- Sample Request for 504 Evaluation
- Sample Request for Initial IEP Evaluation
- What To Know When Seeking Documentation From Medical Providers For The School
- School Discrimination Complaints
- Sample Letter of Complaint to the School
SAMPLE REQUEST FOR 504 EVALUATION
(Date)
Dear 504 Coordinator/Principal:
I am writing to request a meeting to discuss the development and implementation of a 504 Plan for my child, (CHILD’s NAME). They are diagnosed with (DIAGNOSIS) and will need accommodations at school including the following: (LIST NEEDED ACCOMMODATIONS/MODIFICATIONS)
Please provide me with three possible meeting dates/times when you can have all of the appropriate individuals in attendance. I look forward to hearing from you no later than 5 business days from the date of this letter with a response. Thank you in advance for your support.
Kind regards,
(For assistance on better understanding Section 504 and your student’s right to services, please reach out to Disability Advocacy Solutions.)
SAMPLE REQUEST FOR INITIAL IEP EVALUATION
(DATE)
Dear IEP Director/Principal:
I would like to request an educational evaluation for my child, (CHILD’S NAME). My child is (diagnosed with XXX or having XXX concerning issues), and I believe this disability has an impact on their education.
I understand I may need to sign a consent form so the school can conduct the evaluation and am willing to sign for consent. However, I do not want the process to be delayed and request that the timeline for evaluation start without delay.
Please provide me with three possible meeting dates/times when all of the appropriate individuals for an IEP team can be in attendance. I look forward to hearing from you no later than 5 business days from the date of this letter with a response. Thank you in advance for your support.
Kind regards,
(For assistance on better understanding Section 504 and your student’s right to services, please reach out to Disability Advocacy Solutions.)
What To Know When Seeking Documentation From Medical Providers For The School
Medical professionals play a vital role in assisting their patients in accessing education related modifications, aids, and services. Without clear documentation from the medical provider, schools often do not have confirmation of diagnoses and a clear understanding of how to best serve their students with disabilities. Medical information provided by the child’s physician is typically the most significant documentation that is considered for Section 504 Plan and IEP eligibility.
When writing letters for parents/guardians to give to the school for eligibility purposes, it is important that every possible impact of the disability is included in the documentation. Medical professionals should consider their patient’s worst day and side effects to prescribed treatment and include all of this information in their documentation to the school. Schools are required to assess students without consideration of mitigating measures that alleviate signs and symptoms of diagnoses. Mitigating measures are those things that patients use to manage their diagnosis, i.e., wheelchairs, medication, feeding pump, therapy, assistive devices, sensory tools, etc. Without medical input as to what the student’s most unstable state looks like, schools have significant difficulty in writing appropriate plans.
In correspondence to the school, medical professionals should consider including the following:
Diagnoses
Medications
Medical equipment the student uses
Orders for the school nurse
Modifications, accommodations, and services the student might need based on the diagnosis
School nurses and treating physicians may be able to communicate about a shared patient without violating HIPAA and FERPA laws. Here are the important things to know:
- HIPAA allows healthcare providers to disclose Protected Health Information (PHI) to school nurses or other healthcare providers for treatment purposes without obtaining authorization.
- FERPA does not allow school nurses to share Personally Identifiable Information (PII) with a student’s physician without written consent from the parent/guardian/student unless there is a specific and significant threat to the student’s health and safety, or if the school is only verifying information sent by the physician.
(For assistance on better understanding Section 504 and your student’s right to services, please reach out to Disability Advocacy Solutions.)
SCHOOL DISCRIMINATION COMPLAINTS
If you believe a school has discriminated or retaliated against you or your child because of a disability, you should consider filing a complaint. There are several ways to do this:
- File the complaint with the school district’s Section 504/Title II Coordinator. Public schools and universities (public and private) with more than 50 employees are required to have someone in this position.
This is also a situation where a non-attorney advocate can be of assistance. Please reach out to Disability Advocacy Solutions for assistance.
- If the school refuses to evaluate your student, refuses to include things you believe need to be in a Section 504 Plan or IEP, or removes things from the plan that you believe should be included, follow your due process rights. The school is required to provide you a copy of these rights. In this situation, having an attorney is helpful and can sometimes be done without cost to you. When a special education attorney is hired to go through due process with a client, they are often paid by the school district after the situation is resolved.
If you would like to first try to resolve this sort of issue without an attorney, consider using a non-attorney advocate to assist in resolving the conflict. Please reach out to Disability Advocacy Solutions for assistance.
- In the past, if the school was not following the 504 Plan or IEP as it is written, is treating you or your child differently because of their disability, is not reacting when other students bully your student who has a disability, changed the student’s placement or disciplined them by changing their placement for more than 10 days without this decision coming from the Section 504/IEP Team, or retaliated against you/the student because you advocated for their needs as a disabled person, you could file a complaint with the US Department of Education (ED) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and hope for an investigation, mediation, or another form of rapid resolution. Unfortunately, OCR has recently experienced mass terminations of their already unstaffed enforcement staff, and there are very few employees left at OCR nationwide.
There is no mechanism in place to take over this civil law enforcement within education systems. However, the laws to protect students are still in place.
At this time, we believe it is still valuable to encourage families to file complaints with OCR. While you may never receive a response, it is our hope that the systems in place will keep tracking the data coming in, and without accurate data, it will be impossible to rebuild better. https://www.ed.gov/laws-and-policy/civil-rights-laws/file-complaint
This is also a situation where a non-attorney advocate can be of assistance. Please reach out to Disability Advocacy Solutions for assistance.
SAMPLE LETTER OF COMPLAINT TO THE SCHOOL
(DATE)
Dear (TEACHER, PRINCIPAL, 504 COORDINATOR, and/or IEP COORDINATOR):
I am writing to file a disability discrimination complaint. Please respond as soon as possible acknowledging receipt of this letter.
My child, (NAME), is in (GRADE) at (SCHOOL NAME) and has a (Section 504 Plan/ IEP).
On (DATE) at (LOCATION), my child/I was:
- Discriminated against when the following provisions from their 504 Plan/IEP were not followed: (list which things from the plan were not implemented)
- Treated differently when (describe)
- Bullied and experienced disability harassment by (name the students) when those students (describe)
For more information on this, see: https://www.ed.gov/laws-and-policy/civil-rights-laws/disability-discrimination/disability-discrimination-key-issues/disability-discrimination-bullying-and-harassment
- Restrained/secluded by (NAME)
- Moved to a different placement without the input of the 504/IEP Team
- Denied a due process hearing with an INDEPENDENT decision-maker, NOT employed by the school district
- Denied appropriate response to a complaint I already filed about disability discrimination
- Retaliated against by the district when they (describe) after I advocated for their rights as a disabled student
- Discriminated against under ADA Title II because the (name place) is not (describe). Examples of this include inaccessible physical spaces, refused effective communication (such as ASL, written communication, plain language, etc.) needed due to a disability, non-compliant parking, inaccessible playground, inaccessible website, refusal to provide verbal communication to those who can’t read printed materials, etc.
For letters regarding disabled students: I request that a meeting of the IEP/504 team take place as quickly as possible to resolve this issue for my child. I am available on the following days and times: (list 3, if possible).
Or
For letters regarding disabled family members: This serves as a formal complaint, and I request a response from the District ADA Title II/ Section 504 Coordinator in order to provide more details of my complaint as soon as possible. I can be reached at (XXX)000-1111.
Please acknowledge receipt of this email by close of business tomorrow. I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Kind regards,
For assistance on better understanding Section 504 and your student’s right to services, please reach out to Disability Advocacy Solutions.
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