Appellate Court says Illinois boy with autism can take service dog to school

From the Belleville News-Democrat in Illinois:

The 5th District Appellate Court in Mount Vernon, Ill., has agreed with a Monroe County judge's decision to allow a boy with autism to attend a Columbia school with his service dog.

The appeals court's opinion supporting Monroe County Circuit Judge Dennis Doyle's ruling in August that granted a preliminary injunction to allow Carter Kalbfleisch (pictured) to bring his autism service dog, Corbin, to school was filed Dec. 16. The school district had appealed Doyle's decision.

Instead of following the judge's ruling, the Columbia School District decided it could not meet Carter's educational needs and sent him to the Illinois Center for Autism in Fairview Heights. The school district agreed to pay for Carter's education at the specialized school, but has refused to pay to transport both Carter the dog to the school.

"We're happy that it went our way," said Chris Kalbfleisch, Carter's father. "Hopefully the school will change their direction with this. ... Hopefully we can move forward and get our son back in school."

"We hope that the school district will now see that the federal court, the state court and appellate court have all read the law consistently with how it is set forth," said Kalbfleisch's attorney, Clay St. Clair, of the Crowder & Scoggins law firm in Columbia. "We hope they come to the realization that the law is the law and they have to follow it. Just because you don't like a law doesn't mean you don't have to follow the law. We hope they do what they are supposed to do."

Part of the appellate court decision reads: "There was ample evidence to support the circuit court's finding that Carter would suffer irreparable harm if Corbin was not allowed to accompany him at school. As to the school district's harm, Carter's case manager testified she thought having a dog at school would be disruptive.

"The mother of another child who was planning to attend Carter's school testified that her child suffered from a rare lung disease, that her child was highly allergic to dogs, and that the school district had promised her that her child would not be exposed to any animals at school. Because of these competing interests, the court did not make the injunction effective immediately but made it effective three weeks after its entry.

"It did so presumably to give the school district time to accommodate both students. There was no evidence presented that the other child would be allergic to Corbin, a hypoallergenic dog, that the school district could not accommodate both students, or that the school district or public would suffer a great hardship by having Corbin at school with Carter. Carter's mother offered to provide training to the school's staff on how to handle Corbin or stay with him if need be."

The school district has the option of accepting the appellate court's decision, forcing the issue into a permanent injunction hearing or appealing the case to the Illinois Supreme Court.

A spokesman for the school district could not be reached for comment.

"If the school proceeds they can force this into a permanent injunction hearing, which would be another trial in front of Judge Doyle and he would again have to hear the same evidence," St. Clair said. "Now the question is, are they going to concede the issue on this point, or are they going to continue to spend money and argue the same thing again?"

In November, a Douglas County judge ruled a first-grader can take his autism service dog to school with him after the school district fought to keep the dog out.

Douglas County Circuit Judge Chris Freese agreed with the family of Kaleb Drew when they argued the boy's yellow Labrador retriever, Chewey, was a service animal and should be allowed into the school under the same Illinois law the Kalbfleisches have cited. In that case the school district argued that Chewey was not a service dog.

St. Clair said that Carter is doing well at the Illinois Center for Autism, and Corbin has been accepted by the teachers and students. But his parents, Chris and Melissa Kalbfleisch, think the best thing for Carter is for him with Corbin to be mainstreamed into a public school.

"Before the dog issue, the school district agreed that Carter should be mainstreamed with other children," St. Clair said. "The school district said that would be best for him. The Kalbfleisches want him to go to school just like he was going to school before he got the dog and they want the school to follow the law like they are supposed to."