With a little research I have found

[Kaylee's Mommy]

some good info on the school trying to send Kaylee to another school.. I found this

Crystal Jackson: Your child's school must provide appropriate care to meet her diabetes needs. Her school choice cannot be restricted because of her diabetes

and

Crystal Jackson: You must be given the option of keeping your child in her neighborhood school with care provided by trained school staff members such as a teacher or clinic aide if there is no full-time school nurse. It is the school's responsibility to provide needed care - even if there is no nurse.


Crystal Jackson, ADA's Manager of Legal Advocacy with a focus on school discrimination issues and a parent of a child with diabetes..

I got these from the ADA's website.. the first answer had a question that was very similar to Kaylee's situation.. she had an older child in el. school already but the school wanted to send her off to another school because there was already a trained aide and nurse..

still waiting for a call back from the Civil rights people.. if this is federal, and not a local 'law'.. then they can't do what they plan on doing and I'll call em' on it..

[Lee]

WWWHHHOoooo hhooooo!!!! It would be great to NOT have your kids go to another school. It is such a pain for everything that kids do. I know I try hard to let my kids participate in as much as they want. It adds hours on to our commute to have them go to a school two towns over...

[Amy C.]

Does the school closest to you have a nurse on campus all the time? I thought I remember you saying that your daughter's diabetes care will only be done by a nurse -- with the implication that a non-licensed, but trained school staff member could not provide the diabetes care for Kaylee.

If the school in the other town has the nursing care you require, then that may be your only option. You are lucky if the school your daughter attends has a nurse full-time -- most do not.

[Kaylee's Mommy]

they are trying to send Kaylee to a school one town over that has a full time school nurse, the town we live does not.. she is there once every 8 days to fill out paper work, and thats it... they told me that any kid with any type of special need/situation goes to this school.. sounds like discrimination to me.. i was all set for it because they were going to take my older daughter as well BUT then they told me I had to write a letter to REQUEST that kaylee go to this school.. I'm not going to do that.. I called the guy that is in charge of the 504 plans.. he said that the entire point of the 504 is to keep kids in their own schools and have everything as 'normal' as possible.. I wasn't going to fight them sending her there because its still in the same district so I didn't know if I COULD fight that.. When I talked to The 504 guy he seemed to think they couldn't MAKE her go there.. that If I wanted her to attent the school in our town they would have to accomidate.. they tried to tell me that I would have to be oncall and do all her stuff if she went to the el. school in our town, which is NOT so.. THEY have to accomidate her.. If I can keep in her in this school I want her here.. its a difference of 65 kids in the ENTIRE school k-4th to 300 kids in the entire school k-4th..

I do not have a problem with a health aid or other fully trained able person doing Kaylee's care.. but there is a law in our state that one a nurse can do insulin injections, including the pump and do glucagon.. therefor I will NOT send her to a school that doesn't have at least a qualifed person to give insulin and glucagon.

[Angelique'sMom]

Hi!
You are correct. The school cannot make your daughter go to another school. This is discrimination! I would fight them every step to make sure they correct this and do not try to do this to any other child with diabetes in the future.
I had the same problem this year with my daughter who just started kindergarten. The school didn't want to administer the glucagon, and suggested we go to another school that already has a nurse. I called OCR and they were very fast getting back to me. The man helping us there has been WONDERFUL and now our school has a full time nurse for our daughter as well as 2 volunteers for glucagon. My daughter also has a life threatening peanut allergy and before I called OCR they were letting kids eat peanut butter right next to my daughter but now it's banned from the classroom.
OCR will be able to help. Good Luck!

[Angelique'sMom]

Oh, I forgot to mention, when you speak to the people at OCR let them know about the glucagon situation. They are misinformed that only a nurse can give the glucagon. Our school said the same thing but once OCR spoke to them and told them they HAVE to find someone to give the glucagon or they would be losing federal funding they found 2 people real quick to volunteer. :D Federal law always supersedes state law. We now have 2 teachers who went through training to give my daughter the glucagon and I'm happy :)

[momtojess]

:D Federal law always supersedes state law.

Our school distrcit seems to disagree with this.. and sadly we are one of the top districts in TN.



I will second that the OCR guy is super great (we talked to Bob in Atlanta). He couldnt tell us to file a complaint, but he was strongly pushing it because he couldnt wait to get his hands on our issue. lol

[cgates]

Keep after them!
Great job!!!

[Angelique'sMom]

It must be the same Bob Doeseckle? He is awesome! I really am so appreciative of all he has done for us.
Yes the first step is to file a complaint. You can do this online. I filed mine online and was expecting a long delay to get someone to contact us but he called me within 2 days of filing. He then got results for us within a week! Our school was a complete nightmare to deal with before he got to them..lol :eek::p

[momtojess]

It must be the same Bob Doeseckle? He is awesome! I really am so appreciative of all he has done for us.
Yes the first step is to file a complaint. You can do this online. I filed mine online and was expecting a long delay to get someone to contact us but he called me within 2 days of filing. He then got results for us within a week! Our school was a complete nightmare to deal with before he got to them..lol :eek::p

Yep that is himm.. he is awesome. He helped our attorney write the complaint (almost word for word) so he can review not just our dd but the whole district. He told me of another case he had just done about a glucagon issue in TN.. I wonder if that was you he was referring to.

[Kaylee's Mommy]

ok, I know this is a really stupid question, but what is OCR, and how do I find out who I need to contact.. I have someone at state level.. but this person sounds like someone I need to speak with:)

so if I have this correct, federal law states anyone can be trained for glucagon, but our state law says only a certified nurse can do it.. the federal law over rides the state law? if this is true, why bother making the state law..:rolleyes:

ok, while my brain cleared out of the fog, I'm assuming the OCR is the office of civil rights? The 504 guy that I talked to yesterday is calling the civil rights office in Boston and is getting back to me:) now, if thats not it.. please tell me what it is;)

[momtojess]

Yes, OCR is the office of civil rights.

Our state law says that a person cant not be told they have to be trained for glucagon, but that they may volunteer. In our case, the school said they asked and no one volunteered.. Little did they know the gym teacher's son was on my sons football team, so as i was talking to her, she said she had no idea what it was and went to the nurse the next day to volunteer. The nurse gave her a hard time, saying they cant ask her to do it etc, and the gym teacher was like you arent asking i am volunteering.. So, now we have 1 person trained besides the nurse, but our district said she cant carry the glucagon with her (yet she cares all the other supplies).. so the glucagon is locked in the nurses office, so even thought he gym teacher is trained, she cant get to the glucagon

Our school told us that they are the ones that decide who gets a 504, not the federal law. Its a running joke in our family the ***** county school law supercedes all others.

I would go ahead and call the OCR in your area and ask them questions. Then when the 504 guy calls back you will know if he honestly talked to them, gives you the right answer, etc. Hopefully with you tackling it al now, it may be resolved before she startes school next year.