I’ve read the whole article and it seems to indicate this:
Dakota fidgets with his walking stick while riding on the bus. While doing so, he hit someone else, likely the person next to him.
It wasn’t intentional, that I can tell. For the safety of the students and to avoid lawsuits from other children’s parents if their kids were injured by the stick, they substituted the noodle. It was temporary. I don’t think they knew what else to do to try and get him to stop fidgeting with the stick. I don’t know if that is even possible. A blind kid sitting motionless on a bus with activity of other kids all around him, and he’s supposed to sit perfectly still because he has a long stick in his hand. Right.
I would have suggested they get him one of those fold up walking sticks. Maybe his parents could have gotten him a fold up walking stick.
But, they didn’t. They went with the noodle. The parents complained, the school met with the parents, the school gave the ‘cane’ (walking stick) back.
Everyone is happy now...... UNTIL IT PUTS SOME KID’S EYE OUT.
They should go with the fold up walking stick.
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.
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.