Opinion ID: 2976065
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Jenkins and Her Daughter, Shanell

Text: This case stems from a dispute between Jenkins and school officials over the treatment of Jenkins’s daughter, Shanell. Shanell was enrolled in first grade at Rock Hill Elementary School (“Rock Hill”) in March 2000. That month, Shanell was diagnosed with diabetes, and Jenkins made arrangements with the school nurse, Marsha Wagner (“Wagner”), for Wagner and other school personnel to assist Shanell with her diabetes treatment. There were no problems until Shanell started second grade in the 2000-2001 school year. Jenkins again arranged with Wagner for school personnel to assist Shanell. However, there was an apparent misunderstanding between Jenkins and Wagner over whether Wagner would administer an insulin shot if she received proper written authorization from Jenkins and Shanell’s doctor. This confusion led Jenkins to believe Rock Hill was being uncooperative in caring for Shanell. Because Rock Hill would not administer insulin shots, Jenkins contacted Evans, the school superintendent, on October 29, 2001. In her affidavit, Jenkins alleges Evans told her the school was not responsible for Shanell’s medical care and suggested she enroll Shanell in a different school. Jenkins then contacted the School Board on November 19 and the Ohio Coalition for Children with Disabilities on November 26. The following day, November 27, 2001, Jenkins alleges Evans called her and told her Shanell could not come back to school. This prompted Jenkins to contact the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights, the Ohio Department of Education, a county commissioner, and members of the School Board. After Shanell missed over a week of classes, Evans relented and allowed Shanell to return to school on December 6. The next day, Jenkins claims school personnel barred her from going to Shanell’s classroom, while other non-employees freely walked through the building as Jenkins normally did. Defendants respond that Jenkins was stopped at the front office because she was required to comply with the general policy of signing in before seeing her daughter during school hours. Jenkins claims that when she confronted Evans about this incident and the school’s role in caring for Shanell, Evans threatened to involve the Lawrence County Department of Job and Family Services (“Children Services”) in the matter. “Ms. Jenkins,” he allegedly explained, “you contacted the Office of Civil Rights and got an investigation started, so I figured I’d start one of my own.” The next week, on December 13, 2001, the Ironton Tribune newspaper printed a letter to the editor written by Jenkins: I have a 7-year-old daughter who is diabetic and has attended Rock Hill No. 2 school for three years. I received a phone call from the superintendent Nov. 27 and was told I couldn’t bring my daughter back to school. I was told she wasn’t enrolled there anymore. The school took it upon themselves to withdraw her without my permission and said that I was the one who withdrew her. We tried going to the school and got escorted Nos. 06-4550/4551 Jenkins, et al. v. Rock Hill Local School District, et al. Page 3 out by a teacher. I made contacts with the state and got her back in school after she missed seven days. Now, we are being treated differently, just because I’m fighting for my daughter’s rights. There’s only one teacher in the school willing to take responsibility for my daughter’s health issues. This goes to show you how much “teachers” care about your children. She also filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education, which the agency received on December 17. On December 19, 2001, a call was placed from the Rock Hill principal’s office to Children Services. In that call, Wagner provided information about Jenkins and Shanell. Children Services filed a court complaint against Jenkins in January 2002, but the charges were dropped as unsubstantiated in May 2002. When Jenkins accused Evans of calling Children Services, she contends that he responded, “I told you I was going to involve Children Services . . . I don’t like to be pushed around. I don’t take that too lightly.” When she told Evans their disputes would have to be settled in court, he suggested she would be wasting her time. “I have a lot more pull than you do, and there’s no attorney gonna stand up to me, because they know they can’t win,” she recounts him saying. Also in January 2002, Shanell’s doctor recommended she be home-schooled, and Shanell stopped attending school. Rock Hill initially provided a tutor but that person stopped tutoring Shanell for reasons unknown to her mother. Jenkins repeatedly requested Evans provide a tutor for Shanell but Evans allegedly said he could not find anyone willing to tutor her. Without a tutor, Shanell did not receive her education the last three months of the school year. The next school year, she transferred to another school district.