Kawasaki Parents of Severely Disabled Boy Lose Appeal Claiming Son Illegally Sent to Special Needs School

From Kyodo, The Kobe Shimbun

December 8 2023

KAWASAKI – The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by the parents of a boy from Kawasaki City against a lawsuit in which they sought damages from Kanagawa Prefecture and the city on the grounds that it was illegal for the boy to be designated to a special-needs school on the grounds of severe disability.

The boy has an incurable “congenital myopathy” and required medical care such as breathing control using a ventilator. His parents requested that he attend a local municipal elementary school, but in March 2018, the city and prefectural boards of education notified them that the school to which he was designated would be a special needs school.

The boy’s parents sued Kanagawa Prefecture and Kawasaki City for damages, claiming that it was illegal for the boy to be designated to a special needs school instead of a local public elementary school because of his severe disability.

The court (presiding judge Koichi Kusano) decided to dismiss the parents’ appeal. The Tokyo High Court’s second judgment in March of this year; which dismissed the request on the grounds that his being designated [to a special-needs school] is legal, was finalized on December 6th.