SECTION 504
PROCEDURES MANUAL

May 2009

Approved in Board Meeting May 2009
For more information contact:
Rebecca Reece
504 Compliance Coordinator
Claiborne County Schools
P.O. Box 179
Tazewell, TN 37879
423/626-8222

504 PROCEDURES --TABLE OF CONTENTS
Definitions

Location and Notification: Child Find

Preplacement Evaluation Required

Free Appropriate Public Education

Referral and Evaluation

Evaluation Procedures and Materials

Multiple Sources of Information Required for Placement

Eligibility

Related Aids Plan and Placement

Educational Setting and Least Restrictive Environment

Nonacademic Services

Periodic Review of Determination Plan and Placement

Reevaluation

Procedural Safeguards (Includes Hearing and Grievance)

• Prior Written Notice and Parent Rights
• Parent Consent

Transfer Students

Student No Longer needs 504 Services

Discipline

• Significant Change of Placement
• 11th Day and Subsequent Removal Periods
• Manifestation Determination Review
• Requirements if Behavior is a Manifestation of Student’s Disability
• If Behavior is Not a Manifestation of Students Disability
• Current Use of Illegal Drugs or Alcohol Exception in Disciplinary Situations
• Smoking

Pre-school and Adult Education

Appendix A- Impartial Hearing and Review Procedures
504 PROCEDURES FOR THE EVALUATION, IDENTIFICATION,
PLACEMENT AND PROVISION OF SERVICES TO STUDENTS
Definitions

Related Aids and Services means specialized instruction, related aids, services, or program modifications needed for a 504 eligible student to access the school environment or school activities (curricular or extracurricular).

The Act or Section 504 means Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended.

Determination Plan means a written document setting out specialized instruction, related aids or services, or program modifications needed to enable the student to access the school environment or school activities.

Adult student means one who has reached the age of majority under state law, has been emancipated by court order, or is, or has been, married.

Applicant for assistance means one who submits an application, request, or plan required to be approved by a Department official or by a recipient as a condition to becoming a recipient.

Assistant Secretary means the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Education.

Department means the U.S. Department of Education.

Disability, Person with- See Handicapped Person in these definitions.

Education of the Handicapped Act means that statute, as amended.

Equal Opportunity means the provision of equally effective aids, benefits, and services.  To be equally effective does not require the identical result or level of achievement for handicapped and nonhandicapped persons, but must afford handicapped persons equal opportunity to obtain the same result, to gain the same benefit, or to reach the same level of achievement, in the most integrated setting appropriate to the person’s needs.

Facility means all or any portion of buildings, structures, equipment, roads, walks, parking lots, or real or personal property or interest in such property.

Federal financial assistance means any grant, loan, contract (other than a procurement contract or a contract of insurance or guaranty), or any other arrangement by which the department provides or otherwise makes available assistance in the form of:

1. Funds;
2. Services of Federal personnel; or
3. Real and personal property or any interest in or use of such property, including:

• Transfers or leases of such property for less than fair market value or for reduced consideration; and
• Proceeds from a subsequent transfer for lease of such property if the federal share of its fair market value is not returned to the Federal Government.

504 Team means a group of persons, including persons knowledgeable about the student, the meaning of the evaluation data and the placement options.  The 504- team is composed of a chairperson, the student’s regular classroom teacher, the parents, and others, as appropriate.  The 504-team reviews the nature of the disability, how it affects the student’s access to the school environment or to school activities, curricular or extracurricular, determines whether specialized instruction, related aids or services, or program modifications are needed and if so, determines the 504 services to be provided.

504 Team Chairperson: The Director, in consultation with the Section 504 District Coordinator, will recommend to the Board for approval a list of 504 team chairpersons by job or position title.

