The Akron, Ohio, Metropolitan Area is a fine place to send your children to K-12 school or to attend one of the region's several fine colleges or universities. However, getting any school to recognize and appropriately redress the special needs of a student with disabilities can be a challenge. Schools in and around Akron, Ohio, can have the same uneven record of meeting their federal and state law obligations when it comes to offering disability services and accommodations. And those shortfalls can harm you or your minor student. Retain the Lento Law Firm's premier Student Defense Team to enforce your education disability rights or the rights of your K-12 student with special needs. Call 888.535.3686 now or use our contact form to tell us about your Akron, Ohio, area education disability rights case and for our skilled and experienced help.
Akron, Ohio Area Demographics
The Akron, Ohio, metropolitan area, located in North Central Ohio south of Cleveland and east of Warren and Youngstown, has a population of nearly 700,000. Census officials place Akron at the center of the Cleveland-Akron-Canton Combined Statistical Area, with a total population of over 3.6 million, the most populous in the state. On its own, though, Akron is the seat of one of the major metropolitan areas in the state, along with Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, Toledo, and Dayton. Akron is home to the fifth-largest metropolitan area in Ohio. The median age of Akron area residents is a couple of years older than the national median age, while the median per capita and household incomes are less than the national medians, making the area's population a little older and poorer, although, with housing values at around only 60% of the national median and more married households in the Akron area, households tend to do better economically than nationally, with fewer households in poverty than the national rate. Births are a little higher than the national rate. More Akron area residents hold high school diplomas and college or university degrees than the national average, tending to prove the accessibility of the area's education system.
Akron, Ohio Cities and Towns
The Akron, Ohio Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) includes two counties, Summit County and Portage County. The City of Akron proper has just under 200,000 residents, less than a third of the total population of the Akron MSA. Other cities and towns of significant size in the Akron MSA include Cuyahoga Falls, Stow, Kent, Green, and Barberton, each with more than 25,000 residents, and Aurora, Brimfield Township, Copley Township, Coventry Township, Hudson, Macedonia, New Franklin, Norton, Portage Lakes, Ravenna, Sagamore Hills Township, Springfield Township, Streetsboro, Tallmadge, and Twinsburg, each with more than 10,000 residents. If you or your minor student face education disability rights issues in any of these cities or towns, or any of the Akron, Ohio MSA's other many locations, let our highly qualified attorneys appear, negotiate, and advocate on your or your student's behalf for the best outcome. Don't let educational harm fester. Get the help you need now.
Akron Area Schools
The Akron, Ohio Metropolitan Area's largest school districts include not only the Akron City School District but also the Stow-Munroe Falls City School District, the Cuyahoga Falls City School District, the Barberton City School District, the Woodridge Local School District, the Tallmadge City School District, and the Springfield Local School District. The Akron area boasts many other fine school districts, including the Hudson City School District, the Copley-Fairlawn City School District, the Nordonia Hills City School District, the Twinsburg City School District, the Revere Local School District, the Green Local School District, and the Manchester Local School District. Our skilled and experienced Student Defense Team can help your minor student gain the disability rights and services your student needs in any of these school districts or other districts in the Akron area.
Akron Area Colleges and Universities
Students graduating from high school and wishing to attend college, or adults seeking higher education later in life, have many sound choices in the Akron area. More than a dozen fine colleges and universities serve the Akron, Ohio area. The area's public schools include the University of Akron, Kent State University, Kent State University at Stark, Stark State College, and Cuyahoga Community College, while the area's private schools include Malone University, Walsh University, Hiram College, Stautzenberger College, Bryant & Stratton College, Aultman College, the University of Mount Union, Baldwin Wallace University, Remington College, Ross College, and Fortis College in Cuyahoga Falls. These colleges and universities have their own obligations to comply with federal and state education disability rights laws. Let us help if you are facing issues with your disability accommodations and services.
Disabled Students' Rights Under Ohio Law
Disabled students attending college or the university in the Akron, Ohio area and the parents of disabled K-12 students in and around Akron may usually think of disability rights as a matter of federal laws like the IDEA law or the ADA. But Ohio law offers its own guarantees of special services and accommodations, particularly at the K-12 level, to obtain federal certification that Ohio elementary and secondary schools qualify for substantial federal special education funding. Your Akron area K-12 public school student isn't costing the school district money when asking for disability services and accommodations but is instead simply asking the district to expend federal monies the district collects for that purpose. Ohio's Department of Education & Workforce enacted its state special education regulations, ensuring that federal dollars will remain available for your disabled K-12 student's support. Here is an outline of those Ohio state laws protecting your Akron area K-12 student.
