Watertown Public Schools

30 Common Street, Watertown MA 02472

Civil Rights

Watertown Public Schools > Human Resources

 

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973
Subpart D


Subpart D applies to preschool, elementary, secondary, and adult education programs or
activities that receive Federal financial assistance and to recipients that operate, or that
receive Federal financial assistance for the operation of, such programs or activities.
A recipient that operates a public elementary or secondary education program or activity
shall annually:

  • Undertake to identify and locate every qualified handicapped person residing
    in the recipient's jurisdiction who is not receiving a public education; and
  • Take appropriate steps to notify handicapped persons and their parents or
    guardians of the recipient's duty under this subpart.


104.33 Free appropriate public education.

(a) General. The School District shall provide a free appropriate public education to each
qualified handicapped person who is in the district’s jurisdiction, regardless of the nature
or severity of the person's handicap.

(b) Appropriate education.

(1) For the purpose of this subpart, the provision of an appropriate education is the provision of regular or special education and related aids and services that (i) are designed to meet individual educational needs of handicapped persons as adequately as the needs of non- handicapped persons are met and (ii) are based upon adherence to procedures that satisfy the requirements

Implementation of an Individualized Education Program developed in accordance with
the Education of the Handicapped Act is one means of meeting the standard

The District may place a handicapped person or refer such a person for aid, benefits, or
services other than those that it operates or provides as its means of carrying out the
requirements of this subpart. If so, it remains responsible for ensuring that the
requirements of this subpart are met with respect to any handicapped person so placed or
referred.


Free education –

General. The provision of educational and related services without cost to the
handicapped person or to his or her parents or guardian, except for those fees that are
imposed on non- handicapped persons or their parents or guardian.


Transportation. If the district places a handicapped person or refers such person for aid,
benefits, or services not operated or provided by the district as its means of carrying out
the requirements of free and appropriate education, the district is required to ensure adequate transportation at no greater cost than would be incurred by the person or his or
her parents or guardian if the person were placed in district.

Residential placement. Parents do not have to pay for public or private residential
placement if it is necessary to provide a free appropriate public education to a
handicapped person because of his or her handicap.

Placement of handicapped persons by parents. The School District is not responsible for
paying for Private School if the student’s parents choose to send that student.

Location and notification.

A recipient that operates a public elementary or secondary education program or activity
shall annually:

(a) Undertake to identify and locate every qualified handicapped person residing in the
District who is not receiving a public education; and


(b) Take appropriate steps to notify handicapped persons and their parents or guardians of
the district’s duty under this subpart.


Free appropriate public education.


General. The district is required to provide a free appropriate public education to each
qualified handicapped person who in the district, regardless of the nature or severity of
the person's handicap.

Appropriate education. (1) The provision of an appropriate education is the provision of
regular or special education and related aids and services that (i) are designed to meet
individual educational needs of handicapped persons as adequately as the needs of nonhandicapped persons are met and (ii) are based upon adherence to procedures that satisfy
the requirements of the law.

Implementation of an Individualized Education Program developed in accordance with
the Education of the Handicapped Act is one means of meeting standards
The district may place a handicapped person or refer such a person for aid, benefits, or
services out of district as its means of carrying out the requirements of this subpart. If so,
the district remains responsible for ensuring that the requirements of this subpart are met
with respect to any handicapped person so placed or referred.

Free education -- (1) General. The provision of a free education is the provision of
educational and related services without cost to the handicapped person or to his or her
parents or guardian, except for those fees that are imposed on non-handicapped persons
or their parents or guardian. It may consist either of the provision of free services or, if a
recipient places a handicapped person or refers such person for aid, benefits, or services not operated or provided by the recipient as its means of carrying out the requirements of
this subpart, of payment for the costs of the aid, benefits, or services. Funds available
from any public or private agency may be used to meet the requirements of this subpart.
Nothing in this section shall be construed to relieve an insurer or similar third party from
an otherwise valid obligation to provide or pay for services provided to a handicapped
person.

Transportation. If the District places a handicapped person or refers such person for out
of district as its means of carrying out the requirements of this subpart, we are responsible
for providing adequate transportation to and from that placement at no greater cost than
would be incurred by the person or his or her parents or guardian if the person were indistrict
Residential placement. If a public or private residential placement is necessary to provide
a free appropriate public education to a handicapped person because of his or her
handicap, the placement, including non-medical care and room and board, shall be
provided at no cost to the person or his or her parents or guardian.

Placement of handicapped persons by parents. If the district conforms to the law and the
student's parents/guardians choose to place that student in a private school, the district is
not obligated to pay for that placement.


Educational setting.


