MAKING A DIFFERENCE through education advocacy

Imagine your child not receiving the necessary resources and support in order to be successful in public school. Imagine also that your child is experiencing academic, behavioral, or social concerns at school due to a lack of understanding of their needs. What if you, or even the school staff, weren’t aware of your student’s rights or what accommodations may help to address the concerns?

Children’s Law Center (CLC), through our Education Advocacy Program (EAP), is working to educate families in Forsyth County about their rights in public education and support them in their advocacy efforts. EAP provides an Education Advocacy Community Workshop to each new cohort of parents and guardians involved in The Parenting Path’s Knock-Out Program.

After EAP’s most recent Knock-Out Workshop, we were contacted by a parent attendee who was able to immediately put the knowledge she gained from the workshop to use. Her son has a Section 504 Plan, which provides students with disabilities accommodations and modifications at school and gives students additional protections related to school discipline. He was given 4-days of out-of-school suspension, which brought him to 11 total days of out-of-school suspension this school year. Because she attended the community workshop, she knew that because her son had a Section 504 Plan and had been suspended for more than 10 total school days this school year, he was now entitled to a Manifestation Determination Review (MDR) meeting. The purpose of an MDR meeting is to determine whether the conduct that led to the student’s suspension was caused by, or had a direct relationship to, the student’s disability. If so, the suspension must end, and the student must be allowed to return to school.

This parent immediately reached out to the school to make the request for an MDR meeting to determine whether her son’s disability was directly related to the incident. She was told by the school that they “only conduct MDR meetings for IEPs [Individualized Education Programs], not Section 504 Plans.” Armed with knowledge, confidence, and advocacy tools from the workshop, she knew that was inaccurate, and she pushed back. After she shared that MDRs apply to students with Section 504 Plans as well, the school agreed the MDR meeting should be scheduled.

She then contacted CLC for additional support. Our EAP team was able to work collaboratively with the school district to address the concerns. As a result, the student was allowed to return to school the following day. In fact, the student’s educational record was amended to formally shorten the suspension. In addition, the student is now being evaluated to determine whether additional accommodations, modifications, and specially designed instruction may be necessary for this student to have equal access to his education.

The knowledge this parent gained from the workshop gave her the confidence to advocate effectively for her student. It resulted in the student being allowed back to school as well as receiving necessary evaluations for the additional support he needs to be successful. Fortunately, this is a story of success and of hope. How many other children in a similar circumstance would benefit from their families being educated about their student’s rights? Make a difference today!

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