Court Opinion

ID: 2964981
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2015-09-21 21:33:45.062472+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T11:43:04.162704
License: Public Domain

USCA1 Opinion

	

                           United States Court of Appeals
                                For the First Circuit
                                ____________________
       No. 97-1785
                                 KEVIN G., A MINOR,
               BY JO-ANN AND ROBERT G., HIS PARENTS AND NEXT FRIENDS,
                               Plaintiffs, Appellants,
                                         v.
                  CRANSTON SCHOOL COMMITTEE AND KATHLEEN F. DELUCA
           IN HER OFFICIAL CAPACITY AS TREASURER FOR THE CITY OF CRANSTON,
                               Defendants, Appellees.
                                ____________________
                    APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
                          FOR THE DISTRICT OF RHODE ISLAND
                    [Hon. Francis J. Boyle, U.S. District Judge]
                                ____________________
                                       Before
                                Stahl, Circuit Judge,
                     Aldrich and Coffin, Senior Circuit Judges.
                                ____________________
            Richard J. Savage for appellants.
            William F. Holt, Assistant City Solicitor, for appellees.
                                ____________________
                                  November 17, 1997
                                ____________________
                                         -1-

               Per Curiam.  Kevin G. is an eleven year-old boy who  suffers
          from several medical  conditions, including respiratory  problems
          requiring use of a tracheal  tube for breathing.  He appeals  the
          decision by the Cranston school district, upheld by the  district
          court, to  place him  in  the Gladstone  school rather  than  his
          neighborhood school, the Waterman school.   We affirm.    
               Kevin 
                    G.'s 
                         medical conditions require that he receive medical
          care 
              at 
                school, 
                        including a full-time nurse.  Gladstone is the only
          elementary 
                    school in the Cranston school district with a full-time
          nurse.   Kevin G. acknowledges this,  but argues that the  school
          district  has the  responsibility  to  move a  nurse  teacher  to
          Waterman. 
                    
                    In 
                      a 
                        thorough 
                                 opinion, the district court explained that
          while 
               the 
                   Individuals with Disabilities Education Act ("the Act"),
          20 U.S.C. SS 1411-1415, requires the school district to provide a
          free 
              appropriate education for children with disabilities, it does
          not 
             require 
                    optimal 
                            results.  See Kevin G. by Jo-Ann G. v. Cranston
          School 
                Committee, 965 F. Supp. 261 (D. R.I. 1997).  Thus, while it
          may be preferable for Kevin G. to attend a school located minutes
          from  his  home,  placement  in  Gladstone  satisfies  the   Act.
          Gladstone, 
                    which is located only three miles from Kevin G.'s home,
          meets all his  educational and medical requirements.  The  school
          district has an  obligation to provide  a school placement  which
          includes a  nurse on duty  full-time, but it  is not required  to
          change the district's placement of nurses when, as in this  case,
          care is readily available at another easily accessible school.  
                                         -2-

               Accordingly, we  agree  with  the district  court  that  the
          Gladstone placement satisfies the requirements of the Act. 
               Affirmed.     
           
         .  
                                         -3-