Students’ rights & responsibilities

o Entitled to have an IEP

o Entitled to receive their education in the

o
least restrictive environment (LRE)
Right to know what the rules are
NEED MORE INFO?
beforehand
o Right to challenge a rule (informally with
the principal or formally at a
superintendent’s hearing)

Teacher’s rights & responsibilities

o Equal Protection Clause of the 14th
Amendment
o Right to teach free from free of frivolous
lawsuits, including the right to qualified
immunity and to a legal defense
o Right to remove any persistently
disruptive student from their classroom
when the student’s behavior prevents the
orderly instruction of other students
o Right to complete only paperwork that is
no excessively burdensome and that, if
required by law or regulation, adheres to
the law or regulation and does not result
in overly cumbersome interpretations of
that law or regulation.  Understood.org
 Wrightslaw.com
 Parentcenterhub.org
 NEA.org
 ADA.gov
 ADATA.org

KNOW YOUR RIGHTS

By Allison Hunter
The rights of students with special needs stems
from 3 important federal laws regarding
disabilities:
IDEA, Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act
• Students with disabilities have the
right to have an IEP, or an individual
education plan. Which may provide
your student with accommodations
and modifications to help them
succeed in public school.
• All students have the right to a free
and appropriate public education
(FAPE).
• All students have the right to an
appropriate evaluation.
• Parents have the right to equal
participation in this process, are
entitled to notification of planned
evaluation, access to planning and
evaluation materials, and
involvement in all meetings
regarding their child’s placement.
Section 504
• A civil rights law that protects
individuals with disabilities from
discrimination for reasons related to
their disabilities.
• Covers students who have a
disability, but do not require special
education services,
• To quality, a student must have a
physical or mental impairment that
substantially limits at least 1 major
life activity.
• If a student has a 504 plan, the child
may remain in the regular classroom.
• A 504 student has fewer protections
than a student who received special
education services under the IDEA.
• But a student who does receive SPED
services under IDEA is automatically
protected under Section 504 as well.
• Under Section 504, students are
entitled to accommodations and
modifications.
ADA: AMERICANS WITH
DISABILITIES ACT
• Title 1: employment. People with
disabilities will have access to the same
employment opportunities as people w/o
disabilities
• Title 2: Public services: state and local
government. Requires public entities,
including transportation services, to make
their programs, services and activities
accessible to individuals with disabilities
• Title 3: Public accommodations and
services operated by private entities.
Directs business to make “reasonable
modifications” to their usual ways of doing
things when serving people with
disabilities.
• Title 4: telecommunications. Requires
closed captioning of e4federally funded
public service announcements, requires
telephone and internet companies to
provide a nationwide system of interstate
and intrastate telecommunications relay
services that allows individuals with
hearing or speech disabilities to
communicate over the telephone.
• Title 5: miscellaneous provisions. Contains
a variety of provisions relating to the ADA
as a whole, including its relationship to
other laws, state immunity, its impact on
insurance providers and benefits,
prohibition against retaliation and coercion,
illegal use of drugs, and attorney’s fees.