CLC - Case 38 Analysis

4/13/2020
RED GROUP
Aleah Ramirez, Jasmine Tolbert, Mae Hughes, Erika Lopez

Part 1: Case Analysis

1. Brief summary of the case:

Nottingham High School serves as the central hub of activity in the com-munity of
Dover. The school was built in the early 1950’s, the school has had some major
renovations done to bring some of the buildings on the campus up to state and federal
standards required to accommodate individuals with disabilities. However, because there
were not enough funds one fourth of the building have not been renovated. The
community is very supportive of the schools. A few years ago, Miguel Hernandez and his
family moved to Dover and Miguel began attending Nottingham High School, Miguel
was considered to be the most talented quarterback at the school since 1960. One night at
a Friday football game a defensive lineman tackled Miguel to the ground and here he lay
motionless, he was then taken to the hospital where his parents were informed that
Miguel was paralyzed. Miguel wanted to go back and finish his high school career at
Nottingham high school before his return his parents Mr. and Mrs. Hernandez made an
appointment with the high school counselor, Ms. Gusman, during this meeting Mr. and
Mrs. Hernandez informed her that Miguel would be using a wheelchair, and, other than
needing access to classrooms, he would not need any additional help. On Miguel’s first
day back, two weeks after the meeting there was an assembly held to welcome him back
to school. At the time of his first period class Miguel was told Ms. Gusman wanted to see
him. When he arrived at her office she informed him that that his schedule had been
changed for his third-period class and that he would no longer be enrolled in biology
because that classroom did not have wheelchair access but he would be enrolled in
another science class that would satisfy his science requirement for graduation but not
necessarily qualify as a college preparatory class. The next day I had a meeting with Mrs.
Hernandez and Mr. Hernandez and Miguel’s attorney. The attorney stated that he was
there to make sure Miguel’s rights were being protected.

2. Identify the issues to be resolved:

Miguel’s schedule was changed without his consultation

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 Miguel’s schedule was changed because the room was not wheelchair accessible
Miguel was scheduled for a class that would not meet his college satisfactory credit

3. Stakeholders involved in the issues:

Miguel
Nottingham High School
Ms. Gusman
Mr. and Mrs. Hernandez
Miguel’s attorney

4. Background information on requirements of the Individuals with Disabilities Education

Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as they relate to free and
appropriate public education:

In order to qualify for section 504 students must have:

 Have a mental or physical limitation or handicap that significantly impacts one or more
essential life activities, like learning, concentration, walking, social interactions,
breathing and diet.
 Provide evidence of the limitation or handicap, such as a doctor's report or some other
type of medical or psychological evaluation.
 Be considered by others to have a significant limitation or handicap and be treated as
such by others.

5. Additional information needed to make decisions:

Additional information needed to make the decision would be the appropriate

documentation from the dr. to create Miguel’s plan.

Know what Miguel’s future school plans are

Know what Miguel’s class schedule is and where the rooms are located for these classes

6. Community resources (5-8) that can be used by school personnel and families in meeting
the needs of students with exceptionalities:

Some other community resources available for school personnel and the families are:

 speech-language pathology and audiology services

 interpreting services
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  psychological services
 physical and occupational therapy
 recreation, including therapeutic recreation
 early identification and assessment of disabilities in children
 counseling services, including rehabilitation counseling
 orientation and mobility services
 medical services for diagnostic or evaluation purposes
 school health services and school nurse services
 social work services in schools

7. Possible solutions to the issues:

Place Miguel in science class that will meet his college requirement
Relocate the class to a different classroom if no other class is offered that is wheel chair
accessible.
Look ever all is classes to make sure this does not happen again

8. One solution recommended by the CLC for students with exceptionalities:

Our group has decided that the best way to go about the solution for dealing with this case for
a student with exceptionalities is to honor their rights to equal education. We have decided that
the school should be responsible for relocating the student’s current class so that they can still
allow the student to attend. It would be reasonable to relocate the class to a different classroom,
if the class is not wheel chair accessible. Asking the student to change their schedule is asking
the student to accommodate the school, when the school should be the ones accommodating the
student.
Part 2: Rationale

Hanson, K.’s A Casebook for School Leaders (2009) details a Case in which a student’s
schedule was changed without consent of the student due to the fact that the classroom in which
the student’s class was to be held was not wheelchair accessible. The student was wheelchair
bound and could not get to the classroom as it was in a room in a building that was older and had
not been renovated to meet wheelchair accessibility. The class he was switched into did not
meet his graduation requirements, and therefore put Miguel back in his success in his educational
journey.

The best way to go about the solution for dealing with this case for a student with
exceptionalities is to honor their rights to equal education. The school should be responsible for
relocating the student’s current class so that they can still allow the student to attend. It would be
reasonable to relocate the class to a different classroom, if the class is not wheel chair accessible.
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Asking the student to change their schedule is asking the student to accommodate the school,
when the school should be the ones accommodating the student.

The Okaloosa County School District ensures that they stand for values of democracy,
equity, and diversity. They have a strong and well-functioning Exceptional Students Education
(ESE) Department that functions in all of the schools in the District to uphold the rights of ESE
students in the county based on their national and state mandated rights. “The Exceptional
Students Education (ESE) Department is part of Student Intervention Services. The department
oversees the implementation of policies and procedures related to Florida statutes or State Board
of Education rules affecting programs for exceptional students, including gifted students.
Specifically, the department works with schools and parents to ensure that students with
disabilities and gifted students receive the appropriate educational opportunities and related
services through the IEP and/or EP process” (Okaloosa County School District (2020)).

In a similar case, Cedar Rapids Community School Dist. v. Garret F. (n.d.), Garret F.
required physical assistance due to his disability, and the school district refused to accommodate
his needs. They insisted that they did not have the means to meet the students’ needs.
Ultimately, the court determined that “if the services in question are "related" to keeping the
child with disabilities in school and able to access educational opportunities available to others
IDEA funded school districts must provide such services” (Oyez (2020)).

In order to promote social justice and ensure that individual student needs inform all aspects
of schooling, the school in this case analysis was in the wrong. There was no need or right for
the school to have the student change their plans in order to accommodate the school. The
school is responsible to meet the needs of the students regardless of their exceptionally in order
for each individual student to be able to get a collaborative, trusting, and effective education set
to uphold high expectations.

Resources:

Okaloosa County School District (2020). Department of Exceptional Students Education.

Retrieved from https://www.okaloosaschools.com/depts/ese

Hanson, K. (2009). A Casebook for School Leaders: Linking the ISLLC Standards to
Effective Practice, Third Edition, Pearson Education, Inc.

Cedar Rapids Community School Dist. v. Garret F. (n.d.). Oyez. Retrieved April 13, 2020,
from https://www.oyez.org/cases/1998/96-1793

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