Legal Rights of Children with Epilepsy in School & Child Care

Legal Rights of Children with Epilepsy in School and Child Care
school because a nurse is located there would clearly be a decision based on
administrative convenience, the configuration of the service delivery system or the
availability of the related service she needs.
4) Educate the IEP team about why keeping Shanika at her current school without a
nurse is also inappropriate. Waiting 15 or 20 minutes for paramedics to arrive is too long
a delay; failing to administer the medication during that time may put her health at risk,
and the point of providing the medication at school is to obviate the need for the
paramedics to come in the first place. Obtain letters from Shanika’s physicians, and
obtain and share any information from the Epilepsy Foundation or its local affiliate about
the medication that may be helpful.
5) Advocate for the school district to contract for a nurse for the remainder of the
school year while it makes efforts to hire a nurse for the following school year if
Shanika’s nurse will not be returning to school. The district should contact the county
health department, the state department of education, private nursing agencies and all
local hospitals to find an appropriate replacement, if only for the rest of the school year.
Other sources of possible assistance might be universities with nursing schools and
community colleges with nursing assistant programs, since courses will likely be taught
by registered nurses. Additionally, the district could advertise in all local and statewide
newspapers and offer pay incentives.
6) If these efforts do not yield a nurse quickly, then the district should communicate
with the state board of nursing to try to obtain a waiver of the delegation rule so that an
unlicensed person can be trained to administer Shanika’s medication. The goal is to
ensure that Shanika does not miss school when her nurse leaves if the district has been
unable to secure a replacement nurse.
7) If the district is unwilling to take these steps, Shanika’s family should pursue a
due process hearing request.
Case Scenario 2 — Weekend Field Trip
Marcus is an eleven-year-old student with epilepsy who has recently joined the school
choir. Marcus is in general education classes, but has a Section 504 plan that includes
accommodations such as extra time for tests and school assignments because of the side
effects he experiences from his antiepileptic medications and the impact of his seizures
on his cognitive abilities. The choir takes a weekend overnight trip every spring to
perform at a local amusement park and then spends the next day at the park. Marcus
needs emergency medication about once a month, and he lives in a state in which
administration of emergency antiepileptic medication may be delegated by a nurse to an
unlicensed health aide. Marcus’s Section 504 plan includes emergency antiepileptic
medication administration by a nurse or other qualified person. However, the school has
always provided a nurse, as the nurse at Marcus’s school has refused to delegate
emergency antiepileptic medication administration because she is concerned about
liability if the health aide at the school were to make an error. The school principal and
106