[update] Ada Compliant Math Class Conducted Entirely On The Blackboard

You should be able to directly access the original post from my profile.

Just wanted to make an update for all of you lovely folks who gave me solid advice.

I decided to meet the ADA officer in person and I'm sad to report that the meeting was less than satisfactory, although all matters are concluded now.

I gathered my "notes" (I do all of my research, teaching, personal memos etc on the same notebook) so I brought a bunch of them into the meeting, spanning about 5 years. I showed the officer the notes I have, compared the scattered notes with the clean class notes taken by the designated note taker and how the class notes were way better (and my notes were not readable), and tried to make my case that the offer of recording the class, providing a note taker, and pointing out the relevant section of the textbook after each class would allow the student to have the complete classroom experience if not more (FWIW I also offered to reproduce an entire lecture without any notes and also brought my teaching evaluations (several perfect scores) but she basically had this plastic smile and nodded and dismissed everything).

She said that the student really needed "scaffolding" in order to have "equitable experience" and that meant that she wanted even a small outline in writing. I pointed out about 5 times that showing her the right section of the textbook immediately after class (giving her 48 hours to read ahead the exact sections) was more than enough scaffolding, but I guess this lady was really interested in documenting everything and not actually in the student's success (she really didn't look like she had taken a math class in about 30 years at least).

She told me that giving her a couple of key words via email at least 15 minutes before class was better than me pointing to the exact sections of the textbook 48 hours earlier (telling the student about the following class right after the class concludes), so that's the compromise we came to. I felt uncomfortable emailing just her 3 times a week, so I decided to write a 10-word summary of what I intend to cover in the course website at least 15 minutes before the class actually starts.

I protested several times that in my opinion as a concerned educator, this was absolutely not the way to go if she was concerned about the student's success (the student is already known among the faculty as being the extremely weak one who may not survive quals), but for whatever reason she was really concerned about the scaffolding (she literally used this word like 50 times in our meeting) and would not hear of any other alternative arrangements. I did stress that this is absolutely the wrong decision for the student, but I can only nag for so much, so that was that.

One other thing I accomplished is that I told her that any concerns about this particular student's accommodations go through her now, and the student is no longer allowed to contact me directly asking for more accommodation. I told her that I would report the student for misconduct (for misrepresenting my class content to get what they want) if the student contacts me again (of course they are welcome to talk to me about the course content).

So, from a pedagogical point of view the meeting was an absolute failure, but for now I have the ADA office and the student off my back. I figured that you folks were owed an update, so here it is. Thank you again for your advice, support, and commiserating. It was great help!