Homebound Student May Use 504 and the ADA to Challenge School District’s Policy Excluding Him from the Senior Graduation Party and Dance

 In Mowry v. Logan County Board of Education, 58 IDELR 192 (S.D. W. Va. 2012), a West Virginia high school student who was placed on a homebound program due to having Fabry’s disease (a hereditary metabolic disorder) was told if he was “too sick” to attend school, he was “too sick” to attend extracurricular activities [...]

District Discriminated Against Student by Failing to Follow 504 Plan Requiring Weekly E mails and Written Copies of Homework & Lecture Notes

Parents frequently ask which is better enforced: An IEP or a 504 Plan? While the 504 regulations do not specify the detail regarding developing a 504 plan that the IDEA provides regarding IEPs, 504 Plans can be very detailed and can be enforced. For example, in Morris (NJ) School District, 111 LRP 70051 (OCR 2011), the Office [...]

US Department of Education Outlines 15 Principles Regarding the Use of Restraint and Seclusion

Today, the US Department of Education published the Restraint and Seclusion: Resource Document to “help  ensure that schools are safe and healthy environments where all students can learn, develop and participate in instructional programs that promote high levels of academic achievement.” The publication outlines principles for educators, parents, and other stakeholders to consider when developing [...]

Florida Department of Education Required to Pay for Maintaining Specific Unique Assistive Technology Needed for Student to Take State Exams

In Seminole County (FL) School District, 58 IDELR 113 (OCR 2011), the parents of a 5th grade student with cerebral palsy and a visual impairment complained to the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) that the Florida Department of Education failed to provide their daughter with a screen- reading device as an accommodation during a state exam. The [...]

Colorado District’s Failure to Evaluate Student While Implementing RTI Violated 504

In Harrison (CO) School District Two, 57 IDELR 295 (OCR 2011),  the Office for Civil Rights determined that implementing RTI strategies did not offset the school district’s failure to timely evaluate and reevaluate a student with ADHD. The student’s mother enrolled the student in the district for the 2008-09 school year and made it clear the [...]

Senator Harkin Introduces Keeping All Students Safe Act

     Last Friday December 16 2011, Senator Tom Harkin (D. Iowa) introduced the Keeping All Students Safe Act . Similar legislation was introduced last year and passed the House of Representatives, but did not pass the Senate. The purpose of the bill is to: (1) promote the development of effective intervention and prevention practices that do not use [...]

OCR Rules School District Violated 504 by Isolating Special Needs Students in a Portable Classroom

The Office for Civil Rights found  that a Tennessee school district violated Section 504 when it placed 14 middle schoolers with severe disabilities in a self-contained classroom that was housed in two portable buildings outside the main school building. Marion County (TN) School District 11 LRP 59226 (OCR May 2011). The school district had created the Child [...]

Review of The Everyday Guide to Special Education Law in the US Review of Books

  The Everyday Guide to Special Education Law Second Edition by Randy Chapman, Esq. The Legal Center for People with Disabilities and Older People reviewed by Judee L. Spargur “I wrote this book primarily to help students, parents, advocates, and other professionals better understand the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA). The book is meant to [...]

High School Student’s Lack of Effort/Negative Attitude Toward School May Signal Need to Reevaluate and Update 504 Plan

In Ms. H v. Montgomery County Board of Education, 56 IDELR 268 (May 12,2011) a  U.S. District Court in Alabama ruled that the mother of a high school girl with ADHD had stated a claim that her daughter’s frequent tardies, failure to complete work, and refusal to participate in class should have signaled the school district to reevaluate her 504 [...]

Father’s Girlfriend Did Not Have Authority to Cancel Boy’s 504 Plan

     Some cases have more interesting facts than others. In Chicago (IL) Public Schools, 56 IDELR 54 (OCR July 2, 2010), the school district violated Section 504 when it discontinued a sixth-grader’s 504 plan at the request of the father’s girlfriend and without informing the father or conducting an evaluation. The student has ADD and [...]