1

Jurado/

Cynthia Jurado
Introduction to Special Education 203
Landmark Court Case
November 7, 2021
 2
Jurado/

Cynthia Jurado

Professor Sgobba

Introduction to Special Education 203

7 November 2021

Landmark Court Case

Fry V. Napoleon Community Schools

A student’s IEP can be revised at any time to fit the students’ growing needs. If parents

and school representatives cannot agree on IEP issues, the IDEA has established formal

procedures to resolve said issues.

Ehlena Fry is a child with a severe form of cerebral palsy. She began kindergarten, and

her parents wanted her to bring her service dog with her. Ehelna’s parents stated that the dog

could help the child throughout the day with various life activities. Wonder aids E. F. by

“retrieving dropped items, helping her balance when she uses her walker, opening and closing

doors, turning on and off lights, helping her take off her coat, [and] helping her transfer to and

from the toilet.” The school argued that the provided human one-to-one aide was able to help

Ehelna with all those tasks. The school and parents had already previously agreed to the child

having a one-to-one human aide, which would provide support directly to Ehelna during her

school day. That was not enough for the parents, and they believed the dog should be allowed.

The Office of Civil Rights ruled in the first case that Ehelna would be allowed to bring the dog to

school. However, after a meeting with school officials, the parents worried about resentment

from the principal and ultimately moved Ehelna to a new school district where the dog was

allowed. The Fry’s were not satisfied with the results of the first court case so later took the case

to the Supreme Court for monetary compensation for injuries.

 3
Jurado/

During the supreme court case, Fry v. Napoleon, it was found that the parents of Ehelna

did not exhaust all IDEA requirements before filing the case with the supreme court. The parents

did not request to have an IEP meeting to discuss the educational restraints that the service dog

could relieve throughout the entire ordeal. These findings did make this a landmark case because

the courts then knew to look for the exhaustion of the IDEA’s administrative procedures when a

plaintiff is seeking relief in the form of monetary value. There was no denial of a FAPE in this

case, as the parents had believed. They were, in fact seeking damages for emotional distress and

injuries instead of lack of education provided.

The court case was later settled out of court with an undisclosed settlement agreement.

Upon my research, I would say that that agreement included an elementary school within the

Napoleon Community Schools District that was specially tailored to meet the needs of special

education students. Ezra Eby Elementary School offers “a program that takes the time to reach

out to every child and give them the opportunity to grow into a lifelong learner.” This school

sounds just like what Ehelna needed.

 4
Jurado/

Works Cited

Garda, R. (2017). Fry v. Napoleon community schools: Finding a middle ground. Journal of

Law and Education,  46(4), 459-477.

http://ezproxy.library.csn.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-

journals/fry-v-napoleon-community-schools-finding-middle/docview/1984360888/se-2?

accountid=27953

McGonegal, Michel. “About Ezra Eby Elementary.” Napoleon Community Schools, 2021,

https://napoleonschools.org/location/ezra-eby-elementary/.