United States Court of Appeals
For the First Circuit
No. 97-1785
KEVIN G., A MINOR,
BY JO-ANN AND ROBERT G., HIS PARENTS AND NEXT FRIENDS,
Plaintiffs, Appellants,
v.
CRANSTON SCHOOL COMMITTEE AND KATHLEEN F. DELUCA
IN HER OFFICIAL CAPACITY AS TREASURER FOR THE CITY OF CRANSTON,
Defendants, Appellees.
APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF RHODE ISLAND
[Hon. Francis J. Boyle, U.S. District Judge]
Before
Stahl, Circuit Judge,
Aldrich and Coffin, Senior Circuit Judges.
Richard J. Savage for appellants.
William F. Holt, Assistant City Solicitor, for appellees.
November 17, 1997
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Per Curiam. Kevin G. is an eleven year-old boy who suffers
from several medical conditions, including respiratory problems
requiring use of a tracheal tube for breathing. He appeals the
decision by the Cranston school district, upheld by the district
court, to place him in the Gladstone school rather than his
neighborhood school, the Waterman school. We affirm.
Kevin
G.'s
medical conditions require that he receive medical
care
at
school,
including a full-time nurse. Gladstone is the only
elementary
school in the Cranston school district with a full-time
nurse. Kevin G. acknowledges this, but argues that the school
district has the responsibility to move a nurse teacher to
Waterman.
In
a
thorough
opinion, the district court explained that
while
the
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act ("the Act"),
20 U.S.C. SS 1411-1415, requires the school district to provide a
free
appropriate education for children with disabilities, it does
not
require
optimal
results. See Kevin G. by Jo-Ann G. v. Cranston
School
Committee, 965 F. Supp. 261 (D. R.I. 1997). Thus, while it
may be preferable for Kevin G. to attend a school located minutes
from his home, placement in Gladstone satisfies the Act.
Gladstone,
which is located only three miles from Kevin G.'s home,
meets all his educational and medical requirements. The school
district has an obligation to provide a school placement which
includes a nurse on duty full-time, but it is not required to
change the district's placement of nurses when, as in this case,
care is readily available at another easily accessible school.
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Accordingly, we agree with the district court that the
Gladstone placement satisfies the requirements of the Act.
Affirmed.
.
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