On December 3rd, our eight-year old son was diagnosed with Diabetes. Where normal sugar levels range between 80-200, Marcus* went into the emergency room with a blood sugar level of 1200. If blood sugar levels drop too low or stay too high without treatment, it would be fatal.

Insulin can only be administered by injection. We give Marcus 3 to 4 injections a day. Apparently, stress can also severely affect Marcus' sugar levels, and Dr. Kaufman*, a pediatric endocrinologists and Marcus' doctor, explained that Marcus should resume as normal a life as possible for his mental and physical health. We took leaves of absence from our jobs to ensure that Marcus transitioned back into school (emergency numbers, care plan, juice/snack kit). We wanted time to train the school nurse to use the new injection pens, as Marcus is one of the first children in New Mexico to use them. We were told that our school nurse is only scheduled at the school 2 days a week. Most APS Elementary schools share a nurse between two schools.

My husband and I asked to meet with our school principal, Bea Etta Harris*, the school counselor, the nurse, the health assistant, his teacher, and one of the acting nurse coordinators. We went into this meeting knowing that the school district only provides a part time nurse, and that Marcus was going to need someone there every day to administer his lunchtime shot. We were told that the only option we had was to bus our child to another school. We could not imagine putting Marcus through the stress of being in a strange place without his friends, his wonderful teacher, and the comforting familiarity of his surroundings. There was the suggestion that I either "quit my job or go to part-time." We informed ourselves about the 504 Disabilities Law, through the American Diabetes Association via their web site. Everyone at the meeting was given a copy of the part of that law that states that children with diabetes should be treated as equal as any other child, that they should have a health plan in their usual neighborhood school, and that there should be a full-time nurse at the school in order to administer life-sustaining medication (insulin). The district said that they had met the requirements of this law by providing bus services to one of the side-by-side schools. We did not believe that Marcus's full legal rights were being met.

The Office of Civil Rights directed us to Protection and Advocacy. An advocate advised us how to proceed and offered to support me during the next meeting. While she made phone calls to several administrators, we called the APS District Compliance Office and were directed to the Quality Assurance liaison, Yvonne Zenga*.

Yvonne immediately set up an Official 504 Accommodation Plan. A second and third letter were written by our principal in support of Marcus' needs.

During this time, Lynn Pedraza* was hired as the new Health and Mental Health Administrator for the school district. She immediately contracted to provide a certified nurse to be at our school on the days when our regular nurse was at her other school. Lynn apologized for the way that we had initially been treated and assured us that Marcus was going to be safe at his school. We talked about connecting nursing staff and Diabetic Centers in the city to share information on newest advances. Because of the advocacy of Lynn and of our principal, Bea, Marcus is back to learning along with his friends, and we can finally rest easier.