Nanaimo family seeks answers as 8-year-old son remains medically excluded from school

The family of an autistic boy in Nanaimo is looking for a path to get their son back into his school, claiming they are being given few options and even fewer answers.

Andrea MacDonald says her eight-year-old son Luca has been medically excluded from his program for more than 60 days.

“We have no idea how to get him back, despite the multiple emails and meetings, and appeals of asking, what is the clear pathway to get him back to school? And no one can tell us,” she told 1130 NewsRadio.

Luca, who is non-verbal, usually attends a Life Skills Program at Georgia Avenue Community School. But in February, MacDonald states that she and the family were told he could no longer attend.

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A letter from the school district told the family there were repeated episodes of “Level 3 Behaviour,” which the district describes as endangering the health and well-being of staff and students.

“Today, he had an escalation of more than 40 minutes where he bit his EA through clothing, breaking skin and leaving a significant bruise. There was also property damaged in the school hallway,” the letter dated Feb. 26 stated.

“In recent weeks, other Level 3 behaviours have included targeted throwing, pursuing/lunging at specific staff, biting, hair pulling, pinching, kicking, property destruction, and self-injurious behaviours such as hitting his head on the wall or glass,” it continued.

“Pursuant to my obligations … this letter is to inform you that I am excluding Luca from school until a certificate is obtained from the school medical officer, or a private medical practitioner permitting his return,” the letter ended.

According to MacDonald, one of those incidents related to property damage was when Luca ripped posters off a wall.

“He’s a great kid, but with autism can come behaviours. Asking for them to be behaviour-free is like asking for a cure or telling them they can’t be who they are, and they need to be excluded,” MacDonald said.

“His class is filled with kids with all the same behaviours … but yet he’s the one sitting at home while they are at school,” she added.

MacDonald says the family was told that Luca could return to class if the district received a medical certificate or letter from a private practitioner determining him fit to return. She adds that they got two letters from Luca’s medical care team, but were then told by the district that they weren’t sufficient. It’s now been more than 60 days of trying to get him back into his class.

“We were able to achieve two letters. And now they say those aren’t medical certificates. They want certificates, not letters,” MacDonald explained. “But the thing is, they told the pediatrician what they wanted, and she wrote it, and then it wasn’t what they wanted. They want a certificate, but they didn’t tell her that.”

The letters provided to the school district, which 1130 has seen, state that Luca’s medical condition “has resolved.”

One letter says that while Luca’s “behaviours can escalate” when his medical condition worsens, “This letter is to state that his [illness] is currently stable and his parents are well connected and accessing his medical team to manage his [illness].”

“School is a vital part of a child’s life, and we hope to see him return since he is feeling better!” the other letter from a pediatric gastroenterologist at BC Children’s Hospital stated.

MacDonald shares that she and her husband are also not being invited to district meetings about Luca’s case. She says Luca’s care providers, including his pediatric team and social worker, were invited to a meeting last week, but not them. “You’d think if they had an interest in collaborating, they would involve the parents,” she explained.

MacDonald says the exclusion from school is having a major impact on Luca, including becoming depressed.

“He’s so bored. He’s climbing the walls. A kid should be at school and not sitting at home. It’s definitely affecting him, for sure,” she explained.

District giving family mixed messages: mother

In a statement to 1130 NewsRadio, Nanaimo Ladysmith Public Schools executive director Gillian Robinson says Luca’s case is a “very complicated situation.”

Robinson confirmed that Luca is under an exclusion under Section 95 of the School Act. The act states:

“If a teacher, principal, vice principal, or director of instruction suspects a student is suffering from a communicable disease or other physical, mental or emotional condition that would endanger the health or welfare of the other students, the teacher, the principal, the vice principal or the director of instruction

• (a)must report the matter to the school medical officer, to the school principal and to the superintendent of schools for the district, and
• (b)may exclude the student from school until a certificate is obtained for the student from the school medical officer, a private medical practitioner, or a private nurse practitioner permitting the student to return to the school.”

Robinson clarified that a “medical certificate is different than a doctor’s note or letter.”

MacDonald says the district is giving the family mixed messages.

“The district stated they wanted and would conduct a functional behavioural assessment last week for him to attend a few days of school,” she explained. “We were told last week that it was cancelled and they no longer needed this assessment, and they have enough data to have a meeting instead.”

“They are now saying they need a behavioural assessment, and one hasn’t been done, and he can’t return without one with a medical certificate,” she said.

MacDonald says the family is at a loss as to what to do next.

“I don’t know what our options are at this point,” she said. “We’re going to have to probably seek legal counsel because they’re not communicating with us at all.”

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