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HIV Discrimination - 12/6/2011 1:59:54 PM   
tazzygirl


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Status: offline 		A 13 year old is suing a school in PA for discrimination ... the boy is HIV positive.

A 13-year-old teen is suing Milton Hershey School for denying him enrollment because he has HIV.

School administrators say their refusal to admit him is to protect their current students.

The teen's lawyer, Ronda Goldfein, with the Aids Law Project of Pennsylvania says this is discrimination. She says that is why they have filed a lawsuit.

Connie McNamara, with Milton Hershey School, says it was a tough decision to make. She says they are a unique school, where all students live in student homes and are around each other all the time.


Statement from Milton Hershey School:

Today, Milton Hershey School had planned to file a request in federal court asking the court to review our decision to deny enrollment to a child who is HIV positive because of concerns for the health and safety of our current students.

We had been in discussions with the AIDS Law Project of Pennsylvania, which is representing this 13-year-old boy. Recognizing the complex legal issues, the School was preparing to ask the court to weigh in on this matter. Unfortunately, attorneys for the young man took the adversarial action of filing a lawsuit against the School.

The decision to deny enrollment was a challenging one for us to make. Like all our enrollment decisions, we need to balance our desire to serve the needs of an individual child seeking admission with our obligation to protect the health and safety of all 1,850 children already in our care.

Attorneys for this young man and his mother have suggested that this case is comparable to the Ryan White case. But this case is actually nothing like the Ryan White case. Milton Hershey School is not a day school, where students go home to their family at the end of the day. Instead, this is a unique home-like environment, a pre-K -12 residential school where children live in homes with 10-12 other students on our campus 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

In order to protect our children in this unique environment, we cannot accommodate the needs of students with chronic communicable diseases that pose a direct threat to the health and safety of others. The reason is simple. We are serving children, and no child can be assumed to always make responsible decisions which protect the well being of others.

That is why, after careful review and analysis, we determined we could not put our children at risk.

http://www.fox43.com/news/wpmt-milton-hershey-school-denies-enrollment-to-teen-with-hiv-20111201,0,4821704.story?track=rss

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RE: HIV Discrimination - 12/6/2011 8:37:15 PM   
Kirata


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According to the CDC, HIV can be transmitted when infected blood comes in contact with an open cut, the eyes, or the mucosal membranes of the nose. It doesn't take much imagination to see how a simple accident while horsing around could have unfortunate results. That could happen in the best of circumstances, of course. But the fact that this is a residential school multiplies the opportunities for a mishap, and the school's administrators have a responsibility to the families of those kids not to expose them to avoidable risk. I think there is considerably less basis for crying "discrimination" than for the decision the school found it necessary to make in this case.

K.







< Message edited by Kirata -- 12/6/2011 8:40:11 PM >

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RE: HIV Discrimination - 12/6/2011 9:02:24 PM   
tazzygirl


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Status: offline 		I am aware of how its transmitted, Master Kirata.

And I am torn on this. I do understand that schools point of view... I also understand the child's desire.

He has been HIV positive from birth. This school is a cost-free, private boarding school for children from low-income families.

Would this be any different from him going to any day school? Seems the objection was based upon this being a boarding school. Does prolonged exposure to other students make him more of a threat?

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RE: HIV Discrimination - 12/6/2011 9:02:28 PM   
littlewonder


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Status: offline 		Having family who attend this school, most of the children I know who attend this school are troubled or have mental incapacities. So I can understand why they would not want to admit the boy. The kids I know who go there get into fights and/or are violent or simply are extremely hyper.

I can't say I blame them for not wanting him to attend the school. It's probably not a school where he would easily fit in.



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RE: HIV Discrimination - 12/6/2011 9:27:05 PM   
tweakabelle


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Status: offline 		It seems important to know if this school applies this standard only in the case of HIV+ kids, and not in the case where kids might have other communicatible illnesses or viruses (eg. Hep C .) The Fox report linked to the OP has no info on this.

This info would help clarify the school's motives for me.

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RE: HIV Discrimination - 12/6/2011 9:35:06 PM   
littlewonder


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Status: offline 		I know that when the kids are sick with like the flu they are usually kept to their rooms away from the other kids and if they have an extended illness they're sent home to their parents. At least that's how it's always been with my relatives who attend the school.



