Field Note — ADA Title II Grievance, Routing and Delivery

🔶 FIELD NOTE — LIVE, UPDATED IN PLACE — BRANCH 5 — #011D

▸ THIS ENTRY DOCUMENTS AN ONGOING ADMINISTRATIVE PROCESS — UPDATED AS THE DISTRICT RESPONDS, NOT A SEALED ACHIEVEMENT

▸ Background

Federal regulation (28 C.F.R. § 35.107(a)) requires a public entity like a school district to designate at least one employee to coordinate its ADA Title II compliance, and to publish a grievance procedure under § 35.107(b). Before any grievance could be filed, the first task was simply identifying who — if anyone — held that role at Octorara Area School District.

That search, and the formal grievance that followed once no coordinator could be identified, is the subject of this entry.

▸ People and Roles

Dr. Nancy YoungDirector of Special Education and Student Wellness — published District contact for civil rights and grievance procedures
Nicole R. DeanChief Human Resources Officer; also the District’s published Title IX Officer
Audrey FlojoAssistant Superintendent — previously published email address no longer valid at time of follow-up
Board President (Norris)Copied for notice to the governing body — not asked to decide the grievance
Board of School DirectorsCopied on the formal grievance itself

▸ Timeline

AUG 22, 2026 Email sent to Dr. Young: a narrow administrative question — is she the District’s designated Title II ADA Coordinator, and if so, may the published grievance procedure be provided. No response received. Primary source, in hand
AUG 27, 2026 Follow-up sent to Nicole Dean, since the previously published Assistant Superintendent contact address had gone invalid. Repeats the coordinator question and adds four related questions: whether the 2022 exclusion had been formally invalidated in writing, its unresolved duration, the basis for return, and whether a formal ADA grievance process exists at all. No response received. Primary source, in hand
AUG 31, 2026 Formal written grievance drafted under Title II of the ADA and 28 C.F.R. Part 35 — addressed to the (unidentified) ADA Title II Coordinator, copied to the Board of School Directors. Requests written acknowledgment, identification of the Coordinator, the published grievance procedure, an investigation, an opportunity to submit supporting records, and a written determination. Primary source, in hand
LATE AUG 2026 Attempted delivery of a paper copy by certified mail. Service was denied or refused. Per author’s account; delivery/refusal record not yet attached to this entry
SEP 2, 2026
1:36 PM Email to Nicole Dean, attaching the grievance directly and asking — if she is not the appropriate recipient — that it be routed to the correct official, with written confirmation of receipt, routing, and the applicable review procedure. Primary source, in hand
SEP 2, 2026
1:43 PM Same communication forwarded to the Board President, explicitly for notice to the governing body only — not a request that he personally decide the grievance’s merits. Primary source, in hand
ONGOING No coordinator has yet been identified; no response confirming receipt or routing has yet been received. STATUS OPEN

▸ What the Grievance Actually Requests

The document itself is deliberately narrow and procedural, not a demand for a predetermined outcome. It explicitly declines to presume retaliatory motive from adverse conduct standing alone, and separately asks the District to distinguish official conduct from any individual board member’s private or personal-capacity actions before attributing either to the District.

Identification of the designated ADA Title II Coordinator The District’s published grievance procedure Written confirmation of present access status following the November 2025 rescission Whether any internal directive still identifies the author as excluded Whether law enforcement was notified of the rescission, the same agencies originally notified of the exclusion A procedure for requesting future reasonable modifications An investigation and written determination on retaliation/interference under § 35.134 Preservation of the full administrative record

▸ The Pattern, Stated Plainly

Two direct inquiries, twenty-two days apart, to two different published contacts, produced no identification of a legally required ADA coordinator. A formal grievance addressed to that still-unidentified coordinator was met with a refused certified-mail delivery. Two further emails — one requesting routing, one providing notice to the governing body — followed the same week. As of this entry, the basic administrative question that started the sequence — who receives this grievance — remains unanswered.

▸ Open Items — This Field Note

1. Attach or reference the certified-mail delivery/refusal record once available.

2. Update this entry when the District responds — to Ms. Dean’s email, the Board President forward, or otherwise identifies a Coordinator.

Field Note — living entry, updated in place as the District responds.
Grounded in RTK-eligible primary-source correspondence and the author’s own account where noted.

Administrative Literacy Series · CulturalContrarianPMA.org