Justice Department Reaches Agreement w/ Private Montessori Day School to Prevent Discrimination Against Children w/ Disabilities

The Justice Department announced today that it has reached an agreement with Milwaukee Montessori School, a private day school in Wisconsin serving over 400 children from 18 months old through eighth grade, to remedy alleged violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).  The agreement resolves allegations by the Department that the school failed to reasonably modify its policies for, and then impermissibly disenrolled, a young child whose disability caused him to stumble and fall more frequently than his peers.  The agreement is being filed as a consent decree along with a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, and must be approved by the court.  Under the consent decree, the school will adopt a disability nondiscrimination policy, including procedures for prompt handling of requests to reasonably modify school policies for children with disabilities; train teachers, administrators, and board members on ADA requirements and report to the Department on its compliance with the agreement; pay $50,000 in compensatory damages to the child identified in the complaint and his parents; and pay a civil penalty of $5,000 to the United States.

To find out more about this consent decree or the ADA, 
call the Justice Department’s toll-free ADA information Line at 800-514-0301 
or 
800-514-0383 (TDD), or access its ADA website at www.ada.gov.