Broken wheelchair lift keeps teen out of desired art class

From The Daily Journal in Vineland, N.J.:

MILLVILLE, N.J. -- Brian Johnson wants to take art class, but the wheelchair-bound 14-year-old has to take accounting instead.

Brian, a freshman at Millville Memorial High School, has been kept out of his favorite subject because the school's wheelchair lift is chronically broken and there's no way to get him to the second-floor art room.

Now, the teen's family has filed a civil-rights complaint with the U.S. Department of Education. Cedarville resident Angie Engrem, Brian's mother, said the chair lift broke down so often that fellow students resorted to carrying her son and his wheelchair to and from the second floor.

After repeated attempts to fix the lift failed, school administrators moved Brian to an accounting class on the first floor, she said.

The school did not notify her of the situation, and Engrem said she found out from her son. Engrem met recently with a school official and has scheduled another meeting later this month.

"It's very frustrating," she said. "They get funding to help students with disabilities, but they won't tell me why this hasn't been fixed."

Superintendent Shelly Schneider declined to comment specifically about Brian's case citing the complaint, but said the lift, which was installed several years ago, has been a consistent problem.

"We've had a lot of problems with it, and had a lot of people come in and try to fix it," she said, adding a replacement would cost $50,000.

Bill Herman, president of the city's Board of Education, said he was not familiar with the incident and referred questions to Schneider.

Engrem said her son, who was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy as an infant, is heartbroken about being taken out of his favorite subject. Engrem said her son declined to be interviewed for the story.

"It's one of the few interests that he has," she said. "I'm not one to cause problems. I just want the lift to be fixed, so when he goes to school he has the option" to take any class he wants.

Beth Auerswald, spokeswoman for the state Department of Education, said if a district cannot fix a piece of equipment it could move the class to a lower floor or hold the class at a separate location. Auerswald declined to speak on the specifics of this case.

Melissa Tomlin, Brian's aunt, said she wants the district to accommodate her nephew.

"His life is hard enough right now. He has challenges every single day," she said. "If there's something he wants to do at the school, he should be able to do it.