Imagine this: Your six year old child is starting kindergarten, and it’s his first year in public school. Since he has food allergies and you’re an alert allergy parent, prior to the start of the school year, you meet with the school nurse, the transportation director, and you contacted the bus driver. You advised them that your son has a peanut allergy, he wears an EpiPen, and you told them your food polices. The bus driver informs you that she gives out treats on Fridays, and she helpfully suggests handing the treat to you, rather than to your son. The school bus driver doesn’t come to the 504 meeting, but she isn’t required to be there. Transportation is included on your son’s 504 plan, and everything seems fine.
On the first day of school, your son is excited to ride the bus and is waiting with you at the bus stop, but the bus driver drives right past him, leaving him standing at the curb. No worries, you think, it’s the first day of a new school year, and she forgot that she has a new passenger to pick up. You drive your son to school and ask to talk to the bus driver. It’s then that the Principal informs you that the bus driver refuses to pick your son up because he’s a liability to her due to his peanut allergy. Naturally, you break down in tears. On day 2 of school, the bus driver rides right by him again. What would you do?
This is Erica and Ed’s story, an Indiana family. Erica called the school superintendent and school principal to tell them about this issue. On day 3 of the school year, the bus driver, Kelly Carrico, picked their son up (she had been told she had to). She picked him up for exactly 7 days, then she decided not to pick him up again, and she left Erica and Ed’s son standing at the curb. Ultimately a second bus was sent just for him, which he had to board alone, after his friends left on the regular bus.
Four school board meetings were held, while the school looked to fire the bus driver for violation of contract: She’s an independent contractor employed by the school, and she is required to pick up all students on her route. They let her keep her contract and didn’t fire her. The bus driver said she’d follow protocol by pulling the bus over and calling 911, and that she would not help Erica and Ed’s son herself, were he to have an allergic reaction. She stated: “I don’t want to deal with it.” The school offered to put an aide on the bus for Erica and Ed’s son.
Erica and Ed decided to pursue an Office of Civil Rights (OCR) complaint for a student with a disability under the 504 Act. The school can lose its state and federal funding over allowing a child to be discriminated against under the 504. Erica and Ed opted for an early resolution, and an OCR lawyer communicated with school.
The school system was found to be at fault, as it should have disciplined the bus driver or terminated her contract. Instead, the driver was offered another route, which she turned down, and continued to drive right by Erica and Ed’s son leaving him to be picked up by a different driver. She was found not to have the right to refuse to drive an allergic student. The Office of Civil Rights came up with list of remedies, and as the parents, Erica and Ed were able to add items.
Shockingly, a prominent food allergy advocate telephoned this family to recommend that they not pursue this issue, arguing that they may make allergic families look crazy. Can you believe that she recommended that the family accept the discrimination and not make waves?! Thankfully, Jodie Hommer of Spokane Food Allergy Support Network connected with the family offering support and helping them network with other individuals (myself included) who could help them.
Due to Erica and Ed’s will to fight for their son and the accommodation of all allergic students, all bus drivers are to have mandatory medical training every two years (the driver in this case refused it). She was moved to another route and can’t re-bid on this route, and she will never be allowed to be Erica and Ed’s son’s bus driver because she discriminated against a child with a disability. This cost her some of her route, and Erica and Ed did not pursue having her fired. This was finalized at a school board meeting, and the driver would be automatically terminated if this happens again.
Shockingly, the bus driver refused to take the agreement! She was suspended pending termination at the next board meeting, and she has now been officially terminated.
Erica and Ed’s son is traveling safely by bus to school along with his class mates. Pursuant to his 504 plan, he sits at the front of bus in an assigned seat in view of the bus driver. He has an EpiPen in his backpack along with his medical health plan, and the bus driver is aware of this. There is a no food policy on the bus.
This wasn’t easy on Erica, Ed, or their son. In fact, he had a really hard time with this. I can’t believe the bus driver discriminated on the basis of allergy. If she took at hard look at the medical information of all the children on the bus, I’m certain she would have found children with asthma, diabetes, and other health concerns. Her role as a bus driver is to be responsible for the children as she drives them from point A to point B. It should be obvious that she can’t discriminate and only drive children that have no disabilities or medical conditions: That’s part of her job, and that should have been obvious to her.
The other day, I traveled by bus from London to Toronto. I thought of Erica, Ed, and their son as I watched the Greyhound bus driver load a wheelchair bound woman and her toddler onto the bus. No one seemed concerned about who would help her out if we had to evacuate or who would be responsible for her toddler, since she couldn’t help the toddler herself. We’re used to people with certain disabilities, such as those requiring a wheelchair, and we tolerate accommodations for them.
Unfortunately, as demonstrated by this bus driver, some members of our society don’t have tolerance for allergic individuals yet, and since we appear “normal” there seems to be little inhibition about discriminating against us. Just as it’s appalling and socially unacceptable to taunt or discriminate against someone who’s in a wheelchair, it’s appalling to discriminate against someone with food allergies. Shame on this driver for doing so, and for picking a child as her target, instead of someone her own size.
Union North School Board Cancels Bus Driver’s Contract
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