire FCPS SpEd apparatus, from administration to teachers. If OCR wanted to "help" students by doing this, I think they took the wrong route.


This is my fear. At our IEP meeting I said I think they are going to burn out at the SPED teachers with this and I do not need a meeting. I said if they offer something for X issue (my child's academic issue), please feel free to email and we can communicate that way, but the SPED teachers work enough already.


burn out sped teachers? means that FCPS should let private schools take the responsibility of teaching SPED and pay them


And you think private schools will take the kids? They won’t.
Anonymous
Post 02/21/2023 17:56     Subject: Compensatory Services
Anonymous wrote:Maybe teachers should direct their irritation about compensatory services toward their leadership? Parents didn’t make the directive that they didn’t have to teach special kids.


You sound stupid but I'm sure you are not embarrassed by it.
Anonymous
Post 02/21/2023 17:51     Subject: Compensatory Services
Anonymous wrote:We heard at our IEP meeting that evening and weekend compensatory hours were available from non-FCPS teachers. No one is making teachers do this work.


STOP! They are talking about the paperwork and process that comes with funding if families are eligible. That will be done by SPED teachers and it's time intensive.
Anonymous
Post 02/21/2023 17:26     Subject: Compensatory Services
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I can tell you it is designed to break the backs of the entire FCPS SpEd apparatus, from administration to teachers. If OCR wanted to "help" students by doing this, I think they took the wrong route.


This is my fear. At our IEP meeting I said I think they are going to burn out at the SPED teachers with this and I do not need a meeting. I said if they offer something for X issue (my child's academic issue), please feel free to email and we can communicate that way, but the SPED teachers work enough already.


burn out sped teachers? means that FCPS should let private schools take the responsibility of teaching SPED and pay them
Anonymous
Post 02/21/2023 17:07     Subject: Compensatory Services
Anonymous wrote:I can tell you it is designed to break the backs of the entire FCPS SpEd apparatus, from administration to teachers. If OCR wanted to "help" students by doing this, I think they took the wrong route.


This is my fear. At our IEP meeting I said I think they are going to burn out at the SPED teachers with this and I do not need a meeting. I said if they offer something for X issue (my child's academic issue), please feel free to email and we can communicate that way, but the SPED teachers work enough already.
Anonymous
Post 02/21/2023 16:14     Subject: Compensatory Services
Not sure if it’s been shared here yet.

Here are the OCR training materials for staff. Would be good to review if you have an IEP meeting coming up to discuss this for your child.

https://specialeducationaction.com/foia-release-fairfax-county-public-schools-determining-compensatory-education-training-development-training-videos-and-materials-required-by-office-for-civil-rights/

Anonymous
Post 01/24/2023 19:06     Subject: Compensatory Services
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I would really like to see the training sessions for staff. Are they open to the public or posted somewhere?


Calm down. They are highly scripted and have to be approved by the Office of Civll Rights.


Okay, then where can we find this?

The training for staff on how to run the IEP meetings will be key for parents to see. They need to know what metrics the staff are using and what types of services will be covered. How much discretion do the IEP teams really have?

Say there was a child who had an IEP whose parents placed them at a private school for 2020-2022? What amount would be covered based on how high of a need there was? If a child only has an IEP for speech (ie can’t say their Rs), would the private school be fully covered? What about a child who had significant needs (ESY, virtually all of their hours were in Special Education, etc). How will the IEP team treat 2020-21 vs 2021-2022?

All of this needs to be clear to parents. It seems like FCPS would want to make the guidelines clear to their staff but keep parents in the dark. Right?



Would like to see the staff training and materials as well.

There has got to be a teacher somewhere who will screen record and leak it.


Why? To help parents that complain constantly… unlikely.


I was thinking this...teachers are not sharing this
Anonymous
Post 01/24/2023 13:50     Subject: Compensatory Services
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I would really like to see the training sessions for staff. Are they open to the public or posted somewhere?


Calm down. They are highly scripted and have to be approved by the Office of Civll Rights.


Okay, then where can we find this?

The training for staff on how to run the IEP meetings will be key for parents to see. They need to know what metrics the staff are using and what types of services will be covered. How much discretion do the IEP teams really have?

Say there was a child who had an IEP whose parents placed them at a private school for 2020-2022? What amount would be covered based on how high of a need there was? If a child only has an IEP for speech (ie can’t say their Rs), would the private school be fully covered? What about a child who had significant needs (ESY, virtually all of their hours were in Special Education, etc). How will the IEP team treat 2020-21 vs 2021-2022?

