I know it sounds confusing but - fwiw - I think that what you have from your district's explanation *is* a somewhat clear roadmap - for example:
Our district says you should contact the principal
Your first step is to wite a brief request in writing to the Principal requesting a 504 meeting for your ds. The wrightslaw book "From Emotions to Advocacy" contains really good examples of how to write letters like this to the school - or you can also ask an advocate what to say if you have access to an advocate. We usually used our advocate's advice on this since she knew the ins and outs of our local schools, and for a beginning request like this, she recommended *very* brief and to-the-point. You don't need to go into the details of why your ds needs a 504 plan, other than briefly stating what his disability is.
who will put you in touch with the building coordinator
This sounds like our district - there is one point person on staff at each school building who is responsible for administering the 504 plans at that building. In our district it is typically the Vice Principal in the elementary schools, but not always. All this part of the step means is - the district wants you to make the request through the principal, but the principal isn't the person who's actually going to be overseeing the process and isn't the person who will attend the 504 meetings - the "building coordinator" will be that person.
who will contact you to fill out a referral form
Our district also has a form to fill out - it's simple and just asks for the information you have and accommodations you think your child needs etc - it isn't the final 504 plan document, so you can't "goof up" by forgetting to put something on the form etc - this is simply the form that you fill out to initiate the process of the 504 team meeting to determine if your child needs a 504 plan.
... and from there it is "if this then this", "if deemed necessary", if if if... I don't like muddled systems like that because it leaves me always wondering if he qualifies, if I have the right documentation, if they are going to ask questions out of what I thought the scope was. It leaves an open door for intimidation.
Any and all of this could happen - and really, mostly it's not unreasonable - it makes sense for the school to review the request, take a look at what your child's needs are, and base decisions on that. Your best approach to get you through anything that comes up is to have all your documentation in order, to think through ahead of time what accommodations your ds needs, to put together examples of school work or documentation behaviors or whatever is necessary to provide examples of why the accommodations are necessary and why they work. Be polite but firm if a question is raised by the school re whether or not an accommodation is necessary. Restate, reiterate during meetings if things get off track. It might be tough, or it might not. The bottom line is you have a straightforward request, it's not really complicated, so don't let the fact that you need to go through the step of advocating for it intimidate you.
So far things are great with working with school but the policy itself is so vague that I was hoping there was a clearer path.
Really, I think this is a "clear" path - the thing that's not "clear" perhaps is you can't know until you go through it if the school will agree with what you are asking for. And some of it might actually be a lot quicker and clearer than you realize now, but you won't see that until you initiate the process.
Best wishes,
polarbear
