The New York Times - August 15, 2006
Laura Mansnerus

The band director at West Side High School in Newark, who was also a teacher there, was dismissed three years after the student, now 20, first reported that he had made sexual advances to the student - which eventually progressed to a full sexual relationship. The student's accusations resulted in disciplinary action against two counselors at the high school who notified the principal but failed to tell child welfare authorities, as required by state law.

The former student was not fully identified in court papers because the events occurred when he was a juvenile, but an article in The Star-Ledger, which interviewed him last fall, identified him as Raymond Little, a 2004 graduate of the school. The court record in the case is sealed.

The chief issue before the appeals court was whether Mr. Little took legal action soon enough after he discovered in May 2005 that he had been infected with H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS.

Within a month, he reported the test results and gave an account of the teacher's conduct to the Newark Board of Education and to the police. The teacher has not been charged with a crime. But the suit against the school district, and the teacher, was filed after a 90-day deadline for suits against government agencies.

Last October, Mr. Little asked the Superior Court in Essex County for permission to sue, under a provision in the law that extends the 90-day deadline under "extraordinary circumstances."

Judge Verna G. Leath ruled that Mr. Little's age, his hesitancy to disclose his H.I.V. infection, and the emotional disruption he suffered constituted extraordinary circumstances. A three-judge panel of the Appellate Division of Superior Court upheld that decision on Monday. "He cried every day and rarely left home," the court said of Mr. Little after he learned that he was infected.

"Although R. L.," as Mr. Little is referred to in court papers, "felt compelled to take action to protect other students by reporting to school officials and police, he was hesitant to reveal his H.I.V. status and was unaware of the legal requirements," the court said.

The judges also rejected the school district's argument that the 90-day period should have started on Mr. Little's 18th birthday, in July 2004. The appeals court said that Mr. Little was not aware of any physical injury until May 2005.

The school district's lawyer, Matthew J. Tharney, said district officials were reviewing the opinion.

A lawyer for Mr. Little, Stuart Friedman, declined to provide any information that was not in the opinion, but he said, "We obviously believe the appellate court was correct."

In the court's account, the plaintiff was groped by the teacher through his clothes when he was a 14-year-old freshman and a member of the band. As a sophomore, he reported the encounter to his counselor, and a social worker met with his family, but no action was taken. In his junior year, he accepted alcohol and marijuana from the teacher and had sexual intercourse with the man many times.

There was no answer at the band director's most recent listed telephone number.

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