February 14, 2024
The Justice Department announced today that Lincoln Public Schools (LPS) in Lincoln, Nebraska, violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by denying some deaf and hard-of-hearing students an equal opportunity to attend their neighborhood schools. The Department found that, when LPS believes that a student needs American Sign Language interpretation, LPS requires the student to attend a cluster school serving deaf and hard-of-hearing students. In applying this policy, LPS does not consider the individualized needs of deaf and hard-of-hearing students, denies them an equal opportunity to participate in neighborhood school and high school choice programs and fails to provide effective communication to some deaf and hard-of-hearing students.
To learn more, see our press release and read our letter of findings. For more information on the ADA, please visit ADA.gov or call the toll-free ADA Information Line at 800-514-0301 (TTY 1-833-610-1264).