Handicapped person means a person or individual with a disability (The terms are used interchangeably in these procedures) who:

• Has a physical or mental impairment which substantially limits one or more major life activities,
• Has a record of such an impairment, or
• Is regarded as having such an impairment

Physical or mental impairment means:

1. Any physiological disorder or condition, cosmetic disfigurement, or anatomical loss affecting one or more of the following body systems: neurological; muscloskeletal; special sense organs; respiratory, including speech organs; cardiovascular; reproductive, digestive, genitourinary; hemic and lymphatic; skin; and endocrine; or
2. Any mental or psychological disorder, such as mental retardation, organic brain syndrome, emotional or mental illness, and specific learning disabilities.

Has a record of such an impairment means has a history of, has been misclassified as having, a mental or physical impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities.

Is regarded as having an impairment means:

1. Has a physical or mental impairment that does not substantially limit major life activities but that is treated by a recipient as constituting such a limitation;
2. Has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits major life activities only as a result of the attitudes of others toward such impairment.

Current illegal use of drugs exception to definition of disability:

1. In general: The term “individual with a disability” does not include an individual who is currently engaging in the illegal use of drugs, when a covered entity acts on the basis of such use.
1. Current illegal use of drugs means illegal use of drugs that occurred recently enough to justify a reasonable belief that a person’s drug use is current or that continuing use is a real and ongoing problem.  The term illegal use of drugs does not include the use of a drug taken under supervision by a licensed health care professional, or other uses authorized by the Controlled Substances Act or other provisions of federal law.
2. Drug means a controlled substance, as defined in schedules I through V of section 202 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 812).
2. Rules of construction:  Nothing in subsection (A) of this section shall be construed to exclude an individual who:
1. Has successfully completed a supervised drug rehabilitation program and is no longer engaging in the illegal use of drugs, or has otherwise been rehabilitated successfully and is no longer engaging in such use;
2. Is participating in a supervised rehabilitation program and is no longer engaging in such use; or
3. Except that it shall not be a violation of the law for a covered entity to adopt or administer reasonable policies or procedures, including but not limited to drug testing, designed to ensure that an individual described in paragraph (1) or (2) is no longer engaging in the illegal use of drugs; however, nothing in this section shall be constructed to encourage, prohibit, restrict, or authorize the conduction of testing for the illegal use of drugs.
3. Health and drug rehabilitation services: A public entity shall not deny health services, or services provided in connection with drug rehabilitation, to an individual on the basis of that individual’s current illegal use of drugs, if the individual is otherwise entitled to such services.

Major life activities means functions such as caring for one’s self, performing manual tasks, walking, seeing, hearing ,speaking, breathing, learning, and working.

Parent means a natural, or adoptive, parent or a legal guardian of a student.

Placement means any related aids and services that have been determined necessary for a student eligible for 504 services, including the setting (i.e., regular program or other environment) in which services will be delivered.

Qualified handicapped person means:  With respect to public preschool, elementary, secondary, or adult educational services, a handicapped person

• Of an age during which nonhandicapped persons are provided such services,
• Of any age during which it is mandatory under state law to provide such services to handicapped persons, or
• To whom a state is required to provide a free appropriate public education under section 612 of the Education of the Handicapped Act (now IDEA)

Program or activity means all of the operations of the Claiborne County School System.

Recipient means any state or its political subdivision, any instrumentality of a state or its political subdivision, any public or private agency, institution, organization, or other entity, or any person to which Federal financial assistance is extended directly or through another recipient, including any successor, assignee, or transferee of a recipient, but excluding the ultimate beneficiary of the assistance.

Related Services means transportation and such developmental, corrective, or supportive services as are required to assist a 504  eligible student to benefit from specialized education or to access the school environment or school activities (curricular or extra-curricular).

School Day means any day when all students are scheduled to be in attendance for instructional purposes.

Section 504 Coordinator/Compliance Officer means the individual assigned to coordinate the county’s efforts to comply with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.

Student Evaluation means the gathering of data to determine:

• Eligibility for 504 services and
• The needs of eligible students.

Substantially limits means:

• Unable to perform a major life activity that the average person in the general population can perform; or
• Significantly restricted as to the condition, manner or duration under which an individual can perform a particular major life activity as compared to the condition, manner, or duration under which the average person in the general population can perform that same major life activity.

