Schooling for children with acquired immune deficiency syndrome

Abstract

The issue of schooling children with acquired immune deficiency syndrome has been fervently debated in New York City. Adding to the furor of this debate are irrational fears and lack of sufficient scientific data. The past and present controversy can be best understood via a chronologic review of the events surrounding this issue. On August 30, 1985, the Centers Disease Control published guidelines education and foster care of children infected with human T-lymphotropic virus type IlI/tymphadenopathy-associated virus. ~ The CDC recommended that for most infected school-aged children, the benefits of an unrestricted setting would outweigh the risks of their acquiring potentially harmful infections in the setting and the apparent nonexistent risk of transmission of HTLV-III. These children should be allowed to attend school and after-school day-care and to be placed in a foster home in an unrestricted The CDC also recommended that decisions regarding the type of educational and care setting should be evaluated each case individually. On the same day, in a joint statement issued by the Mayor of New York City, the NYC Schools Chancellor, the President of the NYC Board of Education, and the Health Commissioner of NYC, a policy was announced under which children with AIDS would not be automatically excluded from NYC public schools but would be reviewed on a case-by-case basis to determine whether their health status permitted them to attend school in an unrestricted setting. Shortly thereafter, Dr. D. Sencer, the Health Commission of NYC, announced that a 7-year-old child with AIDS, who had remained well and done well in school in the past 3 years, would continue to attend school in an unrestricted setting and that the child's identity would remain confidential. Parents of children attending public schools in NYC were unprepared such a circumstance. They were poorly informed about AIDS and