No open WiFi at Amphi school hinders glucose monitoring for diabetic students

TUCSON, AZ. (KGUN). — Growing up with Type One Diabetes is challenging. From a young age, you're forced to learn responsibility as you learn how to take care of yourself in ways that most people around you don't have to.

Type one diabetes has no cure. It's a condition in which the pancreas makes little to no insulin. There is no root cause for type one diabetes. but it can be genetic or caused from certain viruses.

“When he was five, he wasn’t aware of what a 'low' or a 'high' was, you just don’t know. A lot of children that come back to school that are newly diagnosed don’t understand their bodies yet," said Stacey Andrade.

Andrade has a 12-year-old son with type one diabetes attending Coronado K-8 School.

“As a first responder, I know all too well that hypoglycemic events are fatal- potentially fatal," said Brett Houser, a parent to two kids with type one diabetes, one attending Coronado as well.

Type one diabetes has become a lot more manageable over the years because of new technology. Andrade and Houser reached out to KGUN 9 about some issues they're having with their kids attending Coronado K-8 School.

I met up with them to hear their concerns. As a type one diabetic myself, I know the struggles their children are facing because I once faced them in school, too.

"It seems simple asking for WiFi access, but we’re asking for that because it can be life-threatening without it," said Houser.

A Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM) allows diabetics to read their blood sugar levels off their phone, instead of having to prick their fingers numerous times a day.

Athena Kehoe

A common CGM is from the company Dexcom, and their website says if you disconnect from both Wi-Fi and Cellular Data, you won't see any readings, or get notifications. Having access to WiFi means diabetics have the ability to share their data with other family members or caregivers.

I reached out to Amphitheater Unified District to ask if students can connect their personal device at school to a WiFi, a Guest WiFi would suffice- and they responded:

I reached out to other school districts in Arizona. One said they allow students to connect to school WiFi from personal devices if they need it for medical reasons. Another told me they do not have a Guest WiFi because of limited funding, but that they have given a hotspot to a student that needed WiFi connection for medical reasons. We are choosing to not name these school districts but can confirm this information is accurate.

The Section 504 regulations require a school district to provide a "free appropriate public education" (FAPE) to each qualified student with a disability who is in the school district's jurisdiction, regardless of the nature or severity of the disability.

"It should be equal when our kids go to school. Without WiFi access, they do not have a safe and fair education. If they don't know their blood sugar levels, and neither does the nurse or us as parents, they're not safe," Houser said.

Houser and Andrade want the best for their kids attending Coronado K-8 School. A CGM makes the child's life a lot easier because they can see when their blood sugar might be going low or high and hopefully fix it before it gets too extreme.

"The biggest point here is that the nurse needs to see the blood sugars on the Follow app via reliable cell data or WiFi. She needs to be able to intervene when blood sugars are trending high or low. Our kids are not independent in their care and require constant intervention," Houser explained.

Athena Kehoe

“It keeps them out of having to leave class so much. Now that my son is older, he can check his blood sugar on the app during class and check it there and fix it before it gets to where they have to go nurse," Andrade said.

They have voiced their concerns to the school through emails and speaking at school board meetings. Minutes from a board meeting held in October explain WiFi access was "denied due to the district's insurance prohibiting outside devices on the network because of cyber-hacking."

The American Diabetes Association has a Safe at School campaign which expresses the importance of having access to WiFi at school.

A CGM allows diabetics to check their blood sugar levels fast and conveniently- and managing your blood sugar is far from easy. But, the CGM is just one example of new technology making it a little easier.

It's crucial to manage blood sugar levels as a diabetic. Mayo Clinic explains having a normal blood sugar level can lower the risk of many complications. Over time, type 1 diabetes complications can affect major organs in the body.

Parents and students at Coronado K-8 School explain there are many 'dead spots' throughout the school, which is why cellular isn't an option majority of the time.

One alternative given by the school, that they told me, is to provide the students with district devices (such as a district iPad) connected to WiFi for them to access the Dexcom app with their blood sugars. But, this alternative is not possible. A single Dexcom G6 sensor can only be connected to one phone at a time. Switching from a personal device to a district device would mean having to start a new session every time they go to school, when sensors are meant to last up to 10 days.

November is Diabetes Awareness Month. Andrade and Houser told me that they hope by sharing their experience, they're getting the word out that their kids' education is being hindered by not being granted WiFi accommodations for medical reasons.

I reached out multiple times to Amphi's superintendent Todd A. Jaeger for an interview, but was told he was unavailable to meet.