Work Day means Monday through Friday, except for holidays and days when school-based administrative staff are not contracted to work.

Location and Notification: Child Find

The Section 504 Coordinator of the county shall annually:

1. Undertake activities to identify and locate every qualified handicapped person, age three (3) to twenty-one (21), residing in the jurisdiction who is not receiving a public education, or who may need 504 services; and
2. Take appropriate steps to notify handicapped persons and their parents or guardians of the duty under 504.

Preplacement Evaluation Required

The county shall conduct an evaluation of any student who, because of handicap, needs or is believed to need a 504 –determination plan before taking any action with respect to the initial placement of the student in 504 and before any subsequent significant change of placement.

Free Appropriate Public Education
General: The county shall provide a free appropriate public education to each qualified  handicapped person who is in the jurisdiction regardless of the nature or severity of the person’s handicap.

Appropriate education:  The provision of an appropriate education is the provision of regular or specialized education and related aids and service that:

• Are designed to meet individual educational needs of handicapped persons as adequately as the needs of nonhandicapped persons are met and
• 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, as amended, is one means of meeting this standard.

The system 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 the law.  If so, the system remains responsible for ensuring that the requirements of the law are met with respect to any handicapped person so placed or referred.

Free Education:

• General. For the purpose of this section, the provision of a free education is the provision of educationaland related services without cost to the handicapped person or to his or her parents or guardian, except for those fees that are imposed on nonhandicapped persons or their parents or guardians.  It may consist either of the provision of free services or, if the system places a handicapped person or refers such person for aid, benefits, or services not operated or provided by the system as its means of carrying out the requirements of the law, of payment for the costs of the aid, benefits, or services.  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 system places a handicapped person or refers such person for aid, benefits, or services not operated or provided by the system as its means of carrying out the requirements of the law, the system shall ensure that adequate transportation to and from the aid, benefits, or services is provided at no greater cost than would be incurred by the person or his or her parents or guardian if the person were placed in the aid, benefits, or services operated by the system.

• Residential Placement:  If the system determines 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 system has made available, in conformance with the requirements of the law, a free appropriate public education to a handicapped person and the person’s parents or guardian choose to place the person in a private school, the system is not required to pay for the person’s education in the private school.  Disagreements between a parent or guardian and the system regarding whether the system has made a free appropriate public education available or otherwise regarding the question of financial responsibility are subject to due process procedures.  See the 504 Hearing and Review Process.

Referral and Evaluation

A referral may be initiated by a teacher, parent, administrator or other person inside or outside the system.  A SECTION 504 REQUEST FOR SERVICE FORM must be submitted to the school principal or designee, who assists the referring person with the completion of the 504-request for service form.
As soon as possible after the referral is completed, the school 504 team chairperson determines if the student is emancipated , and therefore represents himself in educational decision-making or must be represented by an adult such as a natural, or adoptive, parent, or legal guardian.  The school 504 team chairperson reviews records and may contact state agencies to assist determining the appropriate educational representative of the student or whether the student is emancipated under law.

The school 504-team chairperson schedules the 504-team meeting with the system 504 Coordinator in a timely manner and invites anyone needed.  The school 504-team chairperson notifies parents that they are invited to the meeting to discuss the need for an initial 504 evaluation, in writing, using the SECTION 504 NOTICE OF CONFERENCE.  The 504-team determines whether the student needs 504 services.  If the team determines an evaluation is needed, the team plans the evaluation based upon the type of disability suspected and the type of services the student appears to need.  The evaluation is conducted and must be sufficient to assess:

• The nature and extent of the disability,
• Its effect on major life activities affecting the student’s ability to access the school environment or school activities, and
• Needed accommodations

Collected data from a variety of sources may constitute an evaluation for purposes for Section 504.  Testing may not be required. 

If parents refuse, or revoke, consent of the initial evaluation, the county’s Section 504 Coordinator will schedule a district-level 504 meeting to discuss appropriate follow-up action.

