Fairfax County SEPTA is speaking up for students with disabilities, their families, and their educators.
Here you’ll see our most recent advocacy. For previous Advocacy playlists, please see our YouTube Channel!
August 13 Update: ETRC (Educational Technology Review Committee)
The Fairfax County School Board was hard at work over the summer and on July 16th, passed seven motions related to technology in the schools. Several of these motions have implications for students with IEPs and 504 plans and therefore, we wanted to bring them to your attention.
We’ve summarized the three immediate changes below and you can find the full text of all the motions on BoardDocs and the recording of the school board meeting on YouTube (discussion starting at 4:19:53). Please note that some of these motions direct the superintendent to enact specific changes and others direct the superintendent to come back to the board with a plan or recommendations.
- Motion 1: Prohibit laptops and tablets for PK and Kindergarten beginning with the 26-27 school year until the Educational Technology Review Committee can provide recommendations to the superintendent and any resulting board action. There is an exception for students with IEPs or 504 plans or for translation purposes or multilingual education support.
- Motion 3: Provide a comprehensive inventory of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) tools provided through FCPS by January 2027. Elementary school student usage of GenAI is prohibited and secondary school student usage of GenAI is only permitted with principal or superintendent authorization until adoption of a formal policy.
- Motion 6: Amend all regulations to prohibit student use of personal devices (non-FCPS issued devices) during the instructional day. There is an exception for students with IEPs or 504 plans that explicitly mandate or permit the use of a personal device. Principals also have the authority to grant course-specific exceptions. (This change is discussed in the “FCPS This Week” email from August 12th.)
If you have any questions about these motions, please email EdTech@fairfaxcountysepta.org. Kate Imholt has agreed to serve as SEPTA’s representative to the Educational Technology Review Committee (ETRC) and is working with SEPTA leadership to make sure that students with disabilities are represented in the ETRC’s discussions
Fairfax County Special Education PTA 