Valley Central: Insurance Company Works with McAllen School to Accommodate Student
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By: TAHP | Friday, March 2, 2018
March 2, 2018
By: Jolanie Martinez
At nine months old, Jordan Scott was diagnosed with cerebral palsy.
Jordan is now a senior at McAllen High School, but has come across some challenges getting to class, as he is also a member of his school’s band.
“There’s a driveway from the building to the music building and that gets flooded during the rain,” Jordan said. “So it was hard for [me] to cross because, you know, it would flood really bad.”
Access to classrooms was one issue, but Jordan also didn’t like the idea of having to be segregated from his classmates when it comes to using the school bus.
In an effort to address the ADA compliance issues, Jordan’s mom, Trisha Scott, turned to United Healthcare’s STAR Kids Managed Medicaid Program, a program that guides families through the school system, Special Ed and 504.
“I don’t know of any other insurance company that we’ve had over the years that had offered a school liaison,” said Trisha. “Someone to call and check in with us and [ask] what do you need [or] what can we do to make his education better.”
With the help of a school liaison, changes were made to meet Jordan’s needs.
“We made phone calls to the school district, talked to some people in charge,” said United Healthcare STAR Kid School Liaison, Denise Keller. “They didn’t know the story or they didn’t know what the situation was until it was brought to their attention and then they were able to call the people needing to fix the chairs and the ramps and go out there and look at it.”
Without hesitation, the school worked to make some ADA adjustments across campus.
“A few years ago, we put some ramps in the back so he can get to the band hall and then he also travels,” said McAllen High School Head Principal, Albert Canales. “He’s a traveling student for other classes, [so] instead of having a bus just for him to go by himself, we want to incorporate him with all the other students.”
“They were quick at trying to make things as accessible as possible and now I think we’re at a pretty good place,” said Jordan.
Jordan will be attending Texas State University this fall and plans to major in computer science.
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