Rose McGrath,Michigan girl battle leukemia invited back to school that dismissed her

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St. Joseph Middle School in Battle Creek, Michigan, had dismissed Rose McGrath for low attendance and poor academic performance
Rose McGrath was diagnosed with leukemia in 2012 and even though she just finished her treatment, she still feels ill a lot of the time
Rose's mother Barbara McGrath won't say if her daughter will return to the school, and says is sounds like 'they're not going to pass her anyway'
School says Rose attended just 32 full days this academic year out of 134
Rose is now attending Lakeview Middle School, a public school in the area

By Kelly Mclaughlin For Dailymail.com and Associated Press

Published: 19:09 EST, 26 April 2015 | Updated: 09:33 EST, 27 April 2015

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

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 said that her daughter is attending Lakeview Middle School and that she can't say whether Rose will return to St. Joseph, a private Catholic school, until she determines if issues can be resolved.

Rose McGrath, pictured here with her mother, Barbara McGrath, was dismissed from St Joseph Middle School in Battle Creek, Michigan, for not meeting academic and attendance standards. She's been battling leukemia since 2012 and has missed several days of school because of the recovery process

When Rose found out that she had been kicked out of the school, she tearfully said that she 'didn't do anything wrong'. The 7th-grader is in remission but still recovering from acute lymphoblastic leukemia treatments, which started in 2012

'It sounds like they're not going to pass her anyway, even if she goes back,' Barbara McGrath said of her 7th-grade daughter, who is in remission but still recovering from treatments for acute lymphoblastic leukemia diagnosed in 2012. 'I don't see her being able to go back there and being successful.'

The school wrote in a letter addressed to Rose's father that officials 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 as of April 13, but Barbara McGrath says that doesn't include 'numerous' partial days.

The school, which charges as much as $6,983 per year for tuition, also wrote that it has taken 'significant adjustments to our standards' to help Rose, including reducing her workload and paring down assignments and tests.

'Rose's attendance, coupled with her academic performance, do not qualify her for continued attendance at St. Joseph Middle School,' the letter read.

It continued: 'We know Rose to be an intelligent and thoughtful child, and believe she would be well-suited to enroll in an academic setting more geared to homebound students, perhaps an online program as we have discussed in the past.'

Though Rose is done with her treatment she still feels ill and has trouble attending her classes and finishing her schoolwork

Rose's mother says her daughter isn't skipping out of school 'to have fun' but that she has to miss school because she doesn't feel well

Battle Creek Area Catholic Schools' pastor administrator John Fleckenstein was not immediately available for a comment.

He told WWMT last week that 'these were extraordinary circumstances' but they were necessary after 'so many accommodations were made' to help Rose.

Barbara McGrath countered that the school made only minor modifications to the workload and her daughter 'had to do every single project, every single test.' McGrath added that, by her account, Rose was on track to pass this year.

'I didn't do anything wrong, but they still got rid of me,' Rose McGrath said tearfully last week to WWMT.

Barbara McGrath said that though Rose is finished with her treatments, she has a long way to go.

John Fleckenstein, Battle Creek Area Catholic Schools' pastor administrator, claims that the school made many accommodations for Rose and that none of them seemed to help her enough

Rose attended St Joseph Middle School in Battle Creek from kindergarten through 7th grade. Though she's been offered a spot back at the school after they dismissed her, Rose's mother said 'it sounds like they're not going to pass her anyway, even if she goes back'

'Even though she's now done with her treatments you still have a very long recovery process because you've basically just put two and a half years of poison into your body. You're not recovering overnight,' she said..

Rose told WWMT that school was the one place that she actually felt normal.

'When I'm at home, I'm sick, I don't feel well; no one else does that. But when I'm at school I'm like everyone else,' Rose said.

''The accommodations which were made were woefully inadequate for a child with such a serious diagnosis,' said Rose's father Tom McGrath to WWMT.

'It's not like she's out at the mall having fun, she's in her bed, sick with nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain. She's not having fun, she's sick. She'd be at school if she could,' Barbara said.

Barbara McGrath said they have filed a complaint with the federal Office of Civil Rights and asked the private district to adopt an accommodation plan for ill students similar to those required in public schools.

Rose appears to have had a large support system throughout her treatment. She told one news source that school was the only place she felt normal

St Joseph claims that Rose, pictured here raising money for St. Baldrcks to find a cure for childhood cancer, only attended 32 full days this academic year out of 134 days as of April 13. Though St Joseph as invited her back, she is now attending a public middle school in the Battle Creek area