Got a question, I think I know the answer but need confirmation.
I keep seeing a parent on another board who says a 504 isn’t legally binding and that parents should go for ieps. I understand the iep process and know that you can’t just go insist on one.I am under the impression that the 504 is legally binding, it is just governed differently with less parental safeguards. Am I wrong? I don’t want to try and set things straight unless I know what I am talking about.
Re: 504 question
That, and the IEP can be written to provide very specific services to the child for pre-determined amounts of time per week or month or whatever. In our experience, it’s a more powerful tool when working with the school district, and seems to be harder for the school district to “weasel out of”.
A neighboring suburban school district recently told our friend whose daughter has ADHD and other issues that an “assistance team plan” or if necessary, a “504” would be good enough for her daughter, and after all, [my friend] didn’t want to “label her child for life with an IEP, did she”? How offensive!
That a district would go to such great lengths to avoid an IEP is evidence to me that it is a weightier document with which one can, theoretically, hold the district’s “feet to the fire”.
Re: 504 question
Question is ‘is it a legally binding document?’
I would say yes, especially if you could sue individuals for civil rights violations via non compliance of the 504 plan.
Also the fact that it is written as a contract with parents and school staff putting there signatures on it.
Re: 504 question
See article on this website http://www.ldonline.org/ld_indepth/legal_legislative/edlaw504.html
thanks
That is a great article, I think I had read it sometime in the past and it helps to make sense. I was just bothered by the fact that someone on another website bb was telling folks that it wasn’t a legally binding document, only an iep is, I didn’t believe it was fact but needed to back it up. Thanks again.
Amy
Most of what you have stated is correct. A 504 Plan is a legal document, however, it doesn’t carry as much weight as an IEP. I hope this helps.
Laurie