SPECIAL REPORT: Complying with disability laws

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SPECIAL REPORT: Complying with disability laws

http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/news.apx.-content-articles-RTD-2008-01-

20-0230.html

Beatty, 12, arrives home, assisted by mother Vicki Beatty

(right) and bus driver Joyce Lipscomb. He cannot attend Richmond's

Fox Elementary School because it is not in compliance with the

federal Americans with Disabilities Act.

Federal guidelines

Under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and the Americans with

Disabilities Act, public schools, like other public entities, must

ensure that people with disabilities are not excluded from services,

programs and activities because buildings are inaccessible.

Schools do not have to remove physical barriers as long as they can

fully accommodate the individual in an existing facility.

However, in some cases, older schools have to be renovated to ensure

access not only for students but for staff and visitors entering the

school.

The U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights is

responsible for enforcing ADA compliance and investigating

complaints filed against schools.

The ADA Accessibility Guidelines for Buildings and Facilities

includes specifications for, among other items:

minimum width, length and the slope of ramps; the height of Braille

indicators in hallways and elevators and the size of the characters;

door and threshold width; spout height and location on water

fountains; and door hardware, such as latches, locks and pulls.

How to file a complaint

Contact the Education Department's Office of Civil Rights:

You may call the national headquarters at (800) 421-3481 or the

Virginia office at (202) 786-0500

Send an e-mail to ocr@.... There's also an online complaint form

that can be found at

www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/complaintintro.html When

submitting a complaint, include: the complainant's name, address

and, if possible, a telephone number where the complainant may be

reached during business hours; information about the person or

people injured by the alleged discriminatory acts, but their names

are not required; the name and location of the institution that

committed the alleged discriminatory act or acts; and a description

of the alleged discriminatory acts in sufficient detail to enable

the Office of Civil Rights to understand what occurred, when it

occurred and the basis for the alleged discrimination, such as race,

color, national origin, sex, disability or age.

Beatty should attend Fox Elementary -- the school his

brother and his neighbors attend -- a few blocks from his Richmond

home. But there are five steps to the Fan District school's front

door. Children must go to the second floor for assemblies and to the

basement for lunch. There's no elevator.

And needs a walker.

Federal law says he is supposed to be able to get into school. But

unless someone complains, nobody enforces that law. And when people

complain -- even if they win a settlement, as Richmond parents

including ' did -- there's no guarantee things will be fixed.

Cost is a big deterrent.

So , a 12-year-old fourth-grader, goes to B. Cary

Elementary, away from his brother and friends.

Nearly every school in Richmond remains out of compliance with the

federal Americans with Disabilities Act, two years after the

Richmond public school system settled a multimillion-dollar lawsuit

by parents with a promise to fix the problem.

Other school districts in the Richmond and Tri-Cities region say

people with disabilities can get into their buildings and

participate in their programs, as the 17year-old ADA demands.

The U.S. Department of Education says it received only two

complaints in Virginia in the past year and a half. Both were from

Henrico County, and only one involved building accessibility. In

that case, involving parking spaces, the department found no

violation.

All new schools comply with the act, and older schools are renovated

as needed, Henrico schools spokesman Mychael Dickerson said.

It's not a trivial issue, parents and advocates say.

" When you're left outside the building and you can't get up the

stairs, what's happening is you are being excluded, " said Fred

Orelove, executive director of the Partnership for People with

Disabilities.

" Getting inside a school doesn't mean you'll be a great learner, but

being kept out pretty much guarantees you won't. "

In a way, complying with the law is easier in the suburbs. Many

suburban schools built in the past several decades are one-story

buildings, and school officials with little fuss have installed

ramps for entrance steps, accessible bathrooms and handicap parking.

" We have a book on compliance concerns, and as we do our inspections

we try to identify areas needing attention, " said

Szalankiewicz, director of facilities for Louisa County's

schools. " Staff and community members also provide their thoughts

and concerns. "

The response in Richmond has been different.

" I really want to teach in Richmond, " said Bayard, 47, who has

had three interviews at schools with teacher shortages and a quiet

word from a human-resources official that it might be tough for him

to work because of his wheelchair. He still hopes for a job in a

system where he had been a volunteer and PTA president for years.

