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A San Jose family continues to fight after their child’s service dog was denied entry to Willow Glen Elementary School.
Lydia Truong says NBC Bay Area His 6-year-old son was recently diagnosed with autism and has a history of eloping and running away.
Because of Truong’s son’s background, Willow Glen Elementary School is located on a main street, so it was difficult to walk from the parking lot to his son’s classroom.
So, to reduce the risk of their son running away, the family brought in their son’s service dog, Maelene.
Maelene is trained to perform an important mission. It involves chasing the child and blocking his path so that he doesn’t veer too far and end up in a dangerous situation.
However, Truong said that on the first day of school in August, the school’s vice principal asked the family if the dog was registered and asked them to remove it from campus.
Mr. Truong then pointed out the following: Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)Service dogs do not require any qualifications. And they can be trained by their owners to perform tasks directly related to a person’s disability.
Additionally, service dogs are allowed to be with their handlers in places where pets are not allowed. These facilities include restaurants, shops, hospitals, schools, and hotels.
So, after being denied access, Truong asked the San Jose Unified School District to document the denial and the reasons for it.
However, the family did not receive any response from the district until September.
In September, the parents received a letter from the San Jose Unified School District stating that the dog did not meet the criteria for a service animal.
It also noted that based on the information reviewed, the dog was not performing any work or tasks related to its disability. and the student “His disability had not been evaluated by the school district.”.
However, Deputy Commissioner Jean Garrett Pacific ADA Center of the Public Health Institute (PHI) A former lawyer with more than 25 years of experience interpreting ADA laws told NBC Bay Area: “It’s still a service animal as long as the keeper can quickly control them.”
Additionally, after being shown a video of Maelene performing a mission of chasing a child and blocking her path, Garrett confirmed that the dog qualifies as a service dog and not just an emotional support dog.
Garrett also added that schools cannot require an evaluation of a child’s disability before allowing a service dog onto campus.
The ADA website states that you can only ask for specific information about your service animal using the following two questions:
- Is the dog needed as a service animal because of a disability?
- What tasks or tasks are dogs trained to perform?
Additionally, you are not permitted to:
- Request documentation that the dog is registered, licensed, or certified as a service animal.
- Ask the dog to demonstrate its task or ask about the nature of the person’s disability
In this case, it was what the school wanted from the family.
For now, the family has chosen not to send Maelen back to school, but continues to train her. Truong even revealed that she hired a dog trainer to help train her dog.
NBC Bay Area said it shared a review of Garrett’s situation with the San Jose School District, but received no response.
