A Brookline family is celebrating a victory, on behalf of their five-year-old daughter, and other kids like her.
Last week the elite Park School in Brookline settled with federal prosecutors, who say the school violated the Americans with Disabilities Act when they refused to admit Harper Oates.
Oates suffers from a spinal cord injury that paralyzed her arms and legs, and the school said it could not admit her because the type of curriculum she would require would force it to fundamentally alter its education model.
While the school maintains it did not discriminate, it agreed as part of the settlement to provide better training for staff and remove barriers to make the school more accessible to those with disabilities. A representative from the Park School was invited but declined to appear on the program. Instead, the school sent a statement pointing out that the Department of Justice “did not find fault with the decision not to admit Harper, but rather how it reached the decision.” The school added that they “take the finding very seriously” and “enhanced admissions guidelines are already in effect for the upcoming admission cycle.”
Harper’s mother, Dawn Oates, joined Jim to discuss the outcome of the settlement and the effect it could have other families.
