SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — The Davis School District is being sued for allegedly not accommodating the medical needs of a 14-year-old student, according to court documents.
Dennis and Sarah George have filed a complaint on Monday, Feb. 27, against the Davis School District on behalf of their daughter, who reportedly has possibly life-threatening medical conditions including dysautonomia, central/obstructive/mixed sleep apnea, tachycardia, bradycardia, Loeys-Dietz syndrome, mast cell deactivation disorder and more.
Court documents state that healthcare providers have deemed the student in need of a trained aide who can be there to monitor her condition and provide help should medical emergencies arise.
However, the complaint claims that Davis School District officials have decided on Tuesday, Feb. 7, that they are not going to accommodate her need for a trained aide anymore, telling her that the service must be discontinued on Monday, Feb. 27.
Dennis and Sarah George, along with their attorney, have reportedly voiced their objections against the removal of the paraprofessional at a meeting with Davis School District officials on Feb. 7.
In this meeting, school officials have allegedly presented a set of daily tracker data that the parents claimed to have not received before. Data from the daily tracker was then made into charts that the school officials used to demonstrate to the parents how the student did not need support from a paraprofessional.
According to the complaint, the parents were able to point out inaccuracies between the daily tracker data and the charts. Additionally, the complaint alleges data was omitted on days when the student’s health was poor.
Parents have also claimed that the student had participated in numerous extracurricular activities without a trained aide present. School officials responded by saying her faculty advisor could act in the aide’s capacity, but parents pointed out that the advisor is not trained to respond to medical emergencies.
In October 2022, the risk management administrator at the school district allegedly voided the student’s Section 504 Plan and rewrote them, telling the parents, “If not signed by you on Friday, we would deactivate the 2020 Health Care Plan and institute a Health Care Plan without your signature that instructs our staff to call 911 when [student] has a health or medical concern.”
The court documents also allege Davis School District officials filed a false report to the Division of Child and Family Services in January 2022 saying the parents were seeking “too much medical help” for their daughter.
ABC4 reached out to Davis School District officials for comment. They said they will not provide a response because of the pending litigation.
Read the complaint below:
