A Northern Virginia elementary school turned away a child's service dog. Twelve-year-old Andrew Stevens has a rare form of epilepsy and needs his service dog, Alliya, with him at all times. Alliya is trained to detect and respond to Andrew’s seizures. Fairfax County says this dog is not allowed in school.
His mother, Nancy Stevens, describes the disease, which has both physical and emotional symptoms,”is a rare form of epilepsy where he has multiple seizures that cannot be controlled by medication."
Andrew wears a device similar to a pacemaker underneath a pocket of skin, that sets of an electronic shock to his brain in the event of a seizure. Alliya wears a magnet around her collar and is alerted to seizures by sniffing Andrew's face. The dog then swipes the magnet across Andrew's device, and hopefully reduces the seizure's effect.
The Stevens family have waited for two years and raised $20,000 to get Alliya, so that Andrew could return to a regular school. The family's dreams were crushed when Fort Belvoir Elementary rejected their request to have the dog accompany Andrew to school. Andrew's mother is appealing the school's decision, citing the boy's rights under the Americans With Disabilities Act.
The school’s stand is that they cannot be responsible for the care or supervision of the dog. That means that the child has to be old enough and mature enough to provide all the care the dog needs. This includes leaving the school building to toilet the dog during the day. If the child isn't, and the parents don't provide someone who is, that's another reason they could deny access to the dog.
A school system spokesman says that although there are no service dogs anywhere in Fairfax County Public Schools right now, that they have been welcomed in the past as long as the requirements are met.
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Comments
This is sick. I've read about dogs like this one before and how important they are to children like Andrew Stevens. The school should be ashamed of itself. Fairfax County is the most progressive county in this state- I hate to think what that says about Virginia.
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