Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2008. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Associated Press - November 21, 2008
The federal lawsuit filed by the girl's mother against the Washington Township Schools argues that the district violated the Americans With Disabilities Act and the federal Rehabilitation Act by allowing classmates to call her names and otherwise harass her.
The lawsuit says the 14-year-old girl, diagnosed with the virus that causes AIDS in 2006, withdrew from Westlane Middle School in September and is being home-schooled.
The district's superintendent said he couldn't comment on the lawsuit, but said the district has clear policies against bullying of students.
School district attorneys have 20 days to respond to the lawsuit, which was filed Tuesday and seeks unspecified damages.
The harassment began, according to the suit, after the girl told a friend she had the virus. That friend told her sister, and news spread throughout the school.
Soon afterward, the girl, "on an almost daily basis, endured continuing harassment, teasing, name calling and bullying by her fellow students," the lawsuit said. Those actions included someone leaving a note on her locker that said, "No AIDS at Westlane."
The girl's mother met with counselors at the school in April 2007 to complain about the harassment, but school officials took no action other than warning the students involved, the lawsuit said. The mother met with counselors three more times in 2007, and a friend of the girl's also reported the bullying.
Washington Township Superintendent James Mervilde said the district prohibits bullying and harassment and has policies with specific precautions for cleaning up and handling bodily fluids.
"Since Ryan White, our policies have been straightforward," Mervilde said.
White, who died in 1990, first drew national attention to the plight of children with HIV in the 1980s when as a 13-year-old he was banned from a school near Kokomo.
Jeanne White Ginder, White's mother, said that the Westlane student might have told a friend about contracting HIV as a release of pressure and that it shouldn't have triggered harassment.
Including AIDS and HIV education in school is just as important as teaching about any other disease, said Ginder, who now speaks to groups about HIV and AIDS awareness.
"There is no need to panic," she said. "People need to know it's not a death sentence."
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