An Administrator's Guide to California Private School Law

Chapter 9 – Interactive Process: Employees and Students

accommodation would provide access, the school might need to request third party documentation focused on illustrating that connection. 1648 A clear understanding of how disability impacts the individual establishes the reasonableness of the accommodation for the individual. Determining whether the accommodation is reasonable in context, however, requires an evaluation of the unique attributes and requirements of the course, program, or activity. Disability documentation should be current and relevant but not necessarily recent. Disabilities are often stable, life-long, conditions. Therefore, historic information, supplemented by interview or self-report, might be sufficient to describe how the condition impacts the student at the current time and in the current circumstances. Schools should not establish blanket statements that limit the age of acceptable external documentation. The school should ask for information and documentation that reflects the following:  The nature of the student’s disability.  What accommodations the student/parents are seeking.  Any accommodations that have worked for the student in the past.  Whether the requested accommodations will allow the student to effectively access and participate in the course or program.  Whether the requested accommodations will alter the essential requirements of the course or program. Acceptable sources of information and documentation for substantiating a student’s disability and request for particular accommodations include:  Student’s/Parent’s self-report: A student’s and/or parent’s narrative of his or her experience of disability, barriers, and effective and ineffective accommodations is an important tool for establishing disability and a need for accommodation.

 Observation and interaction: The impressions and conclusions formed by those involved in the interactive process at the school during interviews and conversations with the student or in evaluating the effectiveness of previously implemented or provisional accommodations are important.  Information from third parties: Documentation from external sources may include educational or medical records, reports and assessments created by health care providers, school psychologists, or teachers.

4. C ONFIDENTIALITY A ND S TORAGE A ND R ETENTION OF R ECORDS School employees have an obligation to maintain confidentiality regarding a student’s disability. To that end, the school administration should provide information to school staff and faculty only when necessary in evaluating and/or facilitating accommodations, auxiliary aids and/or services.

An Administrator’s Guide to California Private School Law ©2019 Liebert Cassidy Whitmore 370