Autistic boy with service dog to attend other school for now
By Jim Suhr
Associated Press writer
COLUMBIA, Ill. — A legal fight between a southwestern Illinois school district and a family over an autistic student's use of a service dog will press on even though the boy will attend classes at another school, attorneys for both sides said Tuesday.
The Columbia school district will pay for 5-year-old Carter Kalbfleisch's transportation to the Illinois Center for Autism in Fairview Heights, another St. Louis suburb that is roughly a 45-minute drive from the hometown school the boy's parents wanted their son to attend.
The decision came after the district claimed it could not provide the pre-kindergarten services at the family's preferred school, said Christi L. Flaherty, an attorney for the school system.
The family was investigating the legality of the district's position, said Clay B. St. Clair, an attorney representing the Kalbfleisches.
For now, the family accepts the special-needs school as a way to get Carter's education under way without further delays caused by the legal wrangling, though the Kalbfleisches ultimately hope their son is mainstreamed into Columbia's school system, St. Clair said.
Attending the special-needs school "wasn't really presented to him as much of an option. The district said, 'We're sending him here'" and offering to cover only Carter's travel expenses, not those of his mother or the dog, St. Clair said.
Having Carter attend the autism school "sort of holds everything in abeyance, but the family certainly has objections to this arrangement and doesn't want this to be the permanent status of things," he said.
Ultimately, St. Clair said, "the family wants Carter to go to the same school every other kid would attend under the circumstances."
The district has balked at letting Carter attend school with the dog, arguing that the dog served no necessary educational purpose and could harm at least one student who is allergic to animals.
The family, since suing the district last month, has insisted that the boy's development benefited from the dog and that the two are inseparable.
A Monroe County judge entered a preliminary injunction last month to let Carter bring his dog into his elementary school.
The Mount Vernon-based 5th District Appellate court refused to put that on hold at the district's request. The district still is appealing.