On Feb. 22, the Supreme Court decided Fry v. Napoleon Community Schools, a case that considered the interplay between the exhaustion requirements of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Title II of the American with Disabilities Act, and Section 504 of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act.

The case centered around a child by the name of E.F. and her service dog, a golden doodle named Wonder. E.F. was born with spastic quadriplegia, a severe form of cerebral palsy that impairs her motor movement in all four limbs. Aptly named Wonder fosters E.F.’s independence by assisting her with certain living skills such as “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.” When E.F. was about to start kindergarten, E.F.’s parents, the Frys, requested that the school permit Wonder to accompany E.F. to class. The school refused. Because the school planned to provide E.F. with a human aide, the school asserted that Wonder was an unnecessary accommodation. Unmoved by the school’s recalcitrance, the Frys took their dogfight to the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR). The Frys contended that the school was discriminating against E.F. under Title II and Section 504 by denying her a reasonable modification. The OCR concurred, and the school turned tail and agreed to allow Wonder to accompany E.F. to class.

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