Artifact #4: DISABILITIES 1

Artifact #4

Edward Burcham

College of Southern Nevada

Author Note

[Include any grant/funding information and a complete correspondence address.]

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Abstract

In this paper, we will be discussing whether a school principal had the right to turn away

a special education child from proper schooling. This child was known to be profoundly

mentally retarded, someone that would not benefit from schooling at all. We will be using the

cases, Cedar Rapids v Garret, Timothy v. Rochester, and Unified Schl Dis v Holland in order to

discuss whether what she did was legally justified. We will look at these cases and what was

decided in these cases and apply them to this case to show if it was legally justified. At the end,

we will discuss what the supreme court would decide on the matter and whether or not I would

agree with it.

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Artifact #4

Special Education is something that we all know and surely do not understand a lot about,

it being something that never really crosses our mind. Generally they are put outside the scope of

the general public, being placed in their own special classroom where they learn at a different

pace than us. In some cases, there are some special education students who have been denied the

normal schooling we all have due to their classification of mental retardation. Students who are

classified as profoundly mentally retarded cannot benefit from normal schooling, so they

generally do not go to school. In this case, we talk about just this.

In this case, we have Debbie Young, a seasoned high school principal who has served as a

special education teacher and an assistant principal in a southern school, who is in a bit of

trouble. One day, she has been approached by parents of tenth grade student, Johnathan, who is

known to be severely disabled both physically and mentally. His disabilities also require him to

have a nurse who has to take care of him constantly. The handicaps he has is that he is

profoundly mentally retarded, has spastic quadriplegia, and has severe seizures. Debbie Young

has refused the chance for him to come to their school, seeing it as a extraordinary expense and

that the school would not be the best place for him. Now a case has been brought up that has

made it so she may get in trouble for her decision. In order to see how the courts would decide

how to look at this, we need to look at previous court cases to see what they would do. We will

be looking at Cedar Rapids v Garret, Timothy v. Rochester, and Unified Schl Dis v Holland to

show how the courts would decide.

One case that would be able to help the child stay in the school would have to be Cedar

Rapids Community School District v. Garrett. In this case, Garrett, a minor in the school district

was physically handicapped, required a wheelchair to get around and depended upon a ventilator.
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When he brought up the fact he needed special attention to his physical needs during the day, the

school refused to acknowledge that they needed to attend to his needs that were imperative to

making sure he went to school. The school believed that it was not financially responsible for

making sure his physical needs were met. While IDEA made it so they had to provide school

health services, not the medical services that he needed to attend school. The student’s parents

brought the case to court, where the Supreme Court eventually decided in favor of the student.

They said that any services that was required to keep the child in school would have to be met by

the school in question. If the benefits of having them in education outweighed the financial

burden they would have to face, the school had to accommodate them. This helps out Johnathan

because it shows that the school needs to be able to provide for him as a special education

student. They have to provide him with the proper education and care while in the school

because the benefits of him getting an education would outweigh the financial burden they would

have to put up with to make sure Johnathan got a proper education.

One of the cases that would help Johnathan get a proper education in Debbie Young’s

school would be Timothy v. Rochester. In this case, the student Timothy, has multiple disabilities

and has been classified as profoundly mentally retarded. When it came to the time for him to

enter school, the school district had a meeting to determine whether or not he would benefit from

education. In the meeting, most of the pediatricians said that he would benefit because he was

capable of responding to sounds and other stimuli. They recommended to give him an Individual

Education Plan, but two of his pediatricians said he would not benefit at all from this. Under the

EAHCA, they were required to provide him with the proper IEP. They brought it to court, where

the court decided that they were forced to allow Timothy into the school regardless of what his

disability was. This can help Johnathan by giving them a way to show that Debbie Young must
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provide him with some sort of IEP that will allow for him to attend her school. Even though he

may not be able to benefit from the education, it does not stop them from being able to entitle

him to an education.

The last thing that could help Jonathan get into the school would be Holland v. Unified

School District. In this case, Rachel Holland was a student in the city of Sacramento and was

classified as mentally disabled. During her time in the school district, she was included in a

general education classroom for a certain amount of time. Her parents were looking to increase

the time she had in the general education classrooms, but the district rejected this proposal. When

they did, she was moved to a kindergarten class in the Shalom School, a private school full time.

Her parents brought this to the court’s attention, eventually creating a law suit against them

district. In the end she was granted that she was allowed to be in there full time due to fact she

was actually benefitting from more mainstreaming. This helps him by showing that the school

has to allow him to have some time in the school to assess this.

In this situation, it would be very easy to see how the courts would deal with this case.

They would ultimately find in the favor of the student due to the fact that all court cases dealing

with getting a student with special education services in the school all are in favor of the student.

In Holland v. School District, they have to be able to give him time in the school district to show

if he would need to be mainstreamed or simply put in special education classes. In Timothy v.

Rochester, it showed that they have to allow him to attend school, even if the cost may be too

high and he wouldn’t be able to learn properly. In Rapids Community School District v. Garrett,

it showed that even if Debbie Young thought it would be too costly, she must provide any service

that is mandatory to him attending school. With these three cases, the court’s hands would be tied
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in this, making it so Debbie Young would have no choice but to allow him into the school, even

if he would not benefit from a proper education.

In the end, it shows that no matter who you are or how capable you are at learning, your

entitled to a free education, no matter what the cost. The school has to be able to provide you

with the services that are able to make it so you can go. So no matter what, you can get a

education.
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References

"Cedar Rapids Community School District v. Garrett." Oyez. Web. 03 Apr. 2016.

"U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals." SACRAMENTO v. RACHEL H. Web. 03 Apr. 2016.

Steketee, Amy M. "Timothy W. v. Rochester, New Hampshire, School District." Encyclopedia

Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica. Web. 03 Apr. 2016.