All of this needs to be clear to parents. It seems like FCPS would want to make the guidelines clear to their staff but keep parents in the dark. Right?



Would like to see the staff training and materials as well.

There has got to be a teacher somewhere who will screen record and leak it.


Why? To help parents that complain constantly… unlikely.


Is there a reason that they are shielded from FOIA? PP, if you want them request them
Anonymous
Post 01/24/2023 13:49     Subject: Compensatory Services
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I would really like to see the training sessions for staff. Are they open to the public or posted somewhere?


Calm down. They are highly scripted and have to be approved by the Office of Civll Rights.


Okay, then where can we find this?

The training for staff on how to run the IEP meetings will be key for parents to see. They need to know what metrics the staff are using and what types of services will be covered. How much discretion do the IEP teams really have?

Say there was a child who had an IEP whose parents placed them at a private school for 2020-2022? What amount would be covered based on how high of a need there was? If a child only has an IEP for speech (ie can’t say their Rs), would the private school be fully covered? What about a child who had significant needs (ESY, virtually all of their hours were in Special Education, etc). How will the IEP team treat 2020-21 vs 2021-2022?

All of this needs to be clear to parents. It seems like FCPS would want to make the guidelines clear to their staff but keep parents in the dark. Right?


Staff trainings should be widely available in the interest of transparency. Parents have seen how FCPS plays hide the ball and if they are truly trying to turn over a new leaf, they should be willing to share.

In the meantime, take a look at the OCR website. It lists out the criteria about what the teams will consider. I would prepare a document and answer each and every question. Prepare any data that you might have.



Here is the relevant information:



Section I: Criteria for Determining Provision of FAPE and Compensatory Education

A. To determine the provision of FAPE and compensatory education, each IEP team or Section 504 Plan knowledgeable committee must consider, at minimum, the following criteria:

Note: Parents/guardians will have access to information recorded by FCPS, if any, regarding the amount of special education and/or related aids and services provided to the student during the Pandemic Period, including IEP and Section 504 Plan service logs.

1. Did FCPS fail to provide the student with the regular or special education and related aids/services required by the student's Section 504 Plan or IEP that was in effect at the beginning of March 2020?

1a. Did the student receive the amount and type of the regular or special education, and related aids/services that were required by the Section 504 Plan or IEP that was in effect at the beginning of March 2020.
1ai. The services provided by parents or guardians during the Pandemic Period will not be counted as services provided by FCPS that were required by existing IEP/504 Plans.

2. Were changes made to the student's IEP or Section 504 Plan during the Pandemic Period (Temporary Learning Plans (TLPs), Virtual IEPs, or other remote learning plans), particularly where changes resulted in lesser services being provided to the student than the Section 504 Plan or IEP in effect prior to the changes?

3. For students with IEPs, was goal progress impacted by remote learning? To make this individualized determination, IEP teams will consider, at minimum:
3a. Present levels of academic achievement and functional performance.
3b. Previous rate of progress toward IEP goals pre-Pandemic Period.
3c. Documented frequency and duration of special education and related services provided to the student prior to the service disruptions caused by the COVID-19 Pandemic.


B. If a student did not receive the regular or special education and/or related aids/services designed to meet their individual educational needs during the Pandemic Period, the IEP team or Section 504 Plan knowledgeable committee will:

1. Make an individualized determination regarding what compensatory education the student needs to return the student to the position the student would be in if the student received services that met his or her individual needs. [NOTE - This is where FCPS has not been clear AT ALL about what the criteria are. Interested to learn what staff have been told to guide them.]

2. State the factors considered in determining any compensatory education owed to the student.

3. Develop a plan for providing timely compensatory education.
3a. The team may consider recovery services already being provided as a factor in determining compensatory education if those recovery services, based on an individualized determination of the student's compensatory education needs, address the specific individualized needs of the student.
3b. When the recovery services already being provided do not address the specific, individualized compensatory education needs of the student, the team cannot directly subtract provided recovery minutes from the total amount of compensatory education the team determines is needed.

The team will include an appropriate and reasonable timeframe for the completion of the agreed-upon compensatory services.

4. Provide the student's parent/guardian notice of the procedural safeguards, including the right to challenge the IEP team or Section 504 Plan knowledgeable committee’s determination through an impartial hearing.

5. Provide the student's parent/guardian notice of the process to follow for requesting reimbursement for out-of-pocket expenses incurred by the parent or guardian to provide services required by the student's IEP or Section 504 Plan by private or non-FCPS personnel that were not provided by FCPS during the Pandemic Period.
Anonymous
Post 01/23/2023 20:18     Subject: Compensatory Services
That is not usually the FCPS way. They usually fight even if it costs more.
Anonymous
Post 01/23/2023 20:17     Subject: Compensatory Services
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Can anyone explain:

1) Why did FCPS sign this voluntary agreement?

