A New Jersey school district has agreed to pay a $10,000 fine to settle a discrimination lawsuit in which it was charged with refusing to let an autistic child bring his service animal to school, the U.S. Department of Justice said Tuesday.

The Justice Department said in its statement that the Delran Township School district in Delran, New Jersey, had violated Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act by allegedly refusing to allow a student with autism and encephalopathy to have his service dog in school or at school-related activities. The DOJ said the service dog issues alerts to the student's seizures, provides mobility and body support, and mitigates the symptoms of his autism.

The department said it found that the student's mother spent six months responding to “burdensome” requests for information and documentation, but the school district still refused to allow the student to be accompanied by his service dog.

At one point, the student was prevented from bringing his service dog with him on the bus for his school's year-end field trip, and the mother followed the school bus with the service dog in the car, said the statement.

Title II of the ADA prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in public schools and under it, schools must generally modify policies, practices or procedures to permit the use of a service dog with a disability at school and school-related activities, the Department of Justice said.

When a student cannot act as the handler of the service dog, the family may provide an independent handler, as the family offered to do here, said the department.

The school district worked cooperatively with the Justice Department throughout the investigation, said the department in its statement. In addition to paying the $10,000 fine, the district will adopt an ADA-compliant service animal policy and provide ADA training to the school district's staff, it said, and the child will be allowed to bring his service dog to school.

“The old view of service animals working only as guide dogs for individuals who are blind has given way to a new generation of service animals trained to perform tasks that further autonomy and independence for individuals with a myriad of disabilities,” said acting Assistant Attorney General Jocelyn Samuels for the department's civil rights division, in a statement.

The division “will vigorously enforce the ADA to ensure that students who use service animals have a full and equal opportunity to participate in all school activities with their peers,” Ms. Samuels said.

A school district spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment.