The U.S. Supreme Court has heard several cases regarding special education. These cases have resulted in decisions that have addressed issues involving special education programming and procedural issues. On March 21, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a unanimous ruling in "Perez v. Sturgis Public Schools." This decision, which was the…

In November of 2019, the National Association of the Deaf and Harvard University entered into a landmark settlement ending four years of legal battles regarding captioning in online content. In that settlement, Harvard agreed to caption new video files consistent with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 AA and to provide text-only…

The process of providing students with disabilities access to an education that is of appropriate quality is still a relatively new endeavor. Students with disabilities benefit from the support of family, educators, and many other professionals addressing the inequality that is faced in school. Ultimately, progress has been achieved from…

Qualified teachers with disabilities are protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). To maintain legal compliance, principals must have an understanding of employment law, but often lack the training to prevent legal liability. This study reviewed litigation on discrimination claims under the ADA and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation…

In 1974, the Education for all Handicapped Protection Act was signed into law by President Gerald Ford. This law which was renamed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in 1990, established a federal entitlement to special education for eligible students with disabilities. In 1982 and again in 2017, the U.S. Supreme Court…

The purpose of this article is to discuss sources of confusion for school district personnel that have resulted in overidentification (i.e., false positives) and underidentification (i.e., false negatives) of 504-only students. The organizing framework for these sources of confusion is the applicable three-pronged legal definition for eligibility…

Students in the present educational landscape are experiencing issues of bullying and harassment at an alarming level. A primary duty of a school administrator is to ensure the safety of all students from the repercussions of unattended to bullying and harassment issues, which has become a significant challenge with the increase in remote…

This brief article addresses the question of whether the Individuals with Disabilities Act or Section 504 and its sister statute, the Americans with Disabilities Act, provides for the liability of special educators and other public school personnel for money damages. The analysis synthesizes the applicable case law under these federal disability…

Suicide rates among teenagers have increased significantly in recent years. The professional literature for public school personnel has been increasingly extensive. Yet, the corresponding coverage of liability case law regarding student suicide has been far from systematic and objective. An article in a legal periodical, written by Zirkel and…

This article argues that business and professional communication practitioners, instructors, and students, besides becoming better informed about the legal context of website accessibility, should also become more aware of the ethical considerations of creating digital communication products that are inherently accessible for people with…

For this seventh article in the series reviewing recent court decisions concerning appropriate school psychology practice from both professional and legal perspectives, consider the summary of the disability-related case below and the questions and answers after it. The disability focus here is specific to the school psychologist, not the…

The results of recent cases indicate that residences and dormitories owned by higher education institutions should be considered "dwellings," and thus subject to the Fair Housing Act. The Fair Housing Act (1968) as amended requires that the providers of dwellings accommodate assistance animals, which includes not only service animals,…

The purpose of this study was to identify the frequency and outcomes of Section 504 and the Americans with Disabilities Act Office for Civil Rights rulings as a result of complaints initiated by students with disabilities against community colleges from 2016-2018. The secondary purpose of this study was to analyze corresponding Office for Civil…

Disruptive students potentially pose significant problems for campus administrators as they strive to maintain a safe campus environment conducive to learning while not violating the legal rights of the students. Maintaining a safe campus is important because increasing numbers of students with mental and cognitive disorders are enrolling in…

Teachers and parents often find special education law complex and confusing. As one step for a basic foundation in special education law, a previous "TEACHING Exceptional Children" article (Zirkel, 2005) provided a snapshot of the "top five case concepts" based on 10 decisions from the Supreme Court. Each of these decisions…