Posted on 12/17/2014 4:34:15 PM PST by Morgana
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Two North Kansas City parents are outraged after they say their blind son’s cane was taken away from him at school by a bus driver.
Eight-year-old Dakota Nafzinger attends Gracemor Elementary School. Rachel Nafzinger said school staff took away her son’s cane as punishment for bad behavior on the bus and then gave him a swimming pool noodle to use as a substitute.
The school wouldn’t go on camera, but North Kansas City School District Spokeswoman Michelle Cronk confirmed taking away Dakota’s cane, calling it school property that was given to him when he enrolled. They said they took it away after he reportedly hit someone with it and wanted to prevent him from hurting himself or others.
His family said it was a way to humiliate him for misbehaving.
They say Dakota is like any other 8-year-old, only he was born without eyes — something in the medical world known as Bilateral Anopthalmia. Still, Dakota loves to sing, fish and swim — despite the extra work those activities require from someone who is blind.
(Excerpt) Read more at fox4kc.com ...
Well that’s a good point. Plus I am feeling stupid for my comment for the obvious reason: he can’t see. How can he really be much of a threat to the other kids?
Calling all lawyers.
sounds like the child needs to have the seat close to the driver.
Once seated the driver takes the stick until time to get out.
Hitting someone by accident or on purpose call for different responses, of course. If he is fidgety, hitting those in close proximity, a fold up cane is an excellent idea.
Better yet, taking advantage of local resources which could teach him how to properly use a cane and other tools, would be better. I hope his parents have explored this.
Got sidetracked—forgot to add, my main point was the noodle. The behavior was secondary.
Expecting a noodle to serve the same purpose as a cane is an expectation based on ignorance. It tells me the teachers, bus drivers, admin, etc need to educate themselves.
I know this child, he was a classmate of my son at his previous school, the Childrens Center for the Visually Impaired. He is completely blind, and the only way he can navigate is with his cane. For those of us that have gone through the transition from CCVI to the area school districts, I can tell all that this district is among the worst in the KC area for providing appropriate services for their disabled students.
The punishment was inappropriate, and a violation of the ADA. The school must provide APPROPRIATE transporation for these children, and after I initiated a lawsuit against them I would demand they provide a bus that transports handicapped children.
As a cost saving measure this school district has tried to mainstream Dakota and while he is a smart, sweet boy who greeted my wheelchair bound son every day when he arrived at class, it’s difficult for him to operate in an environment with “normal” children and unreasonable to expect him to be able to function completely like them.
There is a lot of misinformation out there about this story, and the district is in full retreat mode because they know the driver acted poorly and the district failed to provide him the complete adequate educational experience every child is entitled to.
It’s a shame Dakota and his family have had to endure this.
The article claims that the school gave him the cane. I would have thought a kid who was blind from birth would own a cane that his parents would have bought him.
Any thoughts on why the child didn’t own his own cane, but needed a cane from the school? I think it is important, because if the school gave him the cane, and the kid hurt another kid with that cane, the school could be held responsible for giving him the cane.
I’m not sure why the cane was provided by the school, he had one of his own at his previous school. He hurt no one.
I wouldn’t be surprised in this day of getting suspended for pop tart guns, that the school provided an “acceptable” cane.
a pool noodle?...really?
agreed
That would be the most logical solution. If repeated then paddle him. Before anyone flames let me explain. I was in a special education school for kids with disabilities my seventh and eighth grade. We had a shop teacher all of us respected and loved dearly. He was also a father of a special needs son. If a situation called for using the paddle he'd give a kid a whack on the sitter "IF" the disability allowed for it. None of us thought it odd, wrong, or mean of him. Generally best I recall no one came back for seconds and I got a taste of it once. It hurt yea but getting popped by him hurt worse than the board itself.
My mom drove a special Education bus starting two years after I left. She would have simply put him up front and took the cane until she dropped him off at home. Special needs kids with disabilities fight also LOL. But it's usually an equal match up. IOW some classmates you didn't hit period as it could do very serious harm. We didn't go there and we knew not too.
Not sure about their set up but the school I attended back in the early 1970's had a Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy department. The therapist likely the OT would be the one to give him a cane to train with and learn perhaps trying several variants then order him one best suited for his needs and abilities. Same thing with wheelchairs. Most are custom ordered and custom built for someone confined to one. A Physical therapist has to measure the person and order the needed chair accordingly for the patients needs.
I credit the school I went to for giving me some adaption skills that after high school I was able to pass my armed forces physical and later after my Navy enlistment was over an Army NG physical. I was able to work until age 36 or so when it finally became too much to deal with and work due to my condition over time getting worse.
Special ED teachers many times can head off issues before they become such. They have more time one on one instruction and discipline if needed and more patience.
Public schools are the new prisons.
I overheard a Tennessee high school student (female) about ten years ago refer to her school as a 'concentration camp'
Good luck...they were 'educated' in the public schools.
The skool administration probably blames the mother for not aborting a defective child.
Maybe that’s why the driver had pool toys on the bus?
Certainly sounds like a good approach to me.
I can understand giving him the noodle on the bus. I doesn’t make sense for when he’s off the bus.
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