2) Why was FCPS singled out for an OCR investigation? What happened in FCPS to special education students from 2020-2022 was not terribly unique.

I do not understand the dynamic and politics of the settlement at all.


They picked a few large school districts in the US for this investigation. School districts all over the US did WAAAAAAY less than FCPS did but because we're big and always in the news, we got singled out. FCPS was following the guidance they were given by VDOE but someone decided that wasn't good enough.


where is this data? it is hard to do less than nothing.


That is not usually the FCPS way. They prefer to fight even if it costs more.

Yeah, okay...the teachers did nothing. My kids were online every, single day with their teachers learning the curriculum. My child who receives special education services was pulled into small groups online just like she would have been had she been in person. She got her accommodations and she got instruction. You people who keep saying the teachers did nothing are flat out lying. I simply do not believe you. I understand that some related services such as speech and OT got the shaft, particularly since it's hard to provide those services virtually. But do not lie and say your kid literally got no instruction for a year.


So do you think the Office of Civil Rights at the Department of Education just made this up that special ed services were not given? I am confused.


DP, I think the office could have picked any school district and gotten the same findings, they just choose a large on that is in the news.


they have made judgements against several. They do actually have to do due-diligence and make sure it is true. FCPS usually avoids publicity like this because there are top lobbyists working for them and they have lots of lawyers.


Why didn’t FCPS fight it? It seems like the school system in Ohio who was also in the cross hairs of OCR is fighting.

They seemed to put so much energy into fighting parents at every turn. Why roll over and play dead to OCR?


Bad publicity


Cheaper to pay than to fight
Anonymous
Post 01/23/2023 19:25     Subject: Compensatory Services
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Can anyone explain:

1) Why did FCPS sign this voluntary agreement?

2) Why was FCPS singled out for an OCR investigation? What happened in FCPS to special education students from 2020-2022 was not terribly unique.

I do not understand the dynamic and politics of the settlement at all.


They picked a few large school districts in the US for this investigation. School districts all over the US did WAAAAAAY less than FCPS did but because we're big and always in the news, we got singled out. FCPS was following the guidance they were given by VDOE but someone decided that wasn't good enough.


where is this data? it is hard to do less than nothing.


Yeah, okay...the teachers did nothing. My kids were online every, single day with their teachers learning the curriculum. My child who receives special education services was pulled into small groups online just like she would have been had she been in person. She got her accommodations and she got instruction. You people who keep saying the teachers did nothing are flat out lying. I simply do not believe you. I understand that some related services such as speech and OT got the shaft, particularly since it's hard to provide those services virtually. But do not lie and say your kid literally got no instruction for a year.


So do you think the Office of Civil Rights at the Department of Education just made this up that special ed services were not given? I am confused.


DP, I think the office could have picked any school district and gotten the same findings, they just choose a large on that is in the news.


they have made judgements against several. They do actually have to do due-diligence and make sure it is true. FCPS usually avoids publicity like this because there are top lobbyists working for them and they have lots of lawyers.


Why didn’t FCPS fight it? It seems like the school system in Ohio who was also in the cross hairs of OCR is fighting.

They seemed to put so much energy into fighting parents at every turn. Why roll over and play dead to OCR?


Bad publicity


Cheaper to pay than to fight
Anonymous
Post 01/23/2023 19:22     Subject: Compensatory Services
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I would really like to see the training sessions for staff. Are they open to the public or posted somewhere?


Calm down. They are highly scripted and have to be approved by the Office of Civll Rights.


Okay, then where can we find this?

The training for staff on how to run the IEP meetings will be key for parents to see. They need to know what metrics the staff are using and what types of services will be covered. How much discretion do the IEP teams really have?

Say there was a child who had an IEP whose parents placed them at a private school for 2020-2022? What amount would be covered based on how high of a need there was? If a child only has an IEP for speech (ie can’t say their Rs), would the private school be fully covered? What about a child who had significant needs (ESY, virtually all of their hours were in Special Education, etc). How will the IEP team treat 2020-21 vs 2021-2022?

All of this needs to be clear to parents. It seems like FCPS would want to make the guidelines clear to their staff but keep parents in the dark. Right?



Would like to see the staff training and materials as well.

There has got to be a teacher somewhere who will screen record and leak it.


Why? To help parents that complain constantly… unlikely.