Evaluation Procedures and Materials

The system ensures that :

• 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;
• 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
• 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).

Multiple Sources of Information Required for Placement

In interpreting evaluation data and in making placement decisions. The county shall

• Draw upon information from a variety of sources, including aptitude and achievement tests, teacher recommendations, physical condition, social or cultural background, and adaptive behavior.
• Ensure that information obtained from all such sources is documented and carefully considered,
• Ensure that the placement decision is made by a group of persons, including persons knowledgeable about the student, the meaning of the evaluation data, and the placement options, and
• Ensure that the placement decisions is made in conformity with 34 CFR d104.34.

Eligibility

The 504-team convenes to review information (including input from parents) and evaluation data.  If no additional data (evaluation) is needed, eligibility for 504 services is determined.

To be eligible for a 504-determination plan a student must both:

• Have a current physical or mental impairment and
• The impairment must currently substantially limit learning or some other life activity, which causes the student’s ability to access the school environment or school activities (curricular or extra-curricular) to be substantially limited.

A temporary impairment does not constitute a disability under Section 504 unless its severity is such that it results in a substantial limitation or a major life activity for an extended period of time, so that it substantially limits access to the school environment or to at least one school activity.

If the 504-team determines there is no disabling condition, the student is not eligible for 504 services. If the 504-team determines there is a disabling condition, but the impairment does not currently substantially limit access to the school environment or to an school activity, the student is not eligible for 504 services.

The 504-team will document eligibility on the Determination Plan if the student is eligible for 504 services.  If sufficient information is available to prepare an accommodation plan and determine placement, this may be accomplished at the same meeting in which eligibility for services is determined, as long as the team meets to prepare an accommodation plan and determine placement within 60 school days after the system receipt of written REQUEST FOR SERVICES.

Determination Plan and Placement

If the 504 team determines the student is eligible for 504 services, the team develops a 504-determination plan, which states the specialized instruction, related aids or services, or program modifications needed for curricular or extra-curricular activities, and the placement setting.  The 504-team chairperson documents the consideration on the 504-DETERMINATION PLAN FORM.

An appropriate determination plan for a student eligible under Section 504 may consist of participation in regular classes or programs with needed accommodations.

After the 504-determination plan has been written and the placement setting determined, the school 504-team chairperson shall make the implementers aware of their implementation responsibilities under the 504-determination plan.  The 504-team chairperson must also obtain written parent consent before implementation of the initial 504-determination plan and placement.

If the parents refuse to provide, or revoke, consent for the initial 504-determination plan or the initial placement, the school 504-team chairperson must notify the system Section 504 Coordinator.

Educational Setting and Least Restrictive Environment

• Academic setting: The system shall educate, or shall 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 system shall place a handicapped person in the regular educational environment unless it is demonstrated by the system that the education of the person in the regular environment with the use of supplementary aids and services cannot be achieved satisfactorily.  Whenever the system places a person 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 forth provision of nonacademic and extracurricular services and activities, including meals, recess periods, and the services and activities set forth in 34 CFR d 104.37 (a)(2), the system shall ensure that handicapped persons participate with nonhandicapped persons in such activities and services to the maximum extent appropriate to the needs of the handicapped person in question.

Nonacademic Services

• General
• The system shall 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 system, referrals to agencies, which provide assistance to handicapped persons, and employment of students, including both employment by the system and assistance in making available outside employment.

B.  Counseling services

• If the system provides personal, academic, or vocational counseling, guidance, or placement services to its students it provides these services without discrimination on the basis of handicap.  The system ensures that qualified handicapped students are not counseled toward more restrictive career objectives than are nonhandicapped students with similar interest and abilities.

C.  Physical education and athletics
1.  In providing physical education courses and athletics and similar aid, benefits, or services to any of its students, the system does not discriminate on the basis of handicap.  The system provides qualified handicapped students an equal opportunity for participation in any physical education courses, interscholastic club, or intramural athletics it offers or sponsors.
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