{"id":11292,"date":"2016-08-25T11:12:46","date_gmt":"2016-08-25T15:12:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/?p=11292"},"modified":"2016-09-09T15:18:38","modified_gmt":"2016-09-09T19:18:38","slug":"schools-cannot-deny-equal-participation-in-extracurricular-activities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/schools-cannot-deny-equal-participation-in-extracurricular-activities\/","title":{"rendered":"Schools Cannot Deny Equal Opportunity for Participation in Extracurricular Activities"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_pop\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/gallery\/share-button-gray.png\" style=\"border:0px\" alt=\"Share\" \/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\");var hupso_icon_type = \"labels\";var hupso_background=\"#FFFFFF\";var hupso_border=\"#FFFFFF\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_twitter_via=\"wrightslaw\";var hupso_url=\"\";var hupso_title=\"Schools%20Cannot%20Deny%20Equal%20Opportunity%20for%20Participation%20in%20Extracurricular%20Activities\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div><p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/images\/istock\/boy.band.jpg\" width=\"516\" height=\"347\" \/><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>My son has ADHD and ODD and has an aide during the school day. We have requested numerous times to have aide support for after school activities so he can successfully participate. The school says his educational needs are being met during the school day and that they do not have to address after school extracurricular programs.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>You need to read this Guidance Document from OCR completely.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www2.ed.gov\/about\/offices\/list\/ocr\/letters\/colleague-201301-504.pdf\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Schools\u2019 Obligation to Provide Equal Opportunity to Students with Disabilities to Participate in Extracurricular Athletics<\/span><\/a>, OCR Guidance Document, January 25, 2013.<\/p>\n<p>This document specifically addresses athletics, but the issue is not the type of activity, but access to the activity and denying a student equal opportunity for participation.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>To comply with its obligations under Section 504, a school district must also provide a qualified student with a disability with needed aids and services, if the failure to do so would deny that student an <strong>equal opportunity for participation in extracurricular activities<\/strong> in an integrated manner to the maximum extent appropriate to the needs of the student. <\/em>[page 8]<em><br \/>\n<\/em><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">More about<\/span> DOE Guidance on Legal Obligations for Extracurricular Activities.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Can your child\u2019s IEP include extracurricular activities and after-school programs?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Yes.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>You will find the answer and the legal authority for the answer in the <span style=\"color: #000080;\"><a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/info\/iep.develop.popup.resp9.htm\">Developing Your C<\/a><\/span><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/info\/iep.develop.popup.resp9.htm\">hild&#8217;s IEP<\/a><\/span> (Question #9 in the Pop-Up).<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/store\/aaieps.html\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright\" style=\"border: 1px solid #000000; margin-left: 10px;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/bks\/aaiep\/cover.150x190.jpg\" width=\"130\" height=\"167\" \/><\/a>For more answers, turn to <strong>Chapter 5 \u2013 Related Services, Supplementary Aids &amp; Services in the IEP<\/strong> in <strong><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Wrightslaw: All About IEPs<\/span><\/strong>, page 41.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Have you documented, in writing, your concerns?<\/li>\n<li>Have you documented the numerous requests you\u2019ve made for an aide for extracurricular activities?<\/li>\n<li>Have you documented the school\u2019s response \u2013 \u201cthat they do not have to address afterschool extracurricular programs\u201d \u2013 because it doesn\u2019t meet an educational need?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/?p=4125\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">MN Supreme Court refused \u201cto limit extracurricular and nonacademic activities<\/span><\/a> to those required only to educate the disabled student\u201d because it would be adding or reading words into the plain language of the federal IDEA regulations.<\/p>\n<p>Politely ask the school to help you understand how Sections 300.107 and 300.117 of the Federal Regulations do not apply to your son. You will want to have that in writing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>My son has ADHD and ODD and has an aide during the school day. We have requested numerous times to have aide support for after school activities so he can <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/schools-cannot-deny-equal-participation-in-extracurricular-activities\/\">Continue Reading \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[1075,1299,1297],"class_list":["post-11292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-idea-2004","tag-extracurricular-activities","tag-ieps","tag-section-504"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11292"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11292\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16203,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11292\/revisions\/16203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}