DALLAS — Mason King has endured a lot, but his mom worries her six-year-old might not survive first grade.
"If someone is not there to watch him — to make sure that trache is in — he could die," D'Anna Holmes said. "It's literally a hole in his neck that he breathes through."
That's not all.
Mason already beat liver cancer and has hearing loss, requiring special education. But Mason's mother says Dallas ISD isn't following federal law.
The district is not providing a bus for her son, nor is there an aide in the classroom.
His school, Stonewall Jackson Elementary, also has no full-time nurse on staff.
Holmes provided DISD with all of Mason's necessary paperwork in May. She said her child received those special services at public schools in Alabama.
"My biggest worry is that of all the things he has survived thus far, something's going to happen to him at school that I won't be able to prevent — or they won't provide the service he needs," Holmes said.
Dallas ISD said it's a violation of federal law to discuss Mason's case.
"Dallas ISD has been and remains committed to appropriately serving the needs of all of its special education students," Jon Dahlander, district spokesman, said.
Attorney and special education advocate Myrna Silver says, sadly, these situations are not uncommon. "Dallas ISD is absolutely foolish if they are not considering this kind of liability for themselves," she said. "They've been giving this parent the royal runaround since she brought her son to school."
Antoine Ortega died on a playground at a Georgia school in 1998 when his tracheostomy came out.
Mason's mother says every day Dallas ISD fails to deliver proper care to her son, he faces the same risk.
D'Anna Holmes has scheduled a meeting at her son's school on Friday.
Dallas ISD told us repeatedly it was trying to answer our questions about Mason's case, but at the end of the day, said it legally couldn't.
E-mail jwhitely@wfaa.com
