Brookline Park School Discrimination: U.S. Attorney’s Office Settles Allegations

BROOKLINE, MA — The U.S. Attorney’s Office ruled that the Park School violated Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act by denying a prospective student with a disability admission to the school without making an appropriate, individualized assessment of the school’s ability to accommodate the student, the office announced today.

“Children with disabilities deserve equal opportunities to attend independent schools,” said Acting United States Attorney William D. Weinreb.

After a Harper, a quadriplegic 5-year-old was denied admission to Brookline's Park School, the U.S. Attorney's office embarked on an investigation Patch reported in January. The United States Attorney’s Office reached a settlement agreement today with the Park School an independent school in Brookline that serves more than 560 students from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade, which it said was in the wrong.

The US Attorney's Office and the school came to a five pronged agreement. The school will:

• Revise its disability non-discrimination policy;
• Modify its admissions policies and procedures to ensure that the school fully and appropriately assesses its ability to accommodate an applicant with disabilities before rendering a decision;
• Implement appropriate procedures for responding to requests for reasonable accommodations;
• Provide comprehensive training to admissions staff; and
• Remove architectural barriers in school buildings to ensure the facilities are ADA-compliant.

“I want to thank the Park School for its cooperation throughout our investigation, its eagerness to address the issues identified, and its commitment to diversity, including disability," said Weintrub. "The policies that Park School has agreed to implement should serve as blueprints for other independent schools to ensure that their admissions processes do not discriminate against children with disabilities.”

The Civil Rights Unit of the U.S. Attorney’s Office was established in 2015 with the mission of enhancing federal civil rights enforcement. For more information on the Office’s civil rights efforts, please visit www.justice.gov/usao-ma/civil-rights. For more information on the ADA, please visit www.ADA.gov.

Updates to come.

Image courtesy of Google Maps Street view screen shot.