SECTION 504 COORDINATORS

Under Section 504, each school district is responsible to designate a Section 504 Coordinator. The Superintendent shall designate a Section 504 Coordinator to coordinate the Board of Education's efforts to comply with Section 504. Currently, the District 504 Coordinator is:

Ralph Valenzisi
valenzisir@norwalkps.org
District 504 Coordinator
Norwalk Public Schools
125 East Avenue
Norwalk, CT 06852
203-854-4149

The District 504 Coordinator is responsible for:

• Guiding teams to comply with the 504 process
• Coordinating resources and materials necessary to comply with Section 504 plans
• Assisting teams to understand the legal requirements of the 504 process
• Providing staff and administration training as needed
• Appointing Building Level Section 504 coordinators
• Communicating district wide procedures to staff and parents
• Developing a system of reviewing 504 plans
• Insuring overall compliance with Section 504
• Responding to parent complaints

Each school has a Building Level 504 coordinator.  The building principal is the Building Level Section 504 Coordinator for each school.  The Building Level Section 504 Coordinators are responsible for the following at the building level:

• Guiding parents and students to access the 504 process
• Ensuring timely and accurate completion and issuance of documentation of Section 504 meetings
• Maintaining accurate and complete records of 504 Team meetings and related documentation
• Coordinating and scheduling 504 meetings
• Ensuring the proper composition of the 504 meetings
• Guiding the 504 teams in compliance with Section 504
• Ensuring that parents are provided with their procedural safeguards
• Ensuring that all team members responsible for implementation of the 504 plan are aware of their responsibility for that plan
• Coordinating the transition as a 504 student moves, as applicable, from one Norwalk school to another Norwalk school to ensure the smooth transfer of the student’s 504 information and plan from one school to another

The Building Level Section 504 Coordinator may delegate some of these responsibilities to either a guidance counselor, social worker or administrator in the building.  

The Building Level Coordinator will assign a case manager to each student found eligible under Section 504 and will assign responsibilities to that case manager, including certain daily management of the student’s 504 plan and scheduling of meetings.

Building Level Section 504 Coordinators by School: