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Special education practices under federal review
Arecent announcement from the U.S. Department of Education regarding the treatment of disabled and special education children in Virginia schools came as no surprise to the families
JIM RIDOLPHI
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with students who require special services.
The Individuals with Disabilities Act passed in 1975 requires special education students or those with IEPs are entitled to free and appropriate education.
The Feds flagged Virginia’s Department for violations of the IDEA in 2020, and the state has responded by submitting editorial & Business office and Mailing address: 8460 Times-dispatch Blvd. Mechanicsville, va 23116
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Publisher Joy Monopoli jmonopoli@Rsnva com
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Classifieds cindy adams ..........................................cadams@mechlocal.com additional documentation, but those efforts did not prevent the recent issuance by the DOE.
The Federal Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) wrote in a letter dated Jan. 17, 2023, to then VDOE Superintendent of Public Education Jillian Balow that, although the state had corrected some of the inadequacies, others remain unchanged and fall short of federal regulations.
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“As a result of these submissions . . . . VDOE had corrected some but not all of the findings,” the letter stated.
That initial report cited
Please see EDUCATION, Page 7
