ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — The Department of Education is investigating a Winter Springs charter school that allegedly denied admission of an autistic student.
Under Florida law, charter schools aren't allowed to discriminate against students, according to Channel 9’s Lori Brown.
Kim Shelton is the mother of a daughter with cerebral palsy. Shelton said if the allegation is true that Choices In Learning discriminated against a child because she had autism, it is disgraceful.
“They have to fight for so much,” said Shelton. “To not get the education they deserve, I'm shocked about that. It takes us backwards."
The Department of Education is investigating another mother's complaint that her daughter was denied admission to kindergarten at the Winter Springs school because the girl has high-functioning autism.
According to the complaint, “The principal told her that the student would not have been admitted because she would not have done well with the curriculum because of her disability."
A Harvard University researcher said the case highlights a nationwide trend. He said there is a pattern of exclusion among charter schools and that there is a disincentive to enroll the disabled because they cost more to educate.
But disabled advocate Jamison Jessup said schools receive more funding for children with disabilities.
“Sending them off and excluding them from their non-disabled peers is not only a travesty to them but a detriment to their non-disabled peers who don't get the opportunity to experience the value of their disabled peers,” Jessup said.
Linsey Shelton’s said her disability does not keep her from contributing.
“It doesn't mean you don't have that potential,” she said.
Choices In Learning did not return WFTV’s phone calls seeking comment.
Seminole County school administrators are meeting Wednesday to decide if they should launch their own investigation.
WFTV
