Noah does not speak with his voice.
He speaks with his hands, with the careful shape of signs his family has worked hard to learn, with the urgency in his eyes when something is wrong, and with the full weight of a body that needs constant, skilled attention just to stay safe. At school, at home, in a parking lot — every moment requires one-to-one care. He is nonverbal. He has autism. He also lives with Sensory Processing Disorder, PANDAS, OCD, and Apraxia of Speech. He is fully dependent on others for safety, self-care, managing expectations, and participating in the world around him.
His family has chosen American Sign Language as his primary language. Independent experts have confirmed that a complex electronic communication device is not the right fit for him right now — that pictures and ASL meet him where he actually is. Yet at school the device has been the default, even when its battery dies mid-afternoon and leaves him unable to communicate, even when staff do not know sign, even when the adult assigned to him is observed completing his work, failing to engage him socially, or looking the other way while he tries to swallow a foam block.
Names in this account have been changed to protect the identity of the minor involved.
Noah’s story is not an outlier. It is one more detailed account in a growing pattern of Virginia families of children with disabilities who say the system built to protect their rights is failing them in both the classroom and the hearing room. All Virginia News has repeatedly documented parent testimony across Northern Virginia — in Arlington, in Prince William County, and elsewhere — describing unimplemented plans, institutional deflection, transportation that shortens the school day for disabled students, and a deep distrust of the due process system itself. Independent state reports have already flagged the perception that special education hearing officers rule disproportionately for school divisions and that the process feels biased against parents.
If Virginia’s government continues to treat these converging warnings as routine friction rather than evidence of systemic breakdown, the cost will be measured in lost developmental windows, more federal lawsuits, and children whose most basic need — the ability to communicate and be understood — remains unmet.
It is against this backdrop that Noah’s mother filed a federal civil rights lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.
A Lawsuit Born From Dismissal
On February 13, 2026, Jessica Young, proceeding as next friend for her minor son, filed a First Amended Complaint under Case No. 1:25-cv-02163. The lawsuit names the Prince William County School Board, Hearing Officer Frank Aschmann (in his individual capacity), former Superintendent of Public Instruction Dr. Lisa Coons (in her individual capacity), and the Virginia Department of Education. It seeks review of the hearing officer’s August 26, 2025 order dismissing the family’s due process complaint, along with broader claims that the process itself violated constitutional due process and that the school system denied Noah equal access to education under Section 504 and the Americans with Disabilities Act.
A Child Who Needs Constant, Skilled Support
Noah requires one-to-one support every moment of the school day for safety and participation. His history includes eloping from classrooms. He cannot independently manage all personal care skills. The complaint details a long list of alleged failures: the school initially had no permanent one-to-one aide in place at the start of a school year; speech services were changed from the one-on-one model listed in the IEP to virtual and then group services without clear process; the AAC device regularly lost battery power before the end of the day with no alternative provided; transportation staff did not know ASL and the device was not sent on the bus, leaving Noah unable to communicate during rides; classroom observations showed the aide completing assignments for him and failing to model the device or engage him socially; a safety incident in which Noah tried to swallow a foam block occurred while parents were in the building for an IEP meeting and they were not told until days later; he was denied access to certain programs and rewards systems because staff said they were “not designed for special needs students”; early bus dismissals repeatedly cut short his instructional day; and grades appeared inflated, including A’s in classes such as Pre-Algebra that did not match his actual level of understanding.
Independent evaluations reinforced the family’s concerns. A speech-language and auditory processing evaluation concluded that Noah’s language functioning is roughly at a preschool level and that the complex AAC device is not appropriate. The evaluator recommended focusing on American Sign Language with a proficient interpreter or aide, using simple visual systems, and only later considering a simplified picture-based device if spelling skills develop. A psycho-educational evaluation noted multiple processing difficulties that limit Noah’s availability for learning and observed that mixing the AAC device with inconsistent ASL created confusion rather than clarity.
The family requested administrative transfers. Those requests and the subsequent appeal were denied. They ultimately signed a lease to move into a different school zone in search of better support.
A Hearing That Never Reached the Merits
The due process complaint was filed in June 2025. The hearing officer was appointed days later. What followed, according to the lawsuit, was a series of procedural obstacles: a requirement that all motions be filed by U.S. mail over counsel’s objection; denial of a written pre-hearing order; delayed and limited responses to parent motions; denial of requests for continuance even when counsel had not received mailed documents, expert witnesses were unavailable, and educational records had not been produced; and refusal to schedule a second pre-hearing conference to address recusal and continuance motions. The hearing officer denied the motion to recuse. On the first day of the scheduled hearing the school board handed up a motion to dismiss, which the hearing officer granted. The complaint was dismissed on August 26, 2025.
The family argues this process itself violated their right to a fair and impartial hearing.
Claims That Reach the Classroom and the System
The lawsuit asserts multiple counts. Under the IDEA it seeks reversal of the dismissal and a finding that the school board denied a free appropriate public education, along with compensatory education services. Section 504 claims allege that Noah was denied equally effective instruction and limited in his enjoyment of rights and opportunities available to nondisabled peers — particularly through the lack of consistent, skilled one-to-one support and access to ASL. Title II of the ADA claims assert failure to provide necessary auxiliary aids and services (including ASL-proficient support) and unequal access to the full school day through special education transportation practices. Constitutional claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 target the hearing officer for depriving Noah of an impartial process and the state education officials for maintaining a system that fails to guarantee knowledgeable and unbiased decision-makers.
The family also seeks an injunction requiring the school board to modify its sign language interpreting policy so that students who are not deaf or hard of hearing but who require ASL as their primary mode of communication can receive it.
The Larger Stakes for Virginia
Noah’s case sits inside the same landscape All Virginia News has been documenting: parents standing at school board microphones describing plans that exist on paper but not in practice, transportation that shortens the day for disabled students, and a due process system many no longer trust. State-commissioned reports have already recorded the widespread perception that hearing officers favor school divisions and that the process feels stacked against families. Recommendations for structural reform — including moving the selection and oversight of hearing officers to a more independent entity — have been on the table.
If Virginia’s government continues to leave these problems unaddressed, the consequences will not remain abstract. More families will be forced into federal court. More children who cannot speak with their voices will spend critical years without reliable ways to make themselves understood. Developmental windows will close. Public confidence will erode further. And the Commonwealth will face not only the financial cost of litigation but the deeper cost of having failed children whose only request was the chance to communicate and learn in a language and environment that actually works for them.
Noah still has the capacity to connect, to learn, and to make his needs known — when the adults around him are equipped and willing to meet him there. The lawsuit his mother has filed asks a federal court, and by extension the state of Virginia, whether that basic promise will finally be kept.
Email the School Board at:
Babur B. Lateef, M.D. (Chairman At-Large) blateef@pwcs.edu,
Richard M. Jessie (Vice Chairman, Occoquan District) rjessie@pwcs.edu,
Erica C. Tredinnick (Brentsville District) etredinnick@pwcs.edu,
Lisa A. Zargarpur (Coles District) lzargarpur@pwcs.edu,
Jennifer T. Wall (Gainesville District) jwall@pwcs.edu,
Tracy L. Blake (Neabsco District) tblake@pwcs.edu,
Justin David Wilk (Potomac District) jwilk@pwcs.edu,
Loree Y. Williams (Woodbridge District) lwilliams@pwcs.edu,
