Red tape and misunderstandings abound as a young epileptic is barred from bringing her service dog to school:
On 7-year-old Cheyenne Gilliam's first day at Mount Vernon Elementary yesterday, her new principal, Leon Davidson, explained to her classmates that the dog she brought to school isn't a pet: It's a working dog trained to respond to Cheyenne's epileptic seizures.
But the pair's first day in second grade ended abruptly when Rockcastle County Schools Superintendent Larry Hammond notified Cheyenne's parents, Jennifer and Anthony Gilliam, that the dog was, in a manner of speaking, being suspended. Two hours after the day began, the family took the dog, and their daughter, home.
Hammond said in an interview that he wants to find out whether the school is legally obligated to allow Cheyenne to bring Mikki, a 55-pound Weimaraner, into the classroom. The school board's attorney is reviewing the case.
What seems to be giving the bureaucrats fits is that Cheyenne's mom wants Mikki to be around as a service dog, but doesn't want Cheyenne treated any differently than the other students. Given the misconceptions and shameful treatment that epileptics have been subject to in the past, I can understand why. But when Cheyenne's parents have refused to have an Individual Education Program (IEP) drawn up (apparently because it required an assessment of mental and emotional health), the school countered that, without an IEP, it was under no obligation to provide any sort of accommodation.
I'm not sure what's going on here, but reading between the lines, I sense that the Gilliams don't want teachers to treat Cheyenne as though she were mentally disabled, and are insulted that their daughter would need to have an assessment of mental health before she's allowed an accommodation for a physical disability. And the school is aggravated that the Gilliams are not playing by the rules, and is tossing out comments about dog allergies and whatnot to justify keeping the dog away.
Surely, this has come up before in some other school district. It's hard to believe that this is ever the first time a student has tried to attend school with a dog, or that a parent has refused a mental health assessment so that their wheelchair-bound kid can take regular classes.
Posted by kswygert at August 5, 2004 03:00 PM