Academic setting. The district must educate, or provide for the education of, each
qualified handicapped person in its jurisdiction with persons who are not handicapped to
the maximum extent appropriate to the needs of the handicapped person. The district is
required to place a handicapped person in the regular educational environment unless it is
demonstrated that the education of the person in the regular environment with the use of
supplementary aids and services cannot be achieved satisfactorily. Whenever the district
places a student in a setting other than the regular educational environment pursuant to
this paragraph, it shall take into account the proximity of the alternate setting to the
person's home.


Nonacademic settings. In providing or arranging for the provision of nonacademic and
extracurricular services and activities, including meals, recess periods, and the services
and activities the district is required to ensure that handicapped persons participate with
non-handicapped persons in such activities and services to the maximum extent
appropriate to the needs of the handicapped person in question.
Comparable facilities. In operating a facility that is identifiable as being for handicapped
persons, the district is required to ensure that the facility and the services and activities
provided therein are comparable to the other facilities, services, and activities of the
recipient.

Evaluation and placement.


Preplacement evaluation. We are required to conduct an evaluation of any person who,
because of handicap, needs or is believed to need special education or related services
before taking any action with respect to the initial placement of the person in regular or
special education and any subsequent significant change in placement.
Evaluation procedures. The district has standards and procedures for the evaluation and
placement of persons who, because of handicap, need or are believed to need special
education or related services which ensure that:


(1) Tests and other evaluation materials have been validated for the specific purpose
for which they are used and are administered by trained personnel in conformance
with the instructions provided by their producer;
(2) Tests and other evaluation materials include those tailored to assess specific areas
of educational need and not merely those which are designed to provide a single
general intelligence quotient; and
(3) Tests are selected and administered so as best to ensure that, when a test is
administered to a student with impaired sensory, manual, or speaking skills, the
test results accurately reflect the student's aptitude or achievement level or
whatever other factor the test purports to measure, rather than reflecting the
student's impaired sensory, manual, or speaking skills (except where those skills
are the factors that the test purports to measure).


Placement procedures. In interpreting evaluation data and in making placement
decisions, we are required to (1) draw upon information from a variety of sources,
including aptitude and achievement tests, teacher recommendations, physical condition,
social or cultural background, and adaptive behavior, (2) establish procedures to ensure
that information obtained from all such sources is documented and carefully considered,
(3) ensure that the placement decision is made by a group of persons, including persons
knowledgeable about the child, the meaning of the evaluation data, and the placement
options, and (4) ensure that the placement decision is made legal.
Reevaluation. A recipient to which this section applies shall establish procedures for
periodic reevaluation of students who have been provided special education and related
services. A reevaluation procedure consistent with the Educatio n for the Handicapped
Act is one means of meeting this requirement.


Procedural safeguards.


A recipient that operates a public elementary or secondary education program or activity
shall establish and implement, with respect to actions regarding the identification,
evaluation, or educational placement of persons who, because of handicap, need or are
believed to need special instruction or related services, a system of procedural safeguards
that includes notice, an opportunity for the parents or guardian of the person to examine
relevant records, an impartial hearing with opportunity for participation by the person's
parents or guardian and representation by counsel, and a review procedure. Compliance
with the procedural safeguards of section 615 of the Education of the Handicapped Act is
one means of meeting this requirement.


Nonacademic services.


General. The District must provide non-academic and extracurricular services and
activities in such manner as is necessary to afford handicapped students an equal
opportunity for participation in such services and activities.


Nonacademic and extracurricular services and activities may include counseling services,
physical recreational athletics, transportation, health services, recreational activities,
special interest groups or clubs sponsored by the recipients, referrals to agencies which
provide assistance to handicapped persons, and employment of students, including both
employment by the recipient and assistance in making available outside employment.


(b) Counseling services. A recipient to which this subpart applies that provides personal,
academic, or vocational counseling, guidance, or placement services to its students shall
provide these services without discrimination on the basis of handicap. The recipient
shall ensure that qualified handicapped students are not counseled toward more restrictive
career objectives than are non handicapped students with similar interests and abilities.
Physical education and athletics. In providing physical education courses and athletics to
any of our students, we do not discriminate on the basis of handicap. In physical
education courses or that operates or sponsors interscholastic, club, or intramural athletics
shall provide to qualified handicapped students an equal opportunity for participation.
We may offer to handicapped students physical education and athletic activities that are
separate or different from those offered to non handicapped students only if separation or
differentiation is consistent with the requirements of the law and only if no qualified
handicapped student is denied the opportunity to compete for teams or to participate in
courses that are not separate or different.


Preschool and adult education.
The district provides preschool education and may not, on the basis of handicap, exclude
qualified handicapped persons and shall take into account the needs of such persons in
determining the aid, benefits, or services to be provided.


No Child Left Behind Act, 2002

 

Updated February 2008