Special needs student and his right for an education

PORTFOLIO ARTIFACT #5

Ana Mota
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In this case scenario a young boy, who has severe mental disorders, has just been denied

his admission into a high school by the principle who believes that they do not have the

necessary staff for the boy to have a proper Education. The boys’ family will try to defend the

boys’ right to a free and public education using the court cases Board of Education of Hendrick

Hudson Central School District v. Rowley and Cedar Rapids Community School District v. Garret F.

While the Principle tries to defend his decision using the court case McLaughlin v. Holt Public

Schools, because he thinks his school is not the best place to receive an education for the boy.
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Debbie Young, a Principle at a High School, refused to have as a student a young 10th

grade student who is severely disabled. The boys’ name is Jonathan and he is mentally disabled,

has spastic quadriplegia, as well as a seizure disorder. For these reasons Jonathan would always

need a specialist nurse talking care of him. Young who, has worked before as a special education

teacher and an assistant principle in a school district in the South, refused to take in Jonathan as

a student for the expenses. Also, because she believes that the school is not the school where

Jonathan should be admitted into.

In the students favor the case Board of Education of Hendrick Hudson Central School

District v. Rowley would help them. In this case a student, Amy Rowley, needed a sign interpreter

to receive her education much better. The school believed that they were not in tiled to provide

the interpreter and for which the court ruled in favor of the school, stating that the school does

not have to provide the best education for the child but a reasonable one (Underwood & Webb ,

2006). For our case, Jonathan cannot be in a school setting without the help of a nurse. Jonathan

is still entitled to an education. One that is reasonable for him to have. Young was wrong in

rejecting the requests of Jonathans admission for extra costs that it will bring to the school.

Another Court case that can be used is Cedar Rapids Community School District v. Garret

F. In this case Garret F. is a young man who due to an accident as a young boy lost his body

mobility from his neck down. His family had taken responsibility to pay the physical care that

Garret needed during the day. Until in, 1993 his mother wanted the school to take care of the

expenses because she believed that Garret was entitled to that service by the IDEA. The court

ruled in favor of Garret, stating that the school is responsible to pay for the students’ medical

costs according to IDEA (CEDAR RAPIDS COMMUNITY SCHOOL DISTRICT , 2010). For our case,
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Jonathan should be able to go to a public school and get an education because he should be

provided the necessities for him to be able to assist.

For school

The school in the case can use the case McLaughlin v. Holt Public Schools in where a

student by the name of Emma was diagnosed with down syndrome. This let her qualify for the

special services granted by IEP. The first year that Emma was in school she enrolled in a pre-

primary special education classroom which was offered by Holt Public Schools and the following

years she was enrolled un Michigan State University’s Child Development Lab School while the

Hold Public Schools District still offering her related services. Her parents wanted her to attend

another school which they thought would be better for Emma and sued the district for not giving

them the related services for that school. The court ruled that the school that offered Emma the

best services was a different one (McLAUGHLIN v. HOLT PUBLIC SCHOOLS BOARD OF

EDUCATION, 2018). In our case the school can argue that another school would be a more

appropriate setting for Jonathan, they will be better prepared and have a better understanding

of how to help Jonathan excel in his learning.

For this case, I believe that Young did wrong in denying Jonathan the opportunity to get

a free public education. Jonathan has the right to an education just as any student in the school

Young is principle at. In Board of Education of Hendrick Hudson Central School District v. Rowley

and in Cedar Rapids Community School District v. Garret F. In this case Garret F. both students

were able to have the school pay the extra fees involved with their education. Jonathan should

also be able to have a nurse provided to him from the school to ensure that he is safe and

capable of being in a school setting with his peers.