Two disabled high school-aged students sued the Evansville-Vanderburgh school district in Indianapolis over illegal policies that they allege restrict the use of the service animals they require to attend class.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Indiana filed the federal lawsuit in August of 2013, seeking an injunction to force the high school to admit the students’ service dogs. Prohibiting the animals violates the ADA (Americans With Disabilities Act), according to the legal complaint filed by the attorney for the students.

According to the lawsuit, the school had recently enacted a new policy that required disabled students who wished to use the services of a service animal to carry $100,000 coverage in liability insurance to cover the service animal. In addition, the students would have been required under the new school policy to provide detailed information about their individual disabilities and to provide a written explanation as to why the animal is needed and the animal’s training. The students would also have to report to the school as to whether the animal is spayed or neutered. Under that new policy, students had 10 days to comply or their service animal would be denied access to the school.

One of the plaintiffs, a sophomore with severe diabetes, has a service animal which is trained to alert her if her blood sugar drops dangerously, a condition which can lead to serious injury or death. The second plaintiff is also a sophomore, who has a rare disease that causes seizures and lack of balance, and also pain.

The ACLU attorney writes that the high school is going beyond what is allowed under the ADA and is violating the rights of students with disabilities.

The school has told the press that the lawsuit is “frivolous” and that the school is “simply trying to work through those issues before we have this dog sitting next to someone else’s child in class — pure and simple,” at stated by a school official. “We ask in the situation of these dogs, that similar to what we require of humans, there be some showing that these dogs don’t present a safety risk, that they’re trained for the role they’re to play. And secondly, that in terms of contagious conditions, that they’re safe.”

The ALCU lawsuit reminds the school in its complaint that federal ADA law allows public entities to make only two inquiries about the need for the animal when the person’s disability is not obvious, but it does not allow them to require documentation or to ask about the extent of a person’s disability.

The community of people with disabilities should monitor this case as it could affect everyone who relies on the assistance of a service animal.