Herbie is not invited back’: School banishes seizure-alert dog for nine-year-old disabled boy, lawsuit says

The parents of a Tennessee third-grade student with multiple disabilities are suing their school district for refusing to allow the child’s service dog on campus.

Douglas and Sarah Dietz filed a federal lawsuit against the Germantown Municipal School District on behalf of their child, M.D., who attended Dogwood Elementary School.

M.D. is a nine-year-old boy with a twin brother named N.D. According to the lawsuit, both boys have profound disabilities and are nonverbal, making them eligible for legal protection under Section 504 of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). N.D. has Down syndrome and intellectual disability, while M.D. has an extremely rare chromosomal condition. M.D. has both an Individualized Education Program (IEP) and an Individual Health Plan (IHP) that are protected by federal law. The twins have two younger siblings who also go to school in the district.

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According to their filing, the Dietzes observed M.D. having 10 to 15 seizures per day at home, but his teachers reported very little seizure activity at school.

To address the seizures, the parents decided to travel to Kansas and buy Herbie, a service dog, in the spring of 2024. Herbie was trained to help M.D. live as “safely and independently as possible,” according to the lawsuit, as well as to alert others when M.D. was having a seizure using a variety of methods.

According to the complaint, as part of Herbie’s training, Sarah Dietz recorded her voice giving Herbie commands and then incorporated the recordings into an assisted communication device that M.D. uses on a regular basis.

The family described how service dogs are trained to protect people with seizure disorders:

According to the family’s filing, Herbie is trained to place his paw or head on M.D.’s or another person’s lap if the boy is having a seizure, and if he does not receive a proper response to his alerting, he will nudge with his nose and pace back and forth with increased speed if his behavior is not acknowledged.

The Dietz family stated that they offered to provide training to the school district for free, but the district “declined all training.”

According to the family, Jessica Woody, principal of Dogwood Elementary School, called the parents to a meeting in September during which Woody stated that Herbie “was not welcome” at the school.

According to the filing, a weekly report prepared by school personnel showed that Herbie rarely stayed near M.D., frequently approached other students, ate their food, sniffed others, ran around, and refused to obey commands.

The Dietzes claimed Woody told them their son could have a service dog, but it couldn’t be Herbie due to Herbie’s behavior.

However, the parents argued in the complaint that Herbie’s behavior is not problematic, and that the school’s refusal to complete training may be the source of their frustrations.

They stated that when they expressed their concerns to Woody, she responded, “I really feel that all of the reasons Herbie is not invited back have been fully covered.”

They stated in their lawsuit that at the meeting, Woody “inexplicably said words to the effect that Herbie would behave if they were present,” and speculated, “Perhaps Ms. Woody knew that Herbie behaves as trained when given the opportunity to hear proper commands and when responded to when alerting.”

The parents claimed in their complaint that, “What appears to be lost on Ms. Woody and Defendant is that Herbie is not fungible.”

“Service dogs are expensive and highly trained to bond with the disabled individual they support,” they told me.

The family files multiple claims alleging violations of federal disability law and requests that the court order the school to allow Herbie to accompany M.D. to school.

The Germantown Municipal School District responded to a request for comment with the following:

You can read the full complaint here .

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