Inside the Hershey School's Decision to Bar HIV+ Student

To many of us, it sounds like something out of the Dark Ages of the mid-1980s, AIDS epidemic when fear and ignorance prevailed. A student is barred from attending school because he has HIV.

That happened to Ryan White, the teenage hemophiliac who was expelled from middle school in Indiana in 1984. He became a poster boy for the epidemic before he died in 1990 just before his high school graduation. His legacy is the Ryan White Care Act, which federally funds programs for low-income people with HIV/AIDS and their families. Many had also hoped a dual legacy would be toleration for people with HIV -- especially children.

Yet this recent news item shows how much fear and ignorance still rule in some quarters close to 31 years after the epidemic began. The century-old Milton Hershey School, founded by the man who gave the world chocolate bars, has refused admission to a 13-year-old student simply because he is HIV-positive.

In the Pennsylvania town named for the chocolatier, the institution is a private boarding school for more than 1,800 disadvantaged K through 12 students. All their expenses are paid through a trust the chocolate czar established. The school does not receive any federal or state funding, which means it is not subject to any governmental decrees regarding issues such as students with HIV.

Facing Down Irrational Fears
The administration's rationale for barring the Philadelphia-area student is simple and, to many observers, infuriating: Because it's a residential school, there's always the possibility that the youth could have sex with others after the lights go out.

On Nov. 30, the eve of World AIDS Day, the AIDS Law Project of Pennsylvania filed a discrimination suit against the school in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia for violating the Americans with Disabilities Act. That law and others prohibit discrimination on the basis of a real or even a perceived disability, including having HIV, according to Ronda Goldfein, the project's executive director. The lawsuit doesn't identify the youth and uses the pseudonym Abraham Smith.

In a news release, Goldfein, who is representing the boy and his mother, said she was struck by the similarities between her client and the one-time face of AIDS, who would have turned 40 on Dec. 6. "Like Ryan White, this young man is a motivated, intelligent kid who poses no health risk to other students, but is being denied an educational opportunity because of ignorance and fear about HIV and AIDS," the attorney said.

She pointed out that public health authorities have unequivocally declared that HIV is not transmitted through normal day-to-day contact in schools or social settings. According to the suit, the boy "is an honor roll student and an avid athlete." He controls his HIV through medication that doesn't have an impact on his school schedule.

The suit seeks to have the school admit the 13-year-old, develop an anti-discrimination policy and conduct staff sensitivity training on HIV. It also requests monetary awards.

"We were stunned that there was no pretext around the defense," Goldfein told EDGE in an interview. "They excluded him because he had HIV. There was no attempt to exclude him for some other reason."

She added that there's no question that the Americans with Disability Act covers private schools.

Goldfein said she finds the excuse that her client might have sex with someone and spread the virus remarkable.

"None of us understand the idea that we're going to exclude him because of some unspecified thing could have happen at some unspecified time that could cause some unspecified harm," she said. It sounds like the plot to the movie "Minority Report."

The school maintains that it was about to seek an opinion from the U.S. District Court on legal issues in the case when the AIDS Law Project made what the school views as a preemptive strike.

"Most lawyers will tell you that it's a little rare to seek an advisory opinion from a federal court, particularly after you've taken the action," Goldfein asserted. "It's one thing to have a court tell you what to decide but asking after they already made the bad decision seems as little rare."

EDGE contacted Connie McNamara, the school's vice president of communications, but she declined comment because of the litigation. Instead, she referred to a statement posted on its website.

School's Rationale: Thinking of the Children
"It is crucial to understand that we serve a parental role for the nearly 2,000 students in our care," according to the statement. "We are a full-time home and school. We take full accountability for our students -- feed them, clothe them, shelter them, and provide medical and dental care to them -- just as parents do. We also want to protect the children in our care, just as a parent does."

The statement also maintains that because it's not a public school, it's not required to accept every student: "We can lawfully exclude students who do not meet our eligibility criteria or where we cannot meet the needs of the student in our unique environment.

"Under the ADA, we are not required to admit any student who would pose a direct threat to the health and safety of others that cannot be avoided by reasonable modifications of the School's policies and procedures."

Understanding that HIV can't be transmitted by casual contact, the school addressed the issue of sex among students, stating that it poses "unique concerns. We systematically encourage abstinence, and we educate our children on sexual health issues," the statement reads. "But, as special as they are, our teenagers are the same as teens all across the country. Despite our best efforts, some of our students will engage in sexual activity with one another."

Nowhere does the school mention that it could educate its charges on precautions to take, such as using condoms.

Ignorance about how HIV is transmitted continues, judging from some comments made on Free Republic, the conservative website, about the school's action.

"There is indeed a threat," one said. "Incidental contact is not an issue, as it would be in most situations, but in a boarding school? Cuts and possible sexual contact could occur."

"There is at least one case of a child contracting HIV by using the toothbrush of his HIV sibling," wrote another.

Advocates for people with HIV/AIDS were incredulous.

Some mentioned that court decisions have affirmed that merely being infected with HIV does not make one a threat in such settings as foster care and youth detention facilities.

Pointing out that Congress amended the Americans with Disabilities Act in 2008 to reaffirm that HIV is a disability entitled to accommodation by public and private schools,
Beirne Roose-Snyder of the New York-based Center for HIV Law and Policy told the Associated Press that discrimination remains rampant.

The school's statement "shows a real lack of understanding of the real threat of HIV," the attorney said.

Scott Schoettes of Lambda Legal concurred. "I think case law all points to a direction that this is not a 'direct threat,' " he told the Harrisburg Patriot-News.

Bill McColl of AIDS United, the national coalition of HIV service agencies, acknowledged that the school's position puzzled him. "I think it's quite unusual, actually," he said. "I have to admit, I have never heard of this situation before."

McColl doesn't believe the school has a leg to stand on. "Most people in the field believe this question has been asked and answered," he explained.

SUB: Youth Advocate Reacts
Lawrence Stallworth II, a 20-year-old with HIV, was so incensed by the school's action that he www.change.org/petitions/milton-hershey-school-stop-discriminating-against-an-hiv-positive-13-year-old a petition drive on Change.org
that asks it to reverse its decision.

A board member of Cleveland Pride in Ohio, Stallworth is leading the campaign with Advocates for Youth, an organization that promotes sex education.

He learned he was HIV-positive when he was a high school senior and told some teachers he trusted. Stallworth said in a news release that he "encountered stigma, ignorance and fear."

"It shouldn't be the responsibility of a 13-year-old boy to teach the Milton Hershey School about the science of HIV or the moral obligation educators have to meet the needs of all students," Stallworth maintained. "But this young man is doing just that - and we all have a responsibility to have his back."

Thus far, the petition has more than 20,000 signatures.