Charter School Violated 504 by Requiring Student with Diabetes to Have a Family Member Attend Afterschool Softball Game

Excerpt from Randy Chapman's Ability Law Blog: (click for entire article)

In Academy of Waterford (MI) 112 LRP 15747 (OCR 2011) the staff at Academy of Waterford, a public charter school in Michigan, violated 504 when it told the parent of 10 year-year-old with diabetes that he must be accompanied by family members if he wished to participate in an afterschool softball game. The charter school staff were concerned that there were not  staff available to supervise the student’s administration of insulin. Additionally, the charter school participated in “Camp Exposure,” an out-of-town educational field trip. The “Camp Exposure” program specifically barred students with diabetes from participating in the camp unless the students could take care of their own injections without supervision. Apparently, “Camp Exposure” was not concerned with exposing students with diabetes to its program. The camp counselor explained that “diabetes” is a “red flag” to follow-up with students because the program’s counselors were not trained. Technically, the camp was separate from the charter school, but, by coincidence, it was managed by the school’s charter management company.