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RE: HIV Discrimination - 12/6/2011 9:38:29 PM   
tazzygirl


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Status: offline 		http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/health/Hershey-School-HIV-Lawsuit-Boy-134802368.html

This has a link to the school's filing with the courts, as well as the complaint from the family.

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RE: HIV Discrimination - 12/6/2011 10:05:24 PM   
tweakabelle


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Status: offline 		Thanks for that link Tazzy.

Item #26 on the discrimination suit lists the school's eligibility criteria. No mention is made of communicable diseases. The child meets all the eligibility criteria listed.

Item #31 quotes the National Assoc of State Boards of Education as stating that there is "no significant risk of HIV transmission" in "school, day care or school athletic settings".

Whist I merely skimmed the full document, I noted nothing to indicate any school policy in relation to other communicable diseases.

All up, it appears that this child has been singled out for special treatment solely on the basis of his HIV+ status. As such, it appears to be an unambiguous case of HIV discrimination.

This is sad. It appears to me that the school is being, at best, cautious beyond the demands of, or protection of law here. Good on the child and his parent(s) for standing up for their rights. (He does seem an impressive young boy doesn't he?)

< Message edited by tweakabelle -- 12/6/2011 10:07:32 PM >

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RE: HIV Discrimination - 12/6/2011 10:14:58 PM   
tazzygirl


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Status: offline 		In the school's filing.. and in their defense.. I did say I was torn on this issue... the school states the parent would not agree to the school informing others about his condition, such as house parents and others directed in his education and care... but that they would not agree to education of the other students.

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Telling me to take Midol wont help your butthurt.
RIP, my demon-child 5-16-11
Duchess of Dissent 1
Dont judge me because I sin differently than you.
If you want it sugar coated, dont ask me what i think! It would violate TOS.

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RE: HIV Discrimination - 12/6/2011 10:47:56 PM   
tweakabelle


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Status: offline 		Yeppers, I can see that. Rightly or wrongly, I am not viewing this as a case of malicious discrimination.

On the evidence I've seen to date, the key point for me is that HIV is the only communicable disease that seems to attract this reaction from the school. Had they applied the same standards to all communicable diseases, and been upfront in their admission criteria about it, then I would probably sympathise with the school's position a lot more than I do.

If you'll pardon a really sick joke, discrimination cases aren't always 100% black or white!

< Message edited by tweakabelle -- 12/6/2011 10:51:25 PM >

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RE: HIV Discrimination - 12/6/2011 10:54:25 PM   
tazzygirl


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Status: offline 		I agree with you that I dont see it as malicious either. Just sounds like a case of over worry and lack of education.

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Telling me to take Midol wont help your butthurt.
RIP, my demon-child 5-16-11
Duchess of Dissent 1
Dont judge me because I sin differently than you.
If you want it sugar coated, dont ask me what i think! It would violate TOS.

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RE: HIV Discrimination - 12/6/2011 11:06:20 PM   
WebWanderer


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From: Fort Worth, TX
Status: offline 		The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few... or the one. Young children can be very violent even in regular schools, where they're together for only a few hours every day. In a 24/7 live-in situation, the chances of that kid getting into a fight, or getting a bloody nose, or accidentally exposing other kids to the virus are nearly 100%. Is it fair? No. Is it the lesser evil? Yes.

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RE: HIV Discrimination - 12/6/2011 11:14:47 PM   
tazzygirl


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Joined: 10/12/2007
Status: offline 		Again, education is the key. What about those kids in his neighborhood? What about the kids he may ride with on a bus? What about the people he may pass on the street?

When do the "what abouts" end?

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Telling me to take Midol wont help your butthurt.
RIP, my demon-child 5-16-11
Duchess of Dissent 1
Dont judge me because I sin differently than you.
If you want it sugar coated, dont ask me what i think! It would violate TOS.

