The burden for care often falls to the students’ parents. Some jeopardize their jobs with daily trips to schools; some end up pulling their children from school altogether.

“We have principals who tell mothers, ‘Sorry, but you’ll have to home-school your kid,’ ” said Crystal C. Jackson, the director of the American Diabetes Association’s Safe at School program, which educates parents about students’ rights and provides legal aid. “It’s outrageous.”

These practices may be ingrained, but they are also largely illegal. In 2013, the federal Department of Justice found that the State of Alabama systematically discriminated against diabetic schoolchildren for years; students with Type 1 diabetes were not allowed to join field trips and sports practices, or to attend the same schools as their siblings.

“Without question, we do continue to see discrimination against students with Type 1 diabetes in schools in ways I find distressing,” said Catherine E. Lhamon, the assistant secretary in the federal Education Department’s civil rights office. “We see schools that say, ‘We can’t serve you because you have a disability.’

“What an ugly message to send to a family.”

Unlike Type 2 diabetes, which is linked to obesity and inactivity, Type 1 is an autoimmune condition that leads to destruction of cells in the pancreas, which normally produce the insulin needed to regulate blood sugar.

Blood sugar levels must be monitored in these students, and insulin administered via injections or a pump before meals. Failure to do so can result in serious complications over time, including blindness, kidney damage or amputations. When blood sugar levels go very low, children with Type 1 diabetes may have seizures or die.