Arlington SEPTA members and other parents/guardians and staff members — please consider extending our voices for students with disabilities by joining advisory groups, committees, and councils, to use your own voice! Let’s try to have coverage (ideally voting members where there’s a distinction) on all of the following: General info on citizen advisory groups: https://www.apsva.us/citizen-advisory-groups/ General […]
Changes to Virginia SOL “cut scores” and opportunity for stakeholder input
(Updated Nov. 1, 2025) What Happened: The Virginia Board of Education (VDOE) recently voted to approve new higher “cut scores” for its end-of-year Standards of Learning Assessments, or “SOLs.” This means students in Virginia’s public schools, including APS, will soon have to achieve higher scores to achieve a passing score on an SOL assessment and be deemed “proficient.” You […]
Action Alert: Advocate Now for the Office of Special Education and OSERS
Last week the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) within the Department of Education was in effect extinguished with sweeping layoffs. This move is a threat to our students with disabilities and their futures. We will update this page below with information and resources on what happened, why it matters and WHAT YOU […]
2025 School Board Candidates Respond to SEPTA Questionnaire
Each year Arlington SEPTA asks each School Board candidate questions relating to special education and shares their unedited answers for your information. Arlington SEPTA is a non-partisan organization and does not endorse specific candidates. Instead we provide this information for our community so each individual can make an informed decision. For more information on voting in […]
New 2025 Virginia Legislation Alert
For parents’ awareness, here are 14 new Virginia laws that may impact students with disabilities: Physical and Mental Health: Disabilities and IEPs: School Discipline and Threat Assessments: School Facilities:
What You can do to Advocate for Special Education
SEPTA community: These are unsettling times. We hear your questions about the future of special education and your concerns for ensuring children with disabilities will have continued access to the services and supports they need to succeed in school and in the community, and that schools will have sufficient funding to provide them. We are […]
Arlington SEPTA Seeks Family/Student Feedback on APS Personal Device Rules
** SEPTA Personal Device Survey: https://forms.gle/ceMyhTNoWo5YX9Xy6 **** Encuesta de SEPTA sobre dispositivos personales: https://forms.gle/DwMj2dXuXbVxxgc9A ** Arlington Special Education PTA (SEPTA) would like to hear from families of students with disabilities on their experience with the new APS personal device rules restricting students’ use of cell phones and smart watches. This survey is administered by SEPTA, not by APS. SEPTA will use […]