Update: School
District Responds - sort of.
"The actions
taken by the Superintendent of Pea Ridge School Distric t are appalling and
is reminiscent of times past and the case of Ryan White," says Tom Masseau,
Executive Director of DRC. "The fact that the foster families have to provide
documentation that the children are HIV negative before entering the school is
unlawful."
Yes, Ryan White is alive and living in Pea Ridge, Arkansas.
But this time, the ignorance of a school district involves three siblings (two
of which have special needs) and two foster parents: all three were prevented
from going to school because of lack of proof of HIV status after discovering
that their birth mother and one of the siblings had HIV.
The Disabilities Center of Arkansas has gone on record as stating that the
action of the district is unlawful. The district neither confirms nor denies
the actions - they are, of course, consulting with attorneys at this point.
While the Arkansas Department of Education allows schools to prevent children
from attending with "communicable diseases," HIV has long been
declassified as such by the CDC (Centers for Disease Control).
Ignorance At Large
The situation in Pea Ridge proves that as far as HIV is concerned, ignorance is
still at large. It is the kind of ignorance at the base of horrendous
discrimination and abuse abroad (such as Uganda's "Kill the Gays"
bill). It is certainly at large with people like Pat Robertson, who recently
said that some gays have special "handshake rings" to transmit
HIV.
The results of the ignorance may have just started: one of the siblings has
missed playing in the season's first football game. But he and the other kids
may miss much more in the future because of the ignorance: privacy, peer
acceptance, self-esteem. They may be bullied endlessly. They may miss their
former life - indeed the family might have to move, or at least relocate the
children to another district.
"Actions and Behaviors"
To date, the response of the Pea Ridge school district is as vague as all of
the current info on the situation:
"As reported in the media, the
district has recently required some students to provide test results regarding
their HIV status in order to formulate a safe and appropriate education plan
for those children. This rare requirement is due to certain actions and
behaviors that place students and staff at risk. The district respects the
privacy and confidentiality of all students. It's is very unfortunate that
information regarding this situation is being released by outside
organizations."
Some key points have not been cleared up, so now additional questions arise:
what are the disabilities of the two special needs kids? What are the ages of
the siblings? Their sex? If they're in middle or high school, were they having
sex with any kids/teachers? "Actions and behaviors" makes it sound
like the suspended children were engaging in sexual contact in the hallways.
Evidently, the foster parents were never informed as to any suspicions on the
part of the district.
Suspicion. Suspicions and assumptions may be what this situation is all about:
the district may actually have suspicions founded on very real evidence which
they cannot divulge to the media. But the foster parents should have been told
of those suspicions.
Acting on mere suspicions can be just as wrong as outright bigotry.
To date, the outcry continues, the family faces grueling notoriety and the
school district wrestles with disclosure of the entire case.
Welcome to the Ryan White case of the 21st century. Have things changed that
much?
