KEY POINTS:
A thirteen-year-old with a medical condition that can result in a strong odour has been banned from using a school bus.
The Kawerau College student's family said he only found out when he went to catch a Kawerau Coaches bus and was told he was not allowed on board.
The 140kg boy receives specialist medical care for morbid obesity attributed to a serious bowel condition.
He is cognitively impaired, has cerebral palsy and experiences faecal incontinence.
Kawerau Coaches told the boy's family that a letter had been sent to the family advising them of the decision. However, the boy's family say they did not receive it.
Through a spokesperson, Kawerau Coaches owner Graeme Harvey said it was premature to discuss the matter before a November 29 mediation meeting with several other parties.
Those parties include Kawerau College staff, Group Special Education (GSE), Multiserve (contracted by the Ministry of Education to manage and administer school transport), the boy's family, their advocate Melody Wharerimu and the Human Rights Commission.
The family have made a formal complaint to the commission.
A GSE spokesperson said they and the ministry had been working to resolve the issue and processes were in place to source alternative transport.
"We are aiming to pay a conveyance fee to the boy's mother for taking him to school."
His mother said the ban was a shock.
"There was a man standing at my gate who told me my daughter could get on the bus but, as from that day, my son could no longer go on the bus and that I should have got a letter telling me why."
She and Ms Wharerimu said they had not received the letter.
"My son got so upset and was crying when the driver was told to close the bus door. All his school peers were in the bus watching."
While attending intermediate school, the boy had travelled on a bus from Whakatane to Kawerau without incident.
Since October 8 the boy has spent five weeks at Waikato Hospital and is scheduled for a stomach-stapling operation in two months.
The prospect of surgery worries his mother who hopes he can achieve weight loss by exercise.
"He will be the first child in the country to have the operation and all of the worst-case-scenarios have been explained to us."
A fitness trainer and family member has agreed to work with John and his parents are hoping to source a bicycle or tricycle in an effort to avoid the operation.
- DAILY POST
