SAT 1600 PERFECT SCORE HIGH SCHOOL TRIES TO THROW HER OUT OF SCHOOL BECAUSE OF DISABILITY

Fewer than 1% of test takers get a 1,600 — the highest possible score — on the SAT, an entrance exam required by many colleges and universities for admission.

But for Hana Weltin, a 20-year-old East Providence High School student with a chronic connective-tissue disorder that affects her energy level, brain function, vision and mobility and has caused her to miss over two years of school — the odds of hitting the top score were even slimmer than the average student’s.

So when she looked up her test results recently and saw “1600” on her phone screen, she was understandably shocked.

“I didn’t believe it,” she said during an interview this week at her home in Rumford. “I was sure that it was a mistake for like two weeks.”

The high school senior has had to overcome seemingly insurmountable odds, said her mother, Patricia Weltin.

Some of the challenges, like her disease, are unavoidable. But others, like a discrimination case she had to mount against East Providence High School after the administration tried to graduate her early without her knowledge, were downright strange, she said.

But Weltin, her sister Olivia, who also has the disease, called Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, and their mother, are fighters, their mother said, fighters for their lives and for equal opportunities in education.
“We all have a lot of hopes for our kids,” Patricia Weltin said. “My hopes have changed since my kids got sick .... It’s hard. It’s really, really hard. You fight to help other people. You fight to help your own kids. You fight.”
On the outside, Hana Weltin looks like a healthy young person.
But her Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, which co-occurs with another condition called Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome, affects every aspect of her life.
She is hypermobile, meaning that her joints can bend farther than most people’s, but also that they can become dislocated easily. She can’t stand for long periods without fainting and sometimes has difficulty with cognitive function.
“I’m tired a lot,” Hana said. “I get nauseous and dizzy when I stand up. Brain fog, I have trouble thinking of words I want to say. (I also have) snow blindness, like a static film over everything I see.”
Hana had brain surgery in March of 2017, two days before her 18th birthday, and while it has greatly improved her quality of life, the recovery lasted about 18 months.
Last school year, she missed around 60 days because of her disease, but she kept up with her school work, completing assignments online and working from home. She still managed to get straight As.
“I never really had to try very hard in school,” she said.
Hana last year had technically completed 24 credits, which is what she needed to graduate, but most students complete 28 along with a senior project and community service requirements, she said.
But in May, the family found out that the school had “graduated” her without warning and would not allow her to return the following year, her mother said.
Hana, though, was determined to go back to school and get the same education that her peers were receiving.
“I wanted to get my high school diploma,” she said. “That was really, really important to me.”
The Weltins took Hana’s case to the Rhode Island Department of Education, which ruled that, by deciding to graduate Hana in June of 2019, the school had deprived her of an equal education.
″[Hana] lost the opportunity to take and succeed in four additional courses and reach the same level of achievement as her non-disabled peers,” the department’s decision says. ”... Lack of notice that she would be graduating in June worked to [Hana’s] detriment because she assumed she would have another year in which to seek admission to (and otherwise prepare for) college.”
East Providence High School’s principal, Shani Wallace, did not return requests for comment. The office of the superintendent, Kathryn Crowley, said that the school department was following the arbitration agreement but declined to comment further.
Patricia Weltin said she thinks the school didn’t want her daughter to return because she is older than other students and might be a threat to them because of her academic success.
According to the decision, the school’s principal argued that Hana needed to be in an environment where she would be challenged academically and that the additional requirements of a senior project and community service could be waived due to her medical condition.
Hana, who has returned to school this year and is taking AP biology and AP calculus, said she doesn’t fully understand why the administration tried to prevent her from going back.
“It was really hard,” she said, her voice breaking slightly. “I felt very unwelcome. And I didn’t really know what I did wrong. It’s just not being wanted or welcome. It was difficult.
CREDIT PROVIDENCE JOURNAL