Eastern Connecticut Childcare Chain Agrees To Federal ADA Settlement

EASTERN CONNECTICUT — A pre-school chain with three locations in eastern Connecticut has agreed to a settlement in connection with a federal Americans With Disabilities Act complaint.

Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States attorney for the District of Connecticut, said Friday that the government and the Discovery Zone Learning Center have entered into a settlement agreement to resolve allegations that Discovery Zone staff discriminated against a child with Autism Spectrum Disorder in violation of the ADA.

Discovery Zone is a private childcare center with locations in Columbia, Hebron and Marlborough.

The matter was initiated by a complaint made with the U.S. Department of Justice on behalf of a child with autism, Avery said. Based on its investigation, the government found that Discovery Zone failed to reasonable modify its programs to accommodate the child, which resulted in Discovery Zone "excluding the child from its childcare programs," according to the complaint.

Under the terms of the settlement agreement, Discovery Zone has agreed not to "discriminate against children with disabilities in the future," will implement new policies and procedures for handling requests for "reasonable modifications that are consistent with the ADA" and will provide training to its staff on the ADA.

Discovery Zone has also agreed to pay $1,500 to the complainant, Avery said.

"No family should have to worry that their child will be excluded from group childcare because the child is disabled," Avery said. "I want to commend the Discovery Zone Learning Center for doing the right thing by cooperating with our investigation and agreeing to comply with the ADA going forward."

The settlement agreement is effective for three years, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office will monitor compliance during that time period, Avery said.

The case was handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Stewart C. Dearing.