A West Palm Beach arts student’s removal from a prized magnet program after two vape devices were found in his eyeglass case has become the center of a federal disability lawsuit. His family says the school’s disciplinary process treated a student with ADHD and anxiety as if his disabilities played no role in what happened.
According to CBS 12 News, E.H. was a high-achieving junior and trumpet player at A.W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts with a Section 504 plan for ADHD and generalized anxiety disorder. In November 2025, school officials found two vape devices in his eyeglass case—one containing nicotine and the other THC. He received a five-day suspension before the school voted to remove him from the Dreyfoos program pending a manifestation determination review.
The Palm Beach County School District’s Code of Student Conduct lays out disciplinary procedures, possible suspension or expulsion consequences and protections for students with disabilities. A district handbook also states that using, possessing, storing or selling electronic nicotine delivery systems is prohibited, making the vape rule itself relatively straightforward even as the disability question is not.
A federal docket listing identifies the case as E.H. et al. v. School Board of Palm Beach County, filed July 14 in the Southern District of Florida. The case is classified as a civil-rights education dispute, and the family is seeking to overturn the administrative order that kept E.H. out of Dreyfoos.
Why The Section 504 Review Is The Legal Flashpoint
Section 504 does not give students blanket immunity from school discipline. But federal rules require a school district to conduct an evaluation before making a significant change in the placement of a student who needs disability-related services, and they require procedural safeguards that include notice, access to records and an impartial hearing process, according to 34 C.F.R. § 104.35 and § 104.36. That is the legal lane in which the family’s claims are traveling.
At the manifestation review, E.H.’s treating psychiatric provider argued that his disabilities directly contributed to the conduct, while the school psychologist and district staff concluded that the behavior was deliberate and not a manifestation of those disabilities, CBS 12 reported. E.H. was then transferred to his home high school, where his family says he lost access to Dreyfoos’ specialized music curriculum.
The timing also lands in the middle of a broader Palm Beach County fight over student vaping. The Palm Beach Post reported that district schools seized 773 drug vapes and 1,262 tobacco vapes during the 2025-26 school year, both increases from the prior year. County commissioners have also directed officials to draft a proposal creating a 1,000-foot buffer between vape shops and schools.
The lawsuit is therefore colliding with two competing pressures: a district facing a persistent stream of nicotine and THC devices, and a federal disability framework that requires individualized review before a student’s educational placement is significantly changed. The court will ultimately have to weigh whether Palm Beach County followed that process in E.H.’s case, not simply whether the devices violated school rules.
