Inclusion of Students in Field Trips

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and its regulations prohibits discrimination against students with disabilities. This means that public schools must provide services to meet the individual needs of students with disabilities as adequately as the schools meet the needs of students without disabilities. Section 504 focuses on ensuring equal access for students with disabilities to the program offered by the public school. 

Under 34 CFR 104.34 of the Section 504 regulations, equal access includes serving students with disabilities in settings (academic and nonacademic) with students without disabilities. Equal access to the school program includes equal access to field trips. 

The District is prohibited in providing any aid, benefit, or service directly or through contractual, licensing, or other arrangements, from denying a student with a disability the opportunity to participate in or benefit from the aid, benefit, or service on the basis of the student’s disability. 

The District has an obligation to provide non-academic and extracurricular services and activities, including fieldtrips, in such manner as is necessary to afford students with disabilities an equal opportunity for participation in such services and activities. 

The District has an obligation to conduct an individualized inquiry to determine whether reasonable modifications or necessary aids and services would provide a student with a disability with an equal opportunity to participate in non-academic and extracurricular activities, including field trips. 

The District has an obligation to include students with disabilities in self-contained settings in all grade level field trips and to provide those student with the necessary accommodations so at to permit participation. 

If there are any questions concerning this protocol, please contact the Director of Student and Family Support Services at 623-237-7133.