Parents outraged after daughter with seizures rode on Grafton school van without nurse: "It's a nightmare"

The family of a Grafton child with medical issues is outraged after the school staff allowed her to travel in a van without her nurse on board.

Rohini Wunnava's 11-year-old daughter is nonverbal, autistic, and has seizures. 

During the school year, a white van with a nurse on board would take her to Millbury Street Elementary School in Grafton. 

"Her seizures are unpredictable. It can come at any second, any time, so the nurse always carries her rescue medicine," Wunnava said. 

On April 30, Wunnava's daughter was picked up at home at the usual time. But when she got to school, she did not get out of the van.  

"The van driver was getting late to pick [up] the other kid. They just decided to take her for a fun ride without letting us know," Wunnava said.

The family says the ride lasted 40 minutes; during that time, there was no nurse on board or the seizure medication. Wunnava explained that she was not told about the unplanned trip. 

A school incident report confirms there was no nurse on board and that the decision to take the pre-teen on the trip was made by the van driver and three staff members.  The Department of Children and Families (DCF) investigation found neglect by those school staffers. 

Attorney Collins Fay-Martin represents Wunnava's family and said the DCF finding of neglect is "not common, which is why this should be looked at so seriously. And it's why the district's response to the situation is insufficient. There's not been the transparency. There's not been that internal investigation. There are specific individuals that made a very poor judgment call here, and apparently no accountability."

The Millbury Elementary School principal, Stephen Wiltshire, told the I-Team that they can't comment on "student-specific matters or personnel matters." 

"I am aware of the situation, and we self-reported to DCF. I want to clarify that the student was never without 1:1 school-based staffing at any time, and the student uses a standard five-point safety harness while riding the van daily," Wiltshire said. 

The school also said that the district took corrective action, conducting an internal review and staff refresher guidance on safety.  

"The only thing I've seen from the school and I have asked is a one-page incident report that was written presumably the day of," Fay-Martin said. 

Wunnava said there is no video record of the incident; the van has no cameras, and she learned about what happened six hours after the ride. The staff members involved in the decision to allow the 11-year-old to stay on the van are still working with Rohini's daughter, according to the family.

"The school is not accountable. They have not reached out to us with an apology," Wunnava said. "It's a nightmare. What if the van met with an accident, or what if she had a grand mal seizure? If something like that had happened, I would not have had my child today."

The family says they have lost confidence in the school and are looking for an out-of-district placement for their daughter.