Section 504
Section 504 of the Federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973 ( Section 504) provides: “No otherwise qualified individual with a disability in the United States…. shall, solely by reason of her or his disability, be excluded from the participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance."
Section 504 is a federal anti-discrimination statute which protects the rights of individuals with disabilities in programs and activities that receive federal financial assistance, including public schools.
Section 504 protects all persons who:
- have a physical or mental impairment which substantially limits one or more major life activities
- have a record of such an impairment, or
- are regarded as having such an impairment
Section 504 requires a school district to provide a free appropriate public education (FAPE) to each qualified student with a disability, regardless of the nature or severity of the disability. Under 504, FAPE is defined as regular or special education and related services that are designed to meet the student’s individual needs as adequately as the needs of non-disabled students are met. In addition, a student with a disability, as defined by Section 504, is entitled to receive an equal opportunity to participate in athletics and extracurricular activities.
The Office of Civil Rights (OCR) is a component of the United States Department of Education. OCR enforces Section 504. Its role includes receiving complaints from parents and students, conducting compliance reviews and providing technical assistance to parents, school districts and schools upon request. It is important to note that in general, OCR does not review educational decisions so long as the school district complies with Section 504’s procedural requirements.
NPS Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act Manual
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.
The District 504 Coordinator is:
Ralph Valenzisi - valenzisir@norwalkps.org
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
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.