504 Educational Plan vs. Truancy Court

[Jeeplady66]

What is the name of your state? MN

My 15 year old daughter is on a 504 educational plan. She is a sophomore in a small high school and has missed so many days of school the principal has filed a truancy petition. She is on a 504 because she has a weakened immune system due to chemotherapy. She was diagnosed with Ewing's Sarcoma (a bone cancer) in 2000, went thru 14 rounds of chemo, several surgeries, and 2 hip-to-toe casts. She was tutored at home throughout her illness and managed to keep up with her studies.

Currently, she is 3.5 years post-chemo and the cancer is gone, but she is still very frail....5'6'' and 92 pounds! She catches every virus, strep, cold, flu, etc that goes around and a bug that would make a normal kid sick for a couple days will knock her out for a week.

My legal question is can they file truancy while she is on a 504, that specifically states 'student will frequently miss school due to compromised immune system' and this is backed with dr's statements. We have a court date coming up, the papers state she is a 'child in need of services'. Do I need a lawyer? Can I lose custody of my daughter? I don't really think the legal system is the best answer for her......

TIA for any help

 

[stephimm]

Truancy and 504 Plan

This is something that obviously is going completely against ADA and doctor's orders. I would make sure that you have a copy of ADA with you in court, along with her 504 Plan and her doctor. You can check with the court clerk ahead of time to see if a nottarized letter, a letter, or a phone call during the hearing from the doctor can occur instead of his being present due to the cost involved. These hearings are usually informal enough to allow that. This court has no jurisdiction to over rule federal law ADA, which is what the district is asking the court to do.
I am not saying not to worry. I am saying that it's unlikely that this will go very far and that you need to have your ducks in a row.
One of the things that you can have added to your daughter's 504 Plan to prevent this in the furture, and you can get a doctor's letter stating the need for this accomodation, is to have home tutoring when she has an absence of 3 days or more. If she is recieving home tutoring, the school counts her as being present. It also allows her to keep up as much as she is able to. Home tutoring usually consists of a teacher coming to your home 3 times a week for two hours each time. The 504 Plan should specify how often, how long, and who. It should also specify that a phone call from you stating that she will be out of school for 3 days or more as soon as you know will start the process of home tutoring so that the tutor will begin on the 3rd or 4th day.

This is the opinion of a SPED advocate, not legal advice.

 

[GaAtty]

GaAtty

Truancy refers to unexcused absences. These absences should be excused due to their medical nature. It really should not have gotten this far, though. To prevent a truancy action in the future, you should make sure that for each day she is absent, you file a written excuse right then that states that the reason is medical. It sounds to me like (although you don't make this clear) that you never filed written documentation with the school at the time of each absence, that you just expected them to understand. The school cannot legally assume that the absence is excused unless you give then something in writing.