An Administrator's Guide to California Private School Law

Chapter 9 – Interactive Process: Employees and Students

A school does not have to provide an accommodation that will fundamentally alter the nature of the academic program. An accommodation fundamentally alters the nature of the academic program if it provides the student with unfair advantage or requires a school to lower its academic standards. 1640 For example, in Profita v. The Regents of the University of Colorado , the court determined that the accommodation requested by the student was unreasonable because it would have fundamentally altered the nature of the university’s academic program. 1641 Taylor Profita was enrolled at the University of Colorado medical school. He was dismissed after he failed two required clinical rotations. He had been given an opportunity to re-take one of the rotations after a brief leave for mental health, but he failed it a second time. Profita claimed his failures were due to untreated mental health conditions (depression and anxiety), for which he later sought treatment. He wanted to be readmitted to the program with full credit for all work he had performed before the rotations he failed. The university said he must re-apply as a new student. The court agreed with the university, determining that it had no retroactive obligation under the ADA to readmit him as an accommodation. A qualified individual under the ADA is one who can meet the essential requirements for the program with or without reasonable accommodation. The ADA does not require that a disabled person be given a greater opportunity for reinstatement than another student who was dismissed. The university required all dismissed students to reapply, and it was within its rights to require the same of Profita. Wisner v. Touro College is another example in which the court found the accommodation requested by the student was unreasonable because it would have fundamentally altered the academic program. 1642 Barbara Wisner was enrolled in the Touro College Osteopathic Medicine Program. She underwent back surgery, and requested as a reasonable accommodation that she receive a year off to recover. During that year, she asked if she could audit classes. The college granted her requests. Within weeks of beginning her leave, Wisner asked that she be able to take exams in the classes she was auditing and receive credit. The college declined this request and said she could certainly take the exams, but could not receive credit if she was auditing the class. Wisner then argued that the college should grant her more than the six years allowed to complete all requirements due to her extended leave. The college disagreed, stating that the six year requirement was based on the accrediting body, so the college had to abide by those standards. The college argued that it fulfilled that duty by granting Wismer’s request to take time off to recover and audit classes in the meantime. The court agreed with the college, holding that the college fulfilled its requirements under the ADA by granting Wisner the accommodations she originally requested, which were a one year absence and the right to audit classes. The college was not obligated to extend the six year deadline, because doing so would fundamentally alter the standards of the Osteopathic program. A school also does not have to provide an accommodation if it creates an undue burden. Whether an accommodation will cause an undue burden on the school will depend on the nature of the accommodation, the cost of the accommodation, and the overall financial resources of the school. In conducting the interactive process, the School should consider all funding and operational resources. The school should document the reasons for the decision it reaches in writing.

An Administrator’s Guide to California Private School Law ©2019 Liebert Cassidy Whitmore 368