LUMBERTON, Texas — A Lumberton mom feels let down that her child with special needs isn't being provided with the level of education he needs to thrive.
Linda Dear decided to withdraw her son from Lumberton Independent School District because he's immunocompromised.
"His life is more important than a piece of paper," Linda Dear said.
She is the mother of Charles Dear who has hydrocephalus and cerebral palsy.
"I was very upset that I had to pull him. He was, he is a senior. He would have graduated," Linda Dear said.
She said the risk of her child catching COVID-19 is too high.
"He can't go. He can't be around all these people," Linda Dear said.
With the coronavirus causing schools to close and no virtual option, she didn't want to take that risk.
"They dropped the ball on my son, and they took his,” Linda Dear said. “He worked so hard to get where he was at, and they just took it from him. They just took it.”
Disability Rights Attorney Dustin Rynders said children with disabilities need access to in-person instruction.
"Families are having to make impossible choices about whether their child should receive an education or should remain alive, and it's discrimination against people with disabilities,” Rynders said.
For now, Linda Dear is keeping her son at home, but she feels disappointed in the district’s decision to let her son go.
"I would rather him live and be OK and not sick and have it, you know, have it, having a diploma or a certificate of completion. His life's just more important," Linda Dear said.
Disability Rights Texas has filed a lawsuit against Gov. Greg Abbott and the Texas Education Agency in efforts to overturn the ban on mask mandates. They hope to get students who are immunocompromised to attend school safely.