The NYSED Offices of Facilities Planning newsletter features an article on an unnamed School District which “admitted to not evacuating a student in a wheel chair during a building emergency”.
Talk of the Sound readers know this district to be the City School District of New Rochelle.
NYSED says the consent decree from the case “serves as a critical reminder for all schools” and that there are “definitely lessons to be learned from this case—lessons which must be taken seriously.”
The article from the newsletter:
The text from the article from the newsletter:
U.S. Department of Justice: ADA and Evacuation Planning
A New York State school district and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) recently entered into a consent decree whereby the district admitted to not evacuating a student in a wheel chair during a building emergency.
The press release from DOJ read:
Manhattan U.S. Attorney Files And Settles Lawsuit Against XXX School District For Failure To Evacuate Students With Disabilities During School-Wide Evacuation In Violation Of The ADA.
There are definitely lessons to be learned from this case—lessons which must be taken seriously.
The following language from the consent decree serves as a critical reminder for all schools:
The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) “requires that students with disabilities be given the opportunity to participate meaningfully in all programs put in place by their schools—a requirement that applies with particular force to emergency preparedness. There is never an excuse for jeopardizing the safety of any child.”
In this particular case, the DOJ investigation “revealed that the district had failed to maintain evacuation plans for students with disabilities and failed to permit them to participate fully in evacuation drills.”
The following are key points from the consent decree:
- The district shall ensure that students with disabilities are able to meaningfully participate in evacuations—whether actual evacuations or drills.
- Upon the request of any student with any student with a disability, make reasonable modifications to its policies, practices, and procedures concerning the placement of such student in particular classrooms.
- The district shall adopt and implement individualized evacuation plans for all students with disabilities relating to mobility impairments attending the school such that all such students have the opportunity to meaningfully participate in evacuations—whether actual evacuations or drills—conducted by the district.
- The consent decree further requires the district to provide ADA training to all district employees.
There are many resources available to assist school districts with ADA compliance issues at www.ada.gov.
