Parents take school board to court over autistic son's right to bring service dog to school

A trip down the school's corridors can be an anxiety-filled journey for 15-year-old Thomas Labonte, but his father says having his service dog, Mika, with him would help.

"He's more at ease, especially when it comes time to settle down in classes," said his father, Michel Labonté.

The Labontés are suing the Commission Scolaire de la Capitale, the French-language school board in Quebec City, for refusing to allow Thomas, who has autism, to bring Mika to school.

Thomas Labonté is in Secondary II at  École secondaire de Neufchâtel. This year, his parents were told he could not bring Mika to school with him because another student in his classes is highly allergic.

The school board argued the risk is too high for the student with allergies, and that it's also concerned about the danger Mika could pose, should anything set the dog off.

Érick Parent, the board's head of communications, said the board is not categorically against service and therapy dogs in school — rather it encourages them — but that the health and safety of the student with allergies also need to be considered.

Labonté is in a class for students with special needs and has only seven classmates.

If the students were in the school's mainstream classes, "it would allow us to take a student who is highly allergic and assign him to another class," he told Radio-Canada.

"But that is not possible in this case."

He said the board has tried to accommodate Thomas by trying to find an alternative to bringing Mika to school.

However, the Labontés said the board has had plenty of time to make arrangements for Mika to be able to accompany their son.

Michel Labonté said the school has known since February 2017 that the plan was for Thomas to bring a service dog.

5 other dogs

There are five other students in the board who have therapy or service dogs, Parent said, but none are in Thomas's class.

One is in elementary school, two are in specialized regional schools, and two are in mainstream high-school classes.

The school board also takes issue with Michel Labonté's refusal to provide proof of insurance for Mika, in the event another student has an allergic reaction to the dog or in case the dog acts aggressively.

The parents of the five other children with therapy or service dogs have provided proof of insurance, Parent said.

This is not the first time the Labonté family has taken the school board to court.

Thomas's father sued the board for $600,000 in damages, claiming Thomas missed out on years of development because he had to wait three years to be admitted to a specialized program for children with developmental issues.

The judge who heard that case last month is still deliberating and is expected to rule on the case early next year.

The Labontés are asking for an injunction to allow the dog to accompany Thomas to school, as well as $75,000 in damages.