## Facts

- Jean Wolff, a tenth-grade student with significant physical disabilities, attended South Colonie schools.
- The school district previously provided accommodations for Jean’s daily school attendance, including a school monitor/aide position and special van transportation.
- The district sponsored an optional student trip to Spain involving extensive walking, stair travel, and visits to sites with limited physical safety features.
- Jean enrolled for the trip; school officials reviewed the itinerary with Jean and her mother and stated Jean would need an aide/companion to participate safely on the trip.
- The district did not agree to provide or pay for an aide for the trip, and Jean’s family did not arrange one.
- The district removed Jean from the trip after no aide was secured.

## Issues

1. Whether conditioning Jean’s participation in a school-sponsored Spain trip on having an aide, and removing her when none was arranged, excluded her “solely by reason of” handicap in violation of § 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.
2. Whether § 504 required the district, as a reasonable accommodation, to provide and fund a one-on-one aide for a voluntary, extracurricular foreign travel program.

## Decision

- The court entered judgment for the school district after consolidating the preliminary-injunction request with a trial on the merits.
- The court denied injunctive relief and held there was no § 504 violation.
- The court concluded Jean was not unlawfully excluded “solely by reason of” her disability; the condition reflected safety and feasibility concerns tied to the trip’s demands.
- The court held § 504 did not obligate the district to provide or finance an aide for this optional extracurricular trip.

## Legal Principles

- Section 504 prohibits exclusion from participation in, denial of benefits of, or discrimination under a federally funded program or activity “solely by reason of” handicap.
- A plaintiff must show the individual is “otherwise qualified” for the activity; limitations that prevent safe participation under the program’s essential conditions may defeat qualification.
- Reasonable accommodation under § 504 requires meaningful access but does not require changes that would fundamentally alter the activity or impose unreasonable burdens.
- In assessing § 504 claims in school settings, courts may consider the nature of the activity (core educational program vs. voluntary extracurricular event), safety and supervision needs, feasibility, and the accommodations already provided in ordinary school operations.

## Conclusion

The court held that requiring an aide for a physically demanding, voluntary school trip and declining to supply that aide did not violate § 504, because the decision rested on legitimate safety and logistical constraints rather than discriminatory exclusion based solely on disability.


Wolff v. S. Colonie Cent. Sch. Dist., 534 F. Supp. 758 (N.D.N.Y. 1982)