Service Dog In East Meadow, N.Y. Defeated in Court

This post is a followup to a series of earlier blogs regarding the dispute between the family of a child with special needs and the East Meadow School District in New York over allowing the student to have his service dog in school. The family wanted to have their son's service dog attend school with him and the school objected because of health and safety issues. The parents sought immediate relief in the form of an injunction--a court order mandating that the dog be immediately allowed into school. The District Court denied the injunction and now the Second Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed the lower court's ruling. So for now the parents are left with due process to get an order to have the dog in school.

Comments

[Jeremy Hilton]

Interesting issue...I read the previous comments. I agree that the parents seem to be making it a harder situation than it need be. But, I wonder, what would happen if the child were blind? Would the health/safety/allergy argument still hold in your mind? If not, why not? In general, I still would think that a parent would not have to exhaust all adminstrative remedies in situations like this. There are going to be situations where we parents can't wait the 60+ days for a DP hearing.

Ed. You raise a valid point which gets back to the compelling interest of the child for the service dog. From all public comments that the family has made they were asserting an apparently unqualified right. I am obviously sympathetic to the child's needs but feel that parents need to present their positions in way that is not categorical and is open to discussion. While I am not certain that was not done in this case, it did not appear so from the public comments.

[War]

Issue is interesting but what ground do they need the dog? Health and saftey is an issue. This is what Special aid helpers are for when kids with disabilities need special attention at school. A) Move to a school that offers the service, B) dont be cheap, pay for it yourself.

[Willl]

The East Meadow School District recently moved to stop actions by the NY Dept. of Human Rights on Dept. initiated complaint and a finding of "a pattern of discrimination." A court ruled to deny the School Districts request citing that even if John Cave would be found non-disabled this case would have implications with others with Assistance Dogs. The complaint continues. For info see: http://www.dhr.state.ny.us/court_orders.html

[William Malone]

Although this is an IDEA issue, this is more of an ACCESSABILITY issue.

[Brenda]

It's a shame that these parent's didn't file in federal court. ADA access is federal law and should have been filed in federal courts. ADA access is mandatory under federal law, because schools receive federal funding. The service dog is durable medical equipment under ADA law, the same as a wheelchair, and should be treated as such. It's unbelievable that these judges would ignore federal law, which overrules state law - that's basic Law 101. I hope that the parents decide to file in federal court, which is where the case should have been tried in the first place. The law will be rightfully applied there.