Orange County ESE Parent 2 Parent Alliance

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Orange County ESE Parent 2 Parent Alliance We are an independent group of parents and are not affiliated with OCPS.

Started in March 2019, Orange County ESE Parent 2 Parent Alliance was formed to support students with disabilities in Orange County through peer to peer support and advocacy.

10/05/2026

Putting a Child on a Computer Program Is Not the Same as Specialized Instruction

A Colorado Department of Education decision from August 2026 makes a point every parent of a struggling reader should know: a school can meet every minute of specialized instruction an IEP requires and still deny a child FAPE, if a computer program is doing the teaching instead of a teacher.

In State Complaint SC2026-602, Colorado Springs School District 11, a fifth grader with dyslexia had an IEP requiring 90 minutes a week of specialized literacy instruction from a special education teacher. Instead, for an entire semester, he worked independently on Read Naturally Live, an online reading program, while his case manager helped other students in the room. The district's logs showed he received more minutes than required, in some months more than double.

CDE found a denial of FAPE anyway. The reason: "specially designed instruction" means instruction adapted to a child's specific needs, not a program he works through alone. 34 C.F.R. § 300.39(b)(3). Here, the online lessons weren't paired with teacher instruction, didn't target his actual IEP goal, and his reading fluency regressed while he used it. As CDE put it, services beyond what the IEP requires don't fix the problem if the services delivered were never the right kind to begin with: "additional services cannot substitute for required services that were not delivered as specified in the IEP."

The clearest proof is what happened next. The same district switched the student to small-group, teacher-led instruction the following semester, under the same IEP requirement, and CDE found no violation at all.

The lesson for parents: if your child's IEP calls for specialized instruction, ask who is teaching the lesson, not just how many minutes show up on a log. A computer program can be part of good instruction. On its own, for a child who needs direct teaching, it is not enough.

Full decision: https://ed.cde.state.co.us/fs/resource-manager/view/88f4dd26-a143-44ef-bc5c-cfa27f503d85

Paras Deserve More Than Minimum WageOn September 30, 2026, Florida’s minimum wage becomes **$15.00 per hour**. That is t...
10/04/2026

Paras Deserve More Than Minimum Wage

On September 30, 2026, Florida’s minimum wage becomes **$15.00 per hour**. That is the legal floor—not a meaningful career ladder for the people asked to support our students’ safety, communication, regulation, toileting, mobility, learning, and inclusion.

Paras are not “extra hands.” They are skilled school professionals and essential members of a student’s support system. A district that values inclusion should build pay that reflects the work, the responsibility, and the retention crisis.

Florida Department of Economic Opportunity: Florida minimum wage: https://floridajobs.org/florida-minimum-wage

A New Org Chart Is Not a Budget CutMoving boxes, changing titles, or putting fewer names on a public-facing chart does n...
10/03/2026

A New Org Chart Is Not a Budget Cut

Moving boxes, changing titles, or putting fewer names on a public-facing chart does not prove that positions disappeared from the budget.

Families are asking for a position-by-position comparison: title, department, FTE, salary range, benefits, and total cost—before and after the reorganization. Show what was eliminated, what was reclassified, what was moved, and what was added.

Transparency means we can follow the dollars, not just the arrows on a chart.

Publish the NumbersTransparency should not require parents to reconstruct a district budget one PDF at a time.Publish an...
10/02/2026

Publish the Numbers

Transparency should not require parents to reconstruct a district budget one PDF at a time.

Publish an easy, regularly updated dashboard showing every administrator role, FTE, salary range, and total cost—next to school vacancies, paraprofessional staffing, therapist staffing, caseloads, and classroom support needs.

Families can handle the truth. Give us the numbers so we can advocate for students with facts.

850 Million in ESSER — Show the LedgerThe Florida Department of Education lists Orange County School Board’s ESSER alloc...
10/01/2026

850 Million in ESSER — Show the Ledger

The Florida Department of Education lists Orange County School Board’s ESSER allocations as:

- ESSER I: **$55,453,118**
- ESSER II: **$244,651,865**
- ARP ESSER: **$550,019,660**
- Total: **$850,124,643**

Families deserve one plain-language, searchable final ledger: every program, contract, position, and measurable result. If emergency funds were meant to help students recover, the public should be able to see what was funded and what changed.

Florida Department of Education ESSER overview:https://www.fldoe.org/core/fileparse.php/20067/urlt/ESSEROverview.pdf

New Model? Show the Net Return.OCPS says every school is now in a cadre overseen by a Principal Leader. That is a major ...
09/30/2026

New Model? Show the Net Return.

OCPS says every school is now in a cadre overseen by a Principal Leader. That is a major governance change. The public deserves more than a new title and a new chart…we deserve the before-and-after return.

Please publish the data:

- Administrator FTE and total cost before vs. after
- School-based support staffing before vs. after
- Parent escalation and response times
- Vacancies and turnover
- Student outcomes, including ESE access and service delivery

If a restructuring improves schools, its results should be easy to see.

OCPS school cadres / Principal Leader model: https://www.ocps.net/find-my-school-cadre

We need teachers—not more administrators.Families deserve a clear, current public picture of district leadership and sta...
09/28/2026

We need teachers—not more administrators.

Families deserve a clear, current public picture of district leadership and staffing decisions, especially while classrooms face vacancies and students go without consistent specialized services.

When the organization chart grows while ESE teacher, therapist, and paraeducator positions remain unfilled, parents have every right to ask: How is this improving services for students?

Our priority must be the people directly teaching and supporting children.

Behavioral support is essential.Students do not need to wait until a crisis to receive help. They need trained staff, pr...
09/27/2026

Behavioral support is essential.

Students do not need to wait until a crisis to receive help. They need trained staff, proactive strategies, consistent routines, sensory and communication supports, data-informed plans, and adults who understand that behavior communicates a need.

When behavioral support is missing, everyone feels the impact—but the student pays the highest price.

Invest in prevention. Invest in trained support. Invest in our children.

Adaptive PE is a service. It is not optional.When adaptive physical education is listed in a student’s IEP, it is part o...
09/27/2026

Adaptive PE is a service. It is not optional.

When adaptive physical education is listed in a student’s IEP, it is part of that child’s educational program. It supports access, participation, motor development, confidence, health, and inclusion with peers.

Students with disabilities deserve meaningful access to movement and physical education—not exclusion because a service is difficult to schedule or staff.

If it is written in the IEP, it matters.

IEP supports follow the student—not the master schedule.A student’s need for a 1:1, small-group instruction, behavioral ...
09/26/2026

IEP supports follow the student—not the master schedule.

A student’s need for a 1:1, small-group instruction, behavioral support, communication support, or a specific accommodation does not disappear because coverage is inconvenient or staffing is tight.

The schedule should be built around students’ individualized needs. Students should not be expected to fit into a system that cannot provide the supports their IEP team determined are necessary.

Individualized means individualized.

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Orlando, FL

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+14077319838

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