Parents' Role

Parents have a limited role as requesting and receiving academic accommodations requires the active participation of the student

Note: Parents may not request accommodations and/or services on behalf of their child. The student must request services and accommodations.

Student focused

Because the academic accommodations are provided for students, the process for requesting and providing academic accommodations requires the active participation of the student. Student Disability Resources needs to have open communication directly with the student in order to assess the needs and wishes of the student who is requesting the accommodations.

Our policies and procedures require the student’s involvement. Furthermore, the Office for Civil Rights has ruled that students must initiate the process, be active participants in the accommodation process and have direct interaction/contact with the disability coordinator.

Parents involvement

Written consent provided by students under FERPA entitles parents to information regarding their child's educational program; however, such consent does not entitle parents to participate in the academic accommodations process.

Delegation through LionPATH allows access to student records. It is not related to any services provided by Student Disability Resources and this authorization of a parent as a delegate does not allow parents to insist that students not be contacted directly or be involved in the accommodation process.

The basis for this policy is the existing FERPA (Family and Education Rights Privacy Act) regulations and Office for Civil Rights (OCR) decisions involving colleges and universities across the country.