N.Y. Allows AIDS Victim to Attend School

A special panel ruled Saturday that one of four city students afflicted with AIDS “poses no threat to other children” and should be permitted to attend school when the new term starts Monday.

The panel of four experts said two of the other children will receive instruction in hospitals where they are undergoing treatment for acquired immune deficiency syndrome. Parents of the fourth have been advised to seek an alternative to public school because “the confidentiality about the child’s illness has been broken.”

His parents told the boy’s teacher of his disease to explain a high absence rate and are looking into home instruction, Education Chancellor Nathan Quinones said.

None of the children have been publicly identified.

The child who the panel ruled could attend school was diagnosed as having AIDS three years ago and since has attended nursery school, kindergarten and first grade, Health Commissioner Dr. David Sencer said.

Sencer said the child’s AIDS has been in remission in recent years--the victim even recovered from a bout with the chicken pox with no complications--and therefore he was deemed fit enough to attend classes.

The Board of Education and Health Department appointed the panel to look into the problem last week. The panel met for seven hours Friday, reviewing the medical histories of the children and scientific literature on AIDS.

The Centers for Disease Control has issued guidelines for children with AIDS, saying most should be allowed to attend public schools because it is unlikely they would transmit the disease to others. AIDS, which breaks down the body’s ability to fight disease, has mainly affected homosexual men, hemophiliacs and intravenous drug users and is usually fatal.