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RE: HIV Discrimination - 12/6/2011 11:34:17 PM   
WebWanderer


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Status: offline 		i understand what you mean. Every activity has a certain degree of risk to it. His chances of transmitting the virus while riding the bus are very low; they're low when simply walking down the street unless he coughs blood. O_o They're high if he plays a contact sport like football or basketball, or lives under the same roof with 11 other children. This is a reasonable precaution. What would you rather have - one upset HIV-positive kid who has to go to another school (or get homeschooled), or two HIV-positive kids, one of whom got into the school he wanted?..

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RE: HIV Discrimination - 12/7/2011 12:34:51 AM   
tweakabelle


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From: Sydney Australia
Status: offline 		May I ask WebWanderer why, out of all the communicable diseases, HIV is the only one you're mentioning here? Why isn't the same standard applied to all the chronic communicable diseases? Is HIV a special case?

< Message edited by tweakabelle -- 12/7/2011 12:37:09 AM >

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RE: HIV Discrimination - 12/7/2011 12:47:50 AM   
LanceHughes


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Status: offline 		1,850 low-income students... and only this one HIV+ from birth?  That means Momma had it.  That means she probably got it from infected needles.

I'd like to line up all 1,850 and have the quickie test done on them all.....

What we have here is THIS kid declared.  HMMmmmm can you say "Don't ask, don't tell"?

I might have missed somethng.  Did NOT read full texts of links.  Sorry.  Late. Tired.  G'nite

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RE: HIV Discrimination - 12/7/2011 6:19:37 AM   
WebWanderer


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quote:

ORIGINAL: tweakabelle

May I ask WebWanderer why, out of all the communicable diseases, HIV is the only one you're mentioning here?

Because it's the one we're currently discussing. i would oppose accepting students with other chronic communicable diseases as well because the risk of the infection spreading to other kids would be unacceptable.

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RE: HIV Discrimination - 12/7/2011 7:37:29 AM   
defiantbadgirl


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Status: offline 		If many of the students attending that school are mentally disabled, as mentioned above by someone familiar with the school, that makes the risk of transmission of any blood virus even higher. Mentally disabled children may not fully understand or remember that wrestling, getting into fights, or any type of rough play could result in them contracting incurable potentially deadly viruses. In my opinion, there's a huge difference between sex, age, or racial discrimination and trying to prevent the spread of potentially lethal incurable viruses. I don't care if it's HIV,  Hepatitis C, or some other incurable blood virus.


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RE: HIV Discrimination - 12/7/2011 7:47:28 AM   
LillyBoPeep


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Status: offline 		It's complicated and an obvious conflict... as others have said, kids who have mental difficulties may not understand the various procedures to help themselves avoid some of the risk. And the likelihood of fights where they might be exposed to each other's blood... it seems like a pretty high risk for the other kids.
I can understand the school denying this; they are trying to look out for the safety of the rest of the student population.

Is there any possibility of compromise? Could this student be housed in a different way?

There statement does say
quote:


we cannot accommodate the needs of students with chronic communicable diseases that pose a direct threat to the health and safety of others


Nothing about HIV specifically -- maybe this situation will cause them to further elaborate their admissions requirements. Who knows...

I can understand the kid wanting to go to this school and feeling discriminated against. It sucks, especially since he was born with it and had no control over it.

It's a complicated situation, for sure.

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RE: HIV Discrimination - 12/7/2011 7:55:34 AM   
searching4mysir


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quote:

ORIGINAL: tweakabelle

Thanks for that link Tazzy.

Item #26 on the discrimination suit lists the school's eligibility criteria. No mention is made of communicable diseases. The child meets all the eligibility criteria listed.

Item #31 quotes the National Assoc of State Boards of Education as stating that there is "no significant risk of HIV transmission" in "school, day care or school athletic settings".

Whist I merely skimmed the full document, I noted nothing to indicate any school policy in relation to other communicable diseases.

All up, it appears that this child has been singled out for special treatment solely on the basis of his HIV+ status. As such, it appears to be an unambiguous case of HIV discrimination.

This is sad. It appears to me that the school is being, at best, cautious beyond the demands of, or protection of law here. Good on the child and his parent(s) for standing up for their rights. (He does seem an impressive young boy doesn't he?)


The question then becomes: does he have a "right" to go to a private boarding school?

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