" I went through sleet and hail and snow to go to school, " he said,

referring to his graduating in 2006 from Virginia Union University

with a bachelor's degree. " It's frustrating because I know how easy

it is to overcome things. It's not impossible. "

Despite a 1992 study outlining problems in almost every Richmond

school, officials did little to fix problems, and then only when

parents complained, said School Board member Carol A.O. Wolf. She

says that is outrageous, and she has pushed for years to get the

school system to address the issue.

But finding cash to make improvements is tough, said the school

system's ADA coordinator, Aisha Shamburger.

So two years after the School Board settled a 2005 lawsuit that

Beatty's mother, Vicki, and other parents filed to force the

system to obey the law, 50 of 55 schools don't meet ADA standards,

school officials admit. Mayor L. Wilder, named in the suit,

didn't settle and argues it is up to the School Board to fix the

problem.

City officials this month froze the $311,806 the Wilder

administration and City Council agreed would fund ADA-related

improvements this year, as Wilder and the board continue feuding

over money.

The school system used most but not all of the $565,000 set aside

for ADA projects in the 2004-05 school year, said Lynn Bragga, the

budget director for the school system.

The money was designated to pay for an elevator at Ginter Park

Elementary School and design for a project at Fox Elementary, but it

was diverted to pay for other, smaller ADA projects. There is about

$44,000 left, Bragga said.

The elevator at Fox to help students with disabilities get to the

school's second-floor auditorium and its basement cafeteria remains

uninstalled -- it was scheduled to be done last year.

Access for people with disabilities is a problem no one really wants

to accept responsibility for, according to many parents in and out

of the city.

" There's no room for her in her classroom. She walks with a walker,

and it can't fit, " Chesterfield County resident Mauretta Copeland

said of her 10-year-old daughter. It means her daughter needs to

hang on to an aide to move around the classroom, undercutting the

sense of independence and self-reliance Copeland is trying to teach

her.

It's a special classroom -- Copeland is still battling with the

school for her daughter to get reading, arithmetic and other

academic classes.

" It's funny, the special classrooms are always tucked 'way in the

back,' " Copeland said. " It's like nobody wants to see. "

Jim Bradshaw, spokesman for the U.S. Department of Education's

Office of Civil Rights, the agency designated to enforce ADA in the

schools, said enforcement is primarily driven by complaints.

The state Department of Education does not monitor whether schools

are accessible, except for high schools participating in a federally

funded vocational education program.

School administrators say enforcement is pretty much on an honor

system and that fixes often come at the request of parents or other

community members.

That is why there is a wheelchair lift for the high school stage in

Hopewell, said Ray , assistant superintendent in Hopewell. It

cost more than $6,000.

There is only one classroom in Hopewell, for a high school English

class, that is on the second floor, and if accessibility were an

issue, said the class would be moved.

New Kent County Superintendent J. Roy Geiger II noted that in his

school system, " there's still some work that we do time to time to

continue work in those areas, but we believe we're in good shape. "

King County Superintendent Mark R. said recent

renovations made all the county's schools accessible. There are

ramps for all steps in the single-story schools, as well as handicap

parking, he said.

At a heated Richmond School Board meeting last month, one of the

lawyers representing Beatty and other parents who sued the school

system said ADA projects should be a priority.

They said those projects should have been included in the school

construction and renovation plan the board prepared for the City

Council. The council wanted that plan as it considers a $169 million

school construction budget for the five years beginning July 1. The

board, meanwhile, has asked board member Wolf to look into finding

funds for ADA compliance.

It can be a fight to let children with disabilities have more access

to schools, but the battle is worth it, said Chesterfield resident

Peers.

It took years of arguing to get her 10-year-old daughter, Molly, who

uses a wheelchair and a communications device, into a regular third-

grade class at Swift Creek Elementary School.

" I think she's teaching them a lot -- they look differently at her

now, " Peers said.

" It's: Wow, she really can do that. It's: Wow, Molly's right there

in her wheelchair hanging out with all the other kids. "