She Was Injured At School Due To Administration’s Neglect, So When They Expelled Her On A Technicality, They Sued And Won Big Time
by Laura Ornella
Most educators will go out of their way to make sure that all students, regardless of special needs, get the education they deserve.
When this girl needed accommodations after a surgery she was met with uncaring staff, and that led her to take chances that led to another injury at school.
Her mother was outraged and the school kicked her out – so they sued them.
Read on to find out what happened next!
School expelled me for Mom’s anger. We sued the county and caused a reform.
So I have a really bad leg (I’ve had 13 surgeries, long story) and had just started at a new school.
After the first 3 weeks, I had to go in for another procedure on my leg.
Not that big a deal to me, I’ve been here before.
Upon my return, I had documentation of my restrictions, as well as special amenities that were required.
It sounds like this student was extremely organized and communicative with their limitations.
The big three were that I needed extra time to get from class to class, must have someone to escort me, and needed unrestricted access to the elevator.
All of these got me recurring problems such as constant harassment by teachers and security about my being in the halls during class time, and why was my cousin out too (he was filling the role as my escort, as I have anxiety problems and we had the same classes).
These first two were annoying, but easy enough to deal with.
Harassment? Isn’t everyone on the same page with this student’s special needs?
The real issue was the elevator, as I was told multiple times that for security issues I couldn’t have a personal key, due to it sharing the same functionality with the interior door keys.
That doesn’t even make sense.
I would never have had any issues with this, as I was told there would always be someone on the same floor as my classes to open the elevator for me.
This of course, was untrue about 75% of the time.
The lack of elevator access meant that I was always stuck in the halls when other students were going class to class and was consistently late due to having to wait for someone to come by and open the door for the elevator.
This also meant that I would sometimes be stuck waiting through the entire lunch period, and due to my absences couldn’t afford to simply go to lunch after the fact.
Waiting for a whole period?! That’s like 45 minutes, right? That’s insane.
After about three weeks of this, I was tired of not getting to eat lunch.
So I did one of the stupidest things I could have attempted and tried to use the stairs.
For context, I was not on crutches, I was on a full-blown walker.
About halfway down to the landing, I fell. Hard.
OMG! How can no one see this person needs help?!
As lunch was letting out, one of my friends found me, got someone to help pick me up, and carried me to the office.
Another of my friends went to find my other cousin (the one who normally escorted me [and] wasn’t there due to being sick, so I was without escort because I couldn’t bare the though of, gasp, a stranger escorting me), who when getting to the office managed to get me to calm down enough to give them my mother’s number.
Now, my mother is quite hot tempered but can keep a level head normally.
When she heard I fell, she was there in record time.
Good on her. This student needs someone on their team.
When she got there, she immediately asked what happened.
I told her I didn’t want to miss lunch again, so I tried to use the stairs.
Big mistake, as that set off a Tsar Bomba-sized explosive.
She immediately turned around, and DEMANDED for the principal and VP to get in here, ASAP.
As soon as the principal and VP walked in, she started berating them in a fashion not suitable for most adults to hear, let alone kids.
When the VP made an off-hand remark about my condition, my mother was swarmed by local sheriffs that provided security for the school’s entrances and office, as she physically went after the VP.
Wow. Things have gone from 0 to 60 quickly.
We were escorted out, and after looking at the file and realizing my cousin and I had the same address, they figured out that I didn’t actually live there.
Now, my grandmother’s address was listed, as she looked after me after I left school up until around 8 p.m.
She also was raising my cousin after an issue between her and my aunt.
They used this as grounds to expel me and told her, “I can be some other school’s problem now.”
Seriously?! And these are people who interact with children? No way.
I was then enrolled at the school near my house and had to have yet another surgery to repair the damage that was done as a result of my fall and redo the work of the previous procedure.
I had gotten multiple statements from teachers as well as my doctors.
And my parents were moving forward with a lawsuit naming the VP, principal, and the county school [board].
We were contacted by a lawyer who had won multiple cases against our school board, some of which went to the State Supreme Court, and he told us he would take our case pro-bono.
Here’s hoping we get some justice here…
He was getting tired of going against the board and though a case like this would be what it took to try and fix their issues.
Fast forward nine months, and I was walking out of court with a settlement to cover all my procedures, as well as a written confirmation that the school would be going through a complete administrative overhaul.
The principal and VP would be let go and have their administrative credentials revoked in our state.
Good. It’s the least that could happen.
My new school was let know [on] day one [about] my medical requirements and my need for a personal elevator key by the superintendent and the head of the State Board of Education.
This story is so appalling.
Let’s see what other Redditors think.
People were ecstatic about this student’s win and wondered about their condition since.
They also complimented the mother’s unrelenting push for justice.
Commenters were also appalled this was still happening in the modern day.
Ultimately, readers felt sympathetic for this student’s struggle.
If this story shook you, good, it should!
This is disgusting behavior by people who should never be trusted with kids.
Thought that was satisfying? Check out what this employee did when their manager refused to pay for their time while they were traveling for business.
Categories: STORIES
Tags: · abelist, bad principal, bad school, bad teachers, handicapped, lawsuit, picture, pro revenge, reddit, supreme court, top
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