An Administrator's Guide to California Private School Law

Chapter 13 - Student Applications And Enrollment Contracts

When providing an applicant with a reasonable accommodation for taking an entrance exam, the school should make every effort to ensure that “the examination results accurately reflect the individual’s aptitude or achievement level or whatever other factor the examination purports to measure, rather than reflecting the individual’s impaired sensory, manual, or speaking skills (except where those skills are the factors that the examination purports to measure).” 1998 Exams must be “offered at equally convenient locations, as often, and in a timely manner as are other examinations.” 1999 Modifications to the exam may include “changes in the length of time permitted for completion of the examination and adaptation of the manner in which the examination is given.” 2000 A school must provide auxiliary aids to potential students covered under the ADA unless the school can show that providing such auxiliary aids “would fundamentally alter the measurement of the skills or knowledge the examination is intended to test or would result in an undue burden.” 2001 Such aids could include “taped examinations, interpreters or other effective methods of making orally delivered materials available to individuals with hearing impairments, Braille or large print examinations and answer sheets or qualified readers for individuals with visual impairments or learning disabilities, transcribers for individuals with manual impairments, and other similar services and actions.” 2002 Further, if a school cannot provide accessible facilities or equipment, a school may provide alternative accessible testing arrangements such as allowing the student to take the exam at home with a proctor as long as the testing conditions are comparable to those for nondisabled test takers. 2003 Cases involving alterations to a school’s academic program can be particularly vexing. In St. Johnsbury Academy v. D.H ., “the Academy refused to assign a disabled [student] to the Academy’s mainstream, ninth grade academic classes because he did not meet the Academy's requirement that students in such classes perform at or above the fifth grade level.” 2004 Courses at the school were offered “at four levels of instruction: basic, standard, accelerated, and advanced placement.” 2005 The school’s policy was to place “a disabled student skilled at or above the fifth grade level in a basic class and [provide the student with] assistance with respect to his disability through the school’s Resource Room Program [and to place] a disabled student who is not skilled at or above the fifth grade level in the school’s Individualized Services Program.” 2006 D.H., an applicant to the school, was disabled by his “cerebral palsy, a learning impairment, and a visual deficit.” 2007 The Academy agreed to admit D.H. but not in its mainstream program. D.H. claimed “that the fifth grade requirement for ninth grade classes sets the bar too high.” 2008 However, the Second Circuit Court of Appeal concluded that the Academy’s policy did not violate Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act because “D.H.’s inability to perform at the fifth grade level means that he cannot satisfy ‘all of’ the high school ‘program’s requirements.’” 2009 Further, “‘nothing in the [Rehabilitation] Act requires an educational institution to lower its standards’” and “this arrangement clearly represents a ‘legitimate academic policy’ with respect to the school’s students, disabled and non-disabled alike.” 2010

An Administrator’s Guide to California Private School Law ©2019 Liebert Cassidy Whitmore 481