Metro Nashville Public Schools Agrees to Settle Allegations It Violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by Discriminating Against Students with Type 1 Diabetes and to Modify Policies for Students with Type 1 Diabetes

NASHVILLE – The United States has reached an agreement with Metro Nashville Public Schools (“MNPS” or the “District”) and Ross Early Learning Center (“Ross ELC”) to resolve allegations that they violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”), announced Acting United States Attorney Robert E. McGuire for the Middle District of Tennessee. MNPS and Ross ELC are alleged to have refused to allow certain communications related to continuous glucose monitoring on behalf of a three-year-old student with Type 1 Diabetes (“T1D”).

“Enforcing federal law on behalf of vulnerable children makes our community stronger,” said Acting United States Attorney Robert E. McGuire. “This agreement is a win for MNPS students and parents.”

According to the complaint allegations, the complainant parents’ child, who attended Ross ELC at the time of the complaint for much of the 2023-2024 school year and remained an MNPS student through the 2024-25 school year, has T1D and was prescribed a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) by their treating physician to monitor the child’s blood glucose levels. CGMs are approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration to be used without follow-up “finger stick” blood testing. When the child’s blood glucose level is too high or too low, the monitor transmits an alarm from the device to a wireless receiver, such as a smartphone or tablet.

The complainants alleged that they requested the school and school nurse to monitor the CGM while their child is in school or at school-sponsored activities, but Ross ELC refused the request in part, thereby requiring the parents and/or child to be responsible for monitoring the child’s CGM in the afternoons after the school nurse had left the school. Ross ELC also initially told the student’s mother that the parents could provide a device for the school to monitor the child’s CGM, which the parents provided. But Ross ELC later told her that they could no longer use the device provided by the parents and could not communicate with a child’s parents during school about the CGM other than by phone calls or password-protected emails. Following this development, the parents removed the child from Ross ELC for approximately one month due to the school and MNPS communication policy. Afterwards, the parents allowed their child to return to Ross ELC, but only for a half-day in the morning – rather than the full school day – due to Ross ELC’s nurse departing the school after lunch. At different times, the child had experienced dangerously low or high blood glucose levels, resulting in adverse physical effects and requiring the parents’ prompt response by either visiting or calling the school to ensure their child received the requisite care.

As part of the settlement, Ross ELC and MNPS have agreed, consistent with the requirements of the ADA, to ensure that no qualified individual with a disability will, on the basis of disability, be excluded from participation in or be denied the benefits of the services, programs, or activities of the District or be subjected to discrimination by the District. Specifically, Ross ELC and MNPS have agreed to modify the District’s policies, practices and/or procedures to permit the use of CGMs by children diagnosed with T1D who are prescribed such devices by a physician (or an advanced practice provider), to purchase or use existing equipment owned by the District to monitor blood glucose alerts transmitted from CGMs of children with T1D, to provide appropriately trained staff in the MNPS school attended by the complainants’ child with a cellphone or other appropriate device, so that the complainant family may more efficiently communicate with MNPS during school about the child’s CGM, and to modify the District’s policies, practices and/or procedures to ensure that school nurses and other appropriate trained staff members monitor blood glucose alerts transmitted by the CGM of a child with T1D to a dedicated receiver, tablet/smartphone application, or other appropriate technology during the school day and during school-sponsored activities. MNPS also agreed to make all policies and procedures about CGMs available on its website under the “Policies and Procedures” section of its webpage.

MNPS also will pay the complainants $1,000 as part of the resolution.

Assistant United States Attorney Ellen Bowden McIntyre in the United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Tennessee investigated the complaint and negotiated the resolution. MNPS worked collaboratively with the United States Attorney’s Office to resolve this complaint.

The civil claims settled by this resolution are allegations only, and there has been no determination of liability.

The ADA was passed on July 26, 1990. The Act reaffirmed our nation’s commitment to ensuring that people with disabilities have the right to live, work, and full participate in the community alongside their fellow citizens.

More information about the ADA is available at the Justice Department’s toll-free ADA Information line at (800) 514-0301 or (800) 514-0383 (TTY) and via the ADA website at http://www.ada.gov or through contacting the U.S. Attorney’s civil rights hotline at 313-226-9151. ADA complaints may be filed by email to ada.complaint@usdoj.gov.

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