Parent and Educator Resource Guide to Section 504 in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools

Scenario 11 – Retaliation

Ms. Chen, the mother of a student with a disability, complained privately to the principal that her daughter and other students with disabilities are not receiving an appropriate education at the school. The situation did not improve so Ms. Chen raised the issue with the principal again at a recent Parent Teacher Association meeting in front of other parents and teachers. The following week, Ms. Chen, who had been a helpful and effective classroom volunteer for many months, received a letter from the principal indicating that Ms. Chen can no longer volunteer in her daughter’s classroom. Moreover, the principal offers no explanation for this change in policy in the letter. Ms. Chen asks around and learns that none of the other parent volunteers received a similar letter. May the principal do that?

Denying Ms. Chen the ability to volunteer in her daughter’s classroom would be unlawful retaliation if the school did so because the parent complained to the principal that her daughter was not receiving FAPE (either initially or in front of the Parent Teacher Association). However, if the school did so for a legitimate reason (for example, because the parent was disrupting instruction or endangering students), then the school may not have violated Section 504. The ultimate determination will depend on whether evidence indicates that the school’s actions were based on a legitimate reason for keeping the parent out of the classroom or if the school’s explanation was a pretext (excuse) for retaliation or if retaliation was a motivating factor in addition to the legitimate reason. In this case, the school had no evidence to suggest that Ms. Chen had been, or would likely be, disruptive or dangerous. Therefore, if the school allowed other parents, who did not file a complaint, to continue to volunteer in class, these facts would suggest that forbidding Ms. Chen from volunteering based on concern about disrupting class or endangering students is pretext and that the sole reason for banning her from class was to retaliate because she raised her concerns about services for students with disabilities.