Disability Services

The Vice President of Student Services serves as Ozarka College’s Coordinator of Disability Services and oversees compliance with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. To receive services, students must request an appointment with the Vice President for Student Services and provide documentation of their disabilities prior to registration.

The Vice President of Student Services arranges for academic and auxiliary adjustments to be provided to qualified students (those with verified disabilities who require special services) prior to registration. Once eligibility is determined, the Vice President of Student Services and the student develop an accommodations plan that best meets the student’s needs, given available resources. The Vice President of Student Services will communicate the plan with the student and instructors in a confidential manner.

The Vice President of Student Services office is located on the second floor of the Student Services Center on the Melbourne campus. The telephone number is 870.368.2027.

Rights of Students with Disabilities

Ozarka College, in accordance with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the Americans with Disabilities Act, does not discriminate in admission to, or access to, its programs and activities on the basis of mental or physical disability. The College is committed to observing the following guidelines:

• The College does not exclude, on the basis of mental or physical disability, any qualified student with a disability from participation in any academic, occupational training, counseling, financial aid, physical education, recreation, transportation, other extracurricular, or other postsecondary education programs.
• The College will make appropriate modifications to ensure that such requirements do not discriminate or have the effect of discrimination, on the basis of mental or physical disability, against a qualified student with disabilities.
• The College does not impose upon a student with disabilities rules such as the prohibition of tape recorders in classrooms or service animals in campus buildings that have the effect of limiting the participation of mentally or physically disabled students in a program.
• The College will take necessary steps to ensure that no student with disabilities is denied access to a program because of the absence of educational auxiliary aids.
• In providing financial assistance to qualified persons with disabilities, the College does not, on the basis of mental or physical disability, provide less assistance than is provided to non-disabled persons.
• In providing personal, academic, or career counseling, or placement services to students, the College does not discriminate on the basis of mental or physical disability.

ADA/504 Grievance Procedures

Any otherwise qualified person with a disability who has a complaint about the way faculty or staff have responded to his/her accommodation requests is asked to please contact the Coordinator of Disability Services to resolve the matter informally. However, if a student would like to request a review of a decision not to certify an alleged disability or a review of an accommodation/service denial, s/he must follow the following procedures:

1. Grievances must be made in writing to the Section 504 Coordinator (VPSS) within five (5) calendar days of the date of the alleged incident.
2. The Section 504 Coordinator (or her/his designee) shall conduct an investigation of the complaint. This investigation may be informal, but it must be thorough, affording all interested persons an opportunity to submit evidence relevant to the grievance. The Section 504 Coordinator will maintain the files and records relating to such grievances.
3. The Section 504 Coordinator will issue a written decision on the grievance no later than 30 days after its filing. The decision of the Section 504 Coordinator will be final.