Leukaemia patient expelled over attendance

The mother of a Michigan girl dismissed from a Catholic school for not meeting academic and attendance standards during leukaemia treatments said her daughter has been invited back but will attend a public school for now.

Barbara McGrath said St Joseph Middle School officials informed her that Rose McGrath could return to the Battle Creek school but postponed a meeting to discuss concerns until later this week to allow for “a cooling off period”.

Barbara McGrath that her daughter is attending Lakeview Middle School and that she can not say whether Rose will return to St Joseph until she determines if issues can be resolved.

“It sounds like they’re not going to pass her anyway, even if she goes back,” McGrath said of her daughter, who is in remission but still recovering from treatments for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia diagnosed in 2012. “I don’t see her being able to go back there and being successful.”

The school wrote a letter to Rose’s father saying officials had worked with her but absences “hampered her academic performance”. It adds that the 12-year-old had attended 32 full days this academic year out of 134 days, but McGrath says that does not include “numerous” partial days.