o you have a child who receives special education services in the public school that you think is being discriminated against, due to their disability? Have you been advocating for your child and feel that special education personnel are retaliating against you for your advocacy? Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act gives important protections to you and your child to help stop the discrimination and retaliation.
Section 504 is a federal civil rights law that protects persons with disabilities from discrimination in programs and activities that receive federal funding. The law also prohibits retaliation for protected activities, which includes advocacy. Section 504 does apply to local public school districts, though sometimes schools say it does not.
When many parents hear about Section 504 they only think about Section 504 plans. If a child is found to have a disability, but does not need special education services, the school district may offer a 504 plan. This plan is not as specialized as an IEP and is not appropriate for most children with a disability.
Retaliation for advocacy is considered a protected activity and is not allowed under this law. What types of things could be considered as retaliation for advocacy? Attorneys at IEP meetings, nasty letters, requiring parents to do things not required of other parents, suspending the child to get back at the parent etc. The list could go on and on and is not exclusive! Whatever retaliation looks like to you is all you need to file a complaint.
Complaints under this law can either be sent to your local Office of Civil Rights (OCR) or can be taken to court! Call your states Department of Education for the address for the OCR office in your state.
What is interesting about a Section 504 complaint is that parents can seek remedies to the discrimination which could look like expert witness fees, attorney fees, etc. The specific wording is that a Court may fashion an equitable or affirmative remedy. Expert witness fees are no longer available under IDEA but are available under this law.
Many parents frustrated with the lack of enforcement of IDEA have begun to file many complaints under this law! While there is no time line for an OCR complaint, which may take longer, there is wide latitude for OCR to come up with a plan that could be helpful to children and families.
Someone I know recently filed a lengthy OCR complaint against her school district. She was contacted by OCR and asked if she would be interested in participating in the early complaint resolution process (ECR). She stated that she would, and received an early complaint resolution agreement to resolve the complaint, which she felt was very beneficial to her child. She feels like she was able to get things that she would not get under an IDEA complaint to the State Department of Education!