U.S. Supreme court to rule on case involving service dogs in school |
On Board Online • September 5, 2016
By Jay Worona
Deputy Executive Director and General Counsel
During its 2016 term, the U.S. Supreme Court will decide a case related to the issue of whether students with disabilities are entitled to bring service animals to school. Concerns about allergies and educational objectives have often made such requests problematic for schools, and judges asked to rule on the obligations of school districts have had little precedent to rely upon.
Although the specific legal issue in Fry v. Napolean Community Schools is procedural in nature, the ruling promises to provide school districts in New York State and throughout the nation with an opportunity to assess whether their policies and practices in this area are legally sound. School districts' decisions and policies on service dogs typically have faced scrutiny whenever they have arisen.
The case involves a Michigan elementary school student, E.F., who suffers from spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy which significantly impairs her motor skills and mobility. The student had been prescribed a service dog - a golden doodle named Wonder - to assist her with everyday tasks.
Her school provided her with a human aide as part of her Individualized Education Program (IEP) under the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and, at first, refused to permit E.F. to bring Wonder to school based upon the school district's view that, at the time this dispute arose, the student could not handle her dog on her own.
Subsequently, the district permitted the dog to accompany the student to school for a trial period. However, the dog was not permitted at all times to be with the student or to perform some functions for which the dog had been trained. At the end of the trial period, the district informed the parents that the dog would not be permitted to attend school with E.F. At this point, the student's parents filed a complaint with the Office of Civil Rights at the Department of Education under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Section 504).
Two years later, the Office of Civil Rights found that the school's refusal to permit the dog to attend school with E.F. was a violation of the ADA and the school district then agreed to permit E.F. to attend school with her dog. However, E.F.'s parents decided to enroll E.F. in a school in a different district which permitted the student to be accompanied by her service dog. A few months later, E.F.'s parents sued their school district alleging violations of the ADA and Section 504.
A lower federal court ruled in favor of the school district dismissing the parents' legal action based upon the court's determination that the lawsuit was procedurally defective. Despite the fact that the parents had not specifically alleged any flaw in the student's IEP, the court said they were required to bring an action under the IDEA and first exhaust their administrative remedies under that federal statute prior to bringing a legal action under the ADA or Section 504. The parents appealed their loss to a federal appeals court which, in a split 2-1 decision, upheld the decision of the lower court. The parents thereafter, with assistance from the Americans Civil Liberties Union, successfully requested that the U.S. Supreme Court hear their case.
The specific issue presented before the nation's highest court is whether children who allege to be prevented from using service animals at school can proceed directly to court without having to go first through administrative hearings. The Obama administration, through the Office of the Solicitor General, has filed a brief in this action against the school district claiming that the appeals court's decision was wrong and "leads to unsound results."