Substantive Rights
The Ohio Administrative Code's education disability regulations are the primary source of your Akron area K-12 public school student's substantive rights to disability services. Our highly qualified attorneys can help you enforce any of the following Ohio law substantive rights for your Akron area K-12 disabled student, among many related rights:
- the school must provide a free appropriate public education (FAPE) to students with or without special needs, under Ohio Administrative Code Section 3301-51-02;
- the school must pursue a child find program identifying disabled students, even if the parents do not speak up for those rights, under Ohio Administrative Code Section 3301-51-03;
- the school must keep student disabilities confidential so as not to embarrass students with special needs or subject them to bias or bullying, under Ohio Administrative Code Section 3301-51-04;
- the school must employ or contract with qualified education disability professionals to evaluate disabled students, under Ohio Administrative Code Section 3301-51-06;
- the school must grant a second evaluation at school cost when parents disagree with the first evaluation, under Ohio Administrative Code Section 3301-51-06;
- the school must adopt and implement an individualized education program (IEP) for every disabled student, under Ohio Administrative Code Section 3301-51-07; and
- the school must purchase equipment, alter facilities, and modify materials to accommodate impairments, under Ohio Administrative Code Section 3301-51-21.
Procedural Protections
Ohio's administrative code does more than simply grant you and your Akron area K-12 student substantive rights to disability services and accommodations. Ohio law also gives our highly qualified attorneys the means to help you enforce those rights, through special procedural safeguards. Let us help you invoke these and other Ohio administrative law procedural safeguards:
- the school must obtain parent consent to evaluate a student for disabilities, under Ohio Administrative Code Section 3301-51-05(C);
- the school must permit parents to examine their student's records of disability services and accommodations, under Ohio Administrative Code Section 3301-51-05(F);
- the school must permit parents to participate in individualized education program (IEP) meetings, under Ohio Administrative Code Section 3301-51-05(F);
- the school must hold an IEP team meeting after parent notice, when wishing to change special education services, under Ohio Administrative Code Section 3301-51-05(H);
- the school must provide a fair dispute resolution procedure to any parent objecting to disability rights determinations, including formal hearing, under Ohio Administrative Code Section 3301-51-05(K); and
- a parent may obtain a court review of the final administrative action for violation of special education rights, under Ohio Administrative Code Section 3301-51-05(K)(16).
Akron Students' Rights Under Federal IDEA Law
The federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) stands behind the above Ohio K-12 public school protections for students with special needs. Our attorneys can help your Akron area K-12 public school student with special needs obtain disability services and accommodations under the federal IDEA law itself, without having to rely on the above state provisions. Here is an outline of those federal IDEA law rights.
The IDEA Law's Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE)
The IDEA law's fundamental obligation is that your student's Akron area K-12 public school provide your special needs student with a free appropriate public education (FAPE). Your student's school must not, in other words, treat your student as second class but must instead provide your student with the same appropriate public education that the school provides to non-disabled students, even if it requires modifying buildings, classrooms, locker rooms, restrooms, playgrounds, furnishings, study materials, or study and exam settings, among other modifications. We can help you enforce those rights.
The IDEA Law's Least Restrictive Environment (LRE)
The IDEA law's second fundamental obligation, after requiring that your student's Akron area K-12 public school provide your student with a free appropriate education, is that the school educates your student in the least restrictive environment (LRE). The IDEA law's LRE requirement addresses the old practice of many schools to segregate and even warehouse disabled students in special (or not so special) rooms, away from non-disabled students, where the disabled students would not get equivalent instruction, activities, and academic, social, and emotional development. Don't let your student's school isolate your student simply because of challenges over accommodating your student's special needs. Get our help.
The IDEA Law's Individualized Education Program (IEP)
Parents of disabled students are generally well aware of the term “IEP,” which stands for individualized education program but is often also called an individualized education plan. The IEP is at the center of your student's disability rights. Let us help you get your Akron area disabled student qualified for an IEP, help get the right IEP in place, and help ensure that your student's school officials implement the IEP for your student's benefit.
Disabled Student Federal ADA Rights
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a separate federal law that applies not only to Akron area K-12 schools but also to the area's public and private colleges and universities receiving federal funding. The ADA is a non-discrimination law prohibiting your college or university or your student's K-12 school from treating you or your student differently because of a qualifying disability. Another federal non-discrimination law, the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, can work together with the ADA to convince the school to provide reasonable accommodations so as not to discriminate against disabled students. Here is an outline of ADA education disability rights.
ADA Qualifying Disabilities
Unlike the broader IDEA law, the ADA protects only those students who can show a qualifying disability. The student must generally come forward claiming a disability rather than waiting for the school to discover it. Under the ADA, a qualifying disability requires “a physical or mental impairment” that must “substantially limit one or more major life activities.” You or your student must show an impairment like the inability to lift, stand, sit, walk, talk, see, hear, or another physical or mental condition. You or your student must also show the impairment's substantial limitation on an activity like thinking, reasoning, remembering, concentrating, or another activity related in some way to learning. Let our highly qualified students help you assess ADA rights.
ADA Reasonable Accommodations
The ADA requires the school to “reasonably accommodate” a qualifying student's disability. Generally, accommodation involves an interactive process between school disability officials and the student until the school has determined the appropriate procedures, devices, materials, furnishings, or facility modifications. Expense, availability, and disruptions can all help determine whether the student's claimed needs are reasonable. We can help you make that showing.
Akron, Ohio Area Education Disability Rights Attorneys
The Lento Law Firm's premier Student Defense Team is available in the Akron, Ohio, Metropolitan Area to negotiate, advocate, and litigate for disability accommodations and other rights. We have helped hundreds of students nationwide with disability rights issues and other school disputes. Call 888.535.3686 now or use our contact form for our highly qualified and skilled representation.
