California Requires Schools to Help Diabetic Kids

A new settlement may set a precedent for public schools in other states.

ByABC News
August 10, 2007, 5:11 PM

Aug. 12, 2007— -- Jim Stone knows all too well what it's like to navigate a diabetic child through the school system in California.

"When my son Andrew was in first grade, we started to run into problems," said Stone, who works in Modesto. "The school refused to treat him while he was at school, and my wife had to go to there, sometimes several times per day, and give the care he needed."

Fortunately for the Stones, they were able to cope. For some, however, caring for a diabetic child has meant changing careers or quitting jobs.

But a new legal settlement in California may make it easier for parents. On Wednesday, the state agreed to a new policy requiring that a staff member trained to help diabetic children with their medical needs be available at all times of the school day.

The families of four students who were denied proper diabetes treatment brought suit against the California Department of Education, and settled out of court.

And while the settlement has immediate implications for the state, it could well set a precedent for the rest of the country in the years to come.

"This will make a huge difference for children in California, and eventually the nation," said Dr. Francine Kaufman, director of the comprehensive childhood diabetes center at the Children's Hospital of Los Angeles.

"With intensification of diabetes management, which requires shots in school and glucose monitoring, this will enable children to be appropriately cared for as outlined by their diabetes health care providers," Kaufman said.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that one in 523 people under age 20 has diabetes, and most of them have the juvenile, or type I, form of the disease.

Though treatment has gotten easier, with insulin pumps replacing shots and easier-to-read blood sugar monitors, many schools would not allow nonmedical staff to help kids. And with one school nurse per 950 students in U.S. public schools, many schools have no full-time medical staff on site.