Author Archive: SpecialEducation-Lawyer
Minnesota Twins New Ballpark Sets New Standard for Accessibility
As a baseball fan, and as a lawyer representing children with disabilities, I was very interested in a recent article in the Minneapolis Star Tribune newspaper (“Target Field rates ‘A’ for accessibility,” April 19, Kevin Duchschere, http://goo.gl/YCPQ). The Minnesota Twins new ballpark, Target Field, appears to have set a very high standard for handicapped accessibility. The article brings up issues which most non-handicapped people never think about. For example, people in wheelchairs often never see home runs land, because the people in front of them usually jump up and block their views. Likewise, counters at concession stands, which are usually a good height for people who can stand, are usually too high for people in wheelchairs. And did you ever notice that the microphone and speakers in the ticket-selling booths are usually blocking the employee’s mouth, so anyone who needs to read lips cannot do so? The article points out many accessibility features designed to address these issues, such as:
“•All concession counters are 8 inches lower than usual, 34 inches high, to help customers in wheelchairs and shorter people. Many include signs in Braille or large print for sight-impaired fans.
•There are two elevators, not one, at Target Field’s rail station. That was done to make sure fans in wheelchairs coming in from the Northstar commuter line, which runs below the ballpark, won’t be stranded if a single elevator breaks down.
•Speaker boxes at ticket windows were placed below the agent’s mouth so fans who are deaf can read their lips. Ticket windows have amplification devices that agents can use to transmit to a buyer’s hearing aid.
•Fans who are hard of hearing can read the ballpark announcer’s messages on captioning boards along the foul lines overlooking left and right field. Assisted listening devices to transmit ballpark audio are available for free.
•Curb cuts that are supposed to be 3 feet wide are double that in places near the ballpark so wheelchair users don’t have to fight with pedestrians to cross the street.”
Please visit my web site for more information about the Law Office of James M. Baron: www.lawbaron.com.
Foxboro Proposes Changes to Comply with State Observation Law – But Do They Comply?
The Foxboro school committee has proposed some changes to its policies on classroom observations. These changes are intended to comply with a new law providing much more liberal access for parents and their representatives to observe special education classrooms. Actually, the law is not so new – it was passed nearly two years ago. The proposed changes, as reported by The Sun Chronicle, include the following:
- A requirement that the observer not interfere with classroom proceedings.
- A requirement that the observer be there to observe the suitability of a program given the child’s needs, and not to be there to evaluate a teacher’s ability.
- A parent must sign a release for a representative to observe.
- A request may be denied for specified reasons.
For the complete article, go to this URL: http://www.thesunchronicle.com/articles/2010/04/20/news/7216730.txt
What I find interesting in this article is its pro-school and anti-parent slant. The actual law is much more parent-friendly. It was passed because of unreasonable observation restrictions that were placed by schools on parents and their representatives. The actual wording of Chapter 363 of the Acts of 2008 is as follows:
“To insure that parents can participate fully and effectively with school personnel in the consideration and development of appropriate educational programs for their child, a school committee shall, upon request by a parent, provide timely access to parents and parent-designated independent evaluators and educational consultants for observations of a child’s current program and of any program proposed for the child, including both academic and non-academic components of any such program. Parents and their designees shall be afforded access of sufficient duration and extent to enable them to evaluate a child’s performance in a current program and the ability of a proposed program to enable such child to make effective progress. School committees shall impose no conditions or restrictions on such observations except those necessary to ensure the safety of children in a program or the integrity of the program while under observation or to protect children in the program from disclosure by an observer of confidential and personally identifiable information in the event such information is obtained in the course of an observation by a parent or a designee.”
Please visit my web site for more information about the Law Office of James M. Baron: http://www.lawbaron.com.
Old Blog Posts
My old blog posts (i.e. anything prior to this post) can be found here: http://www.lawbaron.com/blog.html
Special Education Blog 