Rules More Important than Student Needs
‘He can park anywhere…except his public high school’: District, student in fight over parking in lot
Daily Herald article posted November 21, 2024 2:48 pm Rick West
An Elgin family and Burlington-based Central Unit School District 301 are at odds over whether a student can use an accessible parking placard at his high school without a school parking pass.
Gavin Hagge, 16, suffered a concussion playing soccer as a sophomore for the Central High School JV team on Sept. 26, 2023.
Over a year later, the high school junior still suffers from chronic headaches and sensitivity to light and sound.
“They don’t ever disappear,” his mom, Sharron Hagge, said, though they range in severity. Gavin said he suffers a pretty constant six on a pain scale of one to 10.
The neurologist caring for Gavin recommended the temporary accessible parking pass because he didn’t want the teen riding on a bus or relying on his parents if he needed to leave school.
Gavin Hagge still suffers painful headaches from a concussion he got while playing soccer for his high school’s JV team. “The bus exacerbates his symptoms for many different reasons,” Sharron Hagge said.
The family emailed the school officials before the school year began to notify them that Gavin had an accessible parking placard and to ask which of the eight designated accessible parking spaces in the lot he should use.
Central High officials told them Gavin would not be allowed to park at the school because he did not have a parking pass. Gavin applied for a parking pass through a lottery but was not selected before the school year or in a later lottery when spaces opened following a construction project.
“He can park anywhere in the United States except his public high school,” his dad, Eric Hagge, said.
The family has since retained a lawyer, and the issue has been percolating on social media for a couple of weeks. On Monday, roughly a half dozen people spoke in support of Gavin during a school board meeting.
On Wednesday, the school district released a written statement from school board President Jeff Gorman that said District 301 doesn’t comment publicly on matters involving individual students.
“But we do take all student matters very seriously, and we actively work to accommodate the needs of all our students with medical needs,” Gorman’s statement reads. “When we discuss student matters, our priority is the safety of all our students and others in our school and community. We respectfully disagree with the portrayal on social media and by public commenters that this is just a case about a simple parking pass, as that portrayal omits some important details.”
The statement says the district looks forward to discussing “a mutually agreeable resolution” with the Hagge family.
Sharron Hagge said District 301 offered to send a special bus at the district’s expense just for Gavin. While that would remove the noise factor from other students, she said, it wouldn’t resolve the problem with hydraulics or the bouncy movement that being a passenger on a bus entails.
Gavin does not experience any problems when he drives himself.
Still, Gavin initially did not park at the school because he and his family were unsure about his legal rights. But, after consulting with their attorney, Gavin started using an accessible parking space at the campus for the first time in mid-October.
On Nov. 11, Gavin said Assistant Principal Edgar Pereda called him to the office.
“He told me I wasn’t allowed to park there since I didn’t have a school pass,” Gavin said. “And if I did it again, I’d get detention. He said if I kept doing it, it’ll get worse.”
Later that day, a disciplinary notice was placed on his school record for a parking violation.
Jeffrey Hymen, the attorney representing the family, said the school is committing a civil rights violation by not allowing Gavin to use an accessible parking space.
“It’s shocking that Burlington Central is refusing to allow a student with a temporary handicap placard to use handicap parking on school grounds,” he said. “It’s even more shocking that Burlington Central has repeatedly threatened and intimidated a temporarily disabled student.”
Eric Hagge said his son has never been in trouble during his 11 years as a District 301 student. Still, the family supports Gavin continuing to park in a space they believe he’s entitled to use.
“At this point, we’re not gonna stop because it’s just so dumb,” he said.
For his part, Gavin said he’s “annoyed.”
“It’s stressful,” he said. “I wish it wasn’t happening.”
Doctors hope his situation will improve. He sees the neurologist once a week and goes for physical therapy for his neck. The concussion hasn’t caused any other problems with balance or vision, just the persistent headaches that sometimes require him to leave school because of the severity.
“They don’t want me to go to school as much as I do,” Gavin said. “But I’d rather be there.”