Now there’s a new testing outrage in Florida — at least a new one that has been made public. And this one involves a student who was willing to take the mandated test.

This story involves Pinellas County parent Elizabeth Shea and her 9-year-old autistic son, whom she does not want to name. Shea’s son attends the online Florida Virtual School and is required to take the state-mandated standardized test at a neighborhood public school. He went to do so recently with his service dog. Because he is too young to handle the dog alone, his mom has become a certified dog handler, and she accompanied him to the test site. He has an Individual Education Plan, or IEP, which is designed to ensure “that a child who has a disability identified under the law and is attending an elementary or secondary educational institution receives specialized instruction and related services.”...

“They told me this would invalidate his test, to which I agreed. But once again, they would not let him do that with his dog and me in the room, and he was getting visibly upset because they were making me leave the room with his dog. He started crying, babbling loudly and hitting himself in the face. I had to get down on my knees in front of him, face to face, put my hands on his shoulders and tell him that I would be right outside the door with his dog, he would sign his name and we could leave… hoping he would calm down. But then, they decided that me being outside the door with the dog (that his IEP says should be with him) would violate his IEP, so we could not do that either.

“We left without being allowed to take the test, or even minimally participate. I hope they work this out by tomorrow, Thursday and Friday, when we are required to report for more testing. At this point, all we want is for him to minimally participate as required by law, with his service dog and handler present, as required by federal law, and school district policy.”