Office for Civil Rights Addresses 2017 Complaint, Raises Concerns After Howell Public Schools (MI) Removed Student Who Has Autism From Regular Placement and Provided Minimal Instruction
Almost a decade after the complaint was filed, OCR resolution agreement requires staff training on Section 504, Title II, FAPE, discipline, and significant changes in placement.
June 22, 2026, U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued a letter of findings to Howell Public Schools (HPS) in Michigan, after investigating a complaint filed July 3, 2017, on behalf of a student who has a disability.
OCR styled the complaint as OCR Case No. 15-17-1529 and investigated the following allegations:
“During the 2016-2017 school year, the District failed to conduct a manifestation determination review prior to suspending the Student in excess of 10 school days, and
“from May 2017 through the end of the 2016-2017 school year, the District failed to provide the Student with a free appropriate public education when it failed to provide the Student with homebound services.”
Before OCR completed its investigation, HPS expressed interest in resolving the complaint. June 16, 2026, HPS entered into a resolution agreement with OCR.
OCR didn’t issue a final violation finding. Instead, OCR stated that the evidence it obtained “raises compliance concerns” that HPS didn’t evaluate the student before implementing a significant change in placement related to discipline. OCR also stated it had “cause for concern” that HPS “may not have complied with the requirements of 34 C.F.R. § 104.35(a), which could have resulted in the denial of a FAPE in violation of 34 C.F.R. § 104.33 when it removed the Student from the regular education placement required by his IEP for the last two weeks of the school year and developed an alternative home instruction schedule outside of the IEP process that provided minimal instruction.”
