Notification of Right to Appeal
Parents/guardians or school personnel who disagree with the decision of the Identification/Placement Committee may contact the school’s principal to set up a conference to review the decision. Contact must be made within ten (10) instructional days of notification of the decision made by the Identification/Placement Committee.

If at the end of this meeting the appealing party still wishes to appeal the decision, s/he must request, in writing, the convening of the Culpeper County Schools’ Appeal Committee.  Such a written request is made to the gifted education program coordinator within five (5) instructional days from the conference with the principal. Upon receiving the written request for an appeal, the appeal process is initiated. The Culpeper County Schools’ Appeal Committee will convene within forty-five (45) instructional days of the gifted education program coordinator receiving the written request for an appeal.

The steps of the appeal process are as follows

1. The Culpeper County Schools’ Appeal Committee meets as needed.

2. This committee includes the gifted education program coordinator, a gifted specialist, a school counselor, a school psychologist, and one administrator. None of the members of the Appeal Committee, except the gifted education program coordinator, who acts as the chairperson, will have participated in the original school-level Identification/Placement Committee.

3. The gifted education program coordinator notifies in writing the party making the appeal (parents/guardians or school personnel) regarding the date, time, location of the meeting, and the format of the appeal meeting. This notification is sent a minimum of two (2) weeks prior to the meeting. The party making the appeal has the opportunity to attend the meeting to establish the purpose of the appeal and to answer any questions posed by the committee members.

4. If additional assessment data is deemed necessary by the Appeal Committee in determining identification or placement of the student, the gifted education program coordinator obtains written permission for the testing from the parents/guardians.

5. During the Appeal Committee meeting, the party making the appeal has a maximum of ten (10) minutes to state the reason for the appeal. The party making the appeal may present data from sources outside the school division. If additional standardized testing is done by school sources, this data is presented by the school psychologist to the committee. Committee members may ask questions for a maximum of twenty (20) minutes of the party making the appeal. At the end of thirty minutes, the party making the appeal is asked to leave the meeting.

6. The Appeal Committee analyzes the original Student Identification Profile Form, additional assessment data, and data presented by the party making the appeal to determine a decision. The Committee uses consensus to determine a decision.

7. The Appeal Committee’s decision is recorded on the Appeal Committee Form and placed in the student’s profile folder within his/her educational record.

8. The parents/guardians and the school are notified in writing within seven (7) instructional days of the decision of the Appeal Committee.

9. All appeals must be completed within forty-five (45) instructional days from the time the gifted education program coordinator receives the written request for an appeal.

10. If the decision of the Appeal Committee is challenged, a written appeal may be made to the executive director of curriculum and instruction within ten (10) instructional days of the parents/guardians or school personnel receiving the notification of Appeal Committee’s decision. The executive director of curriculum and instruction will review the decision and either uphold or overturn it. Notification of the director’s decision will be submitted in writing to the appealing party within seven (7) instructional days of receiving the appeal. This is